How close have you come to death?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

A recurring Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded Emeli Sandé said elsewhere, not written here
On a camping holiday in Scotland when I was nine: I was in an inflatable dinghy that drifted out to sea. A lifeboat had to come.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 January 2017 source ↗

Others on this question

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Marc Almond English singer
The motorcycle crash, but also when a neon sign fell on my head in Soho in the 90s.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 November 2017 source ↗
Nina Riggs Poet and essayist
None of this was supposed to happen. At 38, I wasn’t supposed to lie on my back in the E.R. on a late December morning and be told by a teary radiation oncology resident that the pain I’d been having for two months — that I’d been assured was from having a weak core after months of chemo — was actually from a tumor that had devoured my L2 vertebra. John wasn’t supposed to have to hold me up on the toilet. Put my pants on for me. Do Christmas Eve for the children without me. I’m not supposed to be thinking about where he will sit and hold my hand as I take my last breath.
Recorded The New York Times, Modern Love, 23 September 2016 source ↗
Laurence Fox English actor and activist
A motorbike crash. I broke my shoulder and ribs and was so scared I didn’t ride for two years.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 December 2019 source ↗
I had some gynaecological issues that were very sudden, about 18 months ago, and felt that I might be dying. I wasn’t but it was quite serious.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 November 2025 source ↗

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