Experience
You share your unique experiences
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Richard was hanging by his rucksack. Hans screamed, ‘He’s choking!’ and I realised our friend was being strangled by his bag
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I was told she was six months old, had come from a breeder and wouldn’t grow any bigger than a very large cat
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I saw that it wasn’t being female that was stopping me from being myself; it was society’s perpetual oppression of women
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My cerebral palsy meant I was stuck in a perpetual reception class at school – but a spelling board helped me find my voice
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The water was murky, so I couldn’t see anything. It just came out of nowhere and then it was gone in a flash
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‘I tried to sit up, but the nurse told me that I would fall out of bed, because I had no sitting balance. I thought, “Are you on crack? Of course I can sit up!” But she was right: I was paralysed down my left-hand side’
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He wanted to paint my portrait every year for 10 years. I was so young, I didn’t realise what an awesome opportunity this was
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It was -55C outside. The whole base dropped to almost -20C inside, and we had no heating or lights and no link to the outside world
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I followed his gaze to the nativity scene, and that’s when I saw him huddled inside – the youngest baby I’ve ever seen
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There are parts of that day I was left on the roadside that I cannot recall
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There was a loud thud. I looked towards the front of the bus. Our driver wasn’t at the wheel
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I tried to stay positive. But there was nobody around – it was the middle of December, in the middle of nowhere
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I liked not speaking. It gave me peace. People ask if I spoke to myself, but why would I? I’d just have complained when I had no one to blame but myself
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‘I hadn’t even put the antibiotic in my mouth when I started sneezing, scratching everywhere, and my scalp felt like it was on fire’
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I remember lying face down in the water thinking, ‘OK, time to get out now,’ but my legs wouldn’t work
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Breast milk is often the only thing a very sick or premature baby can tolerate. The thought of helping other tiny babies and their worried mums meant a lot to me
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We later learned that we had collided head-on with a Boeing 737. People don’t just walk away from that
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Every night, I go outside and look up to the stars and the moon because for years, I could not see them
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Until now, I haven’t been able to recount the story without feeling horror and a shudder through my spine
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I used to be terrified of spiders. I thought if I got one and always knew where it was, it couldn’t frighten me
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He was struggling to light the barbecue, and used an accelerant – white spirit, perhaps. It caused a small fireball and the breeze switched in my direction
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I had aches and pains and felt tired all the time. Drinking made me sick. But the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong
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I was on standby 24 hours a day, freezing cold, sleep deprived and lonely, but I never questioned why I was doing this
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When I was 16 I told an official that I wanted to quit skating for East Germany. He was really angry and called me a traitor to the fatherland. That broke me
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We were both doing around 30mph on our motorbikes when we met on a corner. Our heads collided and my helmet disintegrated
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I had become the first known person ever to survive rabies without a vaccination, and the treatment became known as the Milwaukee protocol
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I see every letter and number in its own unique hue. I can tell someone the colour of their name instantly
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I had lost so much weight that I looked like walking skeleton. I was ready to give up
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I saw this Lapras was close. As it’s a water-type creature I assumed it must be down by the nearby lake. I jumped into my younger brother’s car
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My first thought was that a shark had taken my right leg. I knew I was in danger. I expected to see my blood billowing around
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I found a big rock and latched on to it like a limpet, blinded by panic but clinging on even as the water rose up to my shoulders, then chin
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‘A firefighter emerged with Tink draped over his arm. I assumed she was dead. He put an oxygen mask on her and incredibly, she took a breath and coughed’
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My Twitter account was flooded with notifications about a Photoshopped picture that made me look like a terrorist, and it had gone viral
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For me, it’s like drinking coffee: it’s an energy boost
Experience: I crashed into the North Sea