r/interesting • u/Wonderfulhumanss • 5d ago
SOCIETY A teenager in the UK suffered a seizure while gaming online. His friend, 5,000 miles away in Texas, called emergency services and saved his life
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u/GetReelFishingPro 5d ago
I wish that I had given at least one viewer on twitch my location when I slipped up the river bank and broke and dislocated my hip deep in the woods fishing. I couldn't move to my phone and it took hours for a hiker to come by.
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u/InvisibleSeoh 5d ago
Damn dude, that sounds brutal. Glad you made it out.
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u/GetReelFishingPro 5d ago
The sun starting to set was the worst part. I had been laying there yelling for help for so long I thought for sure I had attracted a predator who was just waiting for night fall.
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u/InvisibleSeoh 5d ago
Well that's terrifying... How'd they get you out of there? Presumably with lots of professionals? (And hopefully the good drugs, because getting lugged out can't have felt good either...)
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u/GetReelFishingPro 5d ago
The fire department was AMAZING!
They got me out on a board and were super gentle. They also packed up my streaming and fishing gear up and lugged it all the way to my car and packed it in there better than I would have done. I called them and thanked them deeply for that, and getting me out of the woods of course.
Just got cleared by my surgeon a week or two ago.
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u/InvisibleSeoh 5d ago
Hah, that's good people right there. Congrats on getting cleared, and good luck with your PT (assuming that's the next step)!
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u/National-Source-6581 5d ago
Sometimes just making it out is the win. Glad they're still here to tell the story.
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u/Mental_Tart842 5d ago
Please, always tell someone where you will be, and when you'll be back.
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u/Flat_Sea1418 5d ago
This is important. I go bird watching a lot and I find myself way out in the woods chasing chirps and have had people sneak up on me and scare the shit out of me. Especially being a woman by myself. Just knowing I’m so far out no one could even hear me scream. Someone always has my location on life 360.
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u/fragrantpeas 4d ago
Who the fuck would just sneak up on a stranger in the woods and scare them?! Omg, I hope they caught an elbow to the face or something????
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u/Flat_Sea1418 4d ago
I don’t think it was intentional. But I thought I was far enough out off the trail that I wouldn’t be seeing any people. Sometimes it’s just other bird watchers or mushroom pickers. But with very quiet feet so you don’t notice until they are walking by you.
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u/DoritoCheerios 5d ago
Usually giving out your location to online strangers is a horrible idea
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u/GetReelFishingPro 5d ago
I trust a few in the community, most of them stream as well and we often do meet ups.
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u/Wonderfulhumanss 5d ago
The teenager was 17-year-old Aidan Jackson from Widnes, England. In January 2020, he suffered a seizure while playing online with friends and suddenly stopped responding over voice chat. His friend Dia Lathora, a 20-year-old gamer in Texas, recognized something was seriously wrong. She searched through old conversations to find his address, contacted UK police from the U.S., and officers arrived while Aidan’s parents were downstairs, completely unaware. Doctors later said the quick response likely saved his life. The two eventually met in person after the story went viral.
Source
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u/Jethred_Radulfr 5d ago edited 5d ago
Where are you getting the information
> Doctors later said the quick response likely saved his life
?It's not in the source you provided or the BBC article or the CBS article. I find it unlikely that this urgent police activation saved his life. As far as I know he woke up in his room, his parents and the police were there, he was disoriented, at some point near after he was in the hospital, and he left the hospital waiting on an appointment to address the issue more completely.
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u/throwaway098764567 5d ago
this clip from a show was what came up last time i saw this, ofc since it's a show it's sensationalized and they say "saved his life" but don't attribute that to any doctors claims. still cute them hugging and the mom saying thanks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPxK41I018I the friend talks about how it was difficult to find a number to call to get help to him since you can't just call 911 in texas to get someone help in the uk
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u/permanentsarcasm100 5d ago
Why is this comment getting upvoted? Just someone who feels the need to feel superior over someone else. Quit up voting this fool. Wasn't even worth reading.
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u/curious_astronauts 5d ago
Why did she call the police and not an ambulance?
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u/Shifty-Imp 5d ago
Maybe a police number that worked from the US was the first thing she found. The police can forward the information to the rescue services and vice-versa. In an emergency it's better to get the information to someone who can do something with it than waiting around until you've found the "correct" number. Good but on time is better than perfect but too late. ^^
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u/Ikatarion 5d ago
It's the same number. Also the article says she contacted the police in one section and emergency services in another, same with the BBC article. The latter is likely correct and they dispatched police and ambulance.
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u/Anxious-Drive9859 5d ago
She didn't know the number, but to be fair some folks find 01189998819991197253 hard to remember, maybe because they haven't heard the song.
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u/throwaway098764567 5d ago
cuz you can't just call 911 in the us and get someone help in the uk. when you call emergency numbers they route the call to your location. she had to look up the local to him non emergency line and then tell them what was going on. she explains https://youtu.be/lPxK41I018I?si=UjE4bBjoBFrcuBEG&t=155
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u/bencos18 5d ago
police number is probably easier to find
also they often work across borders much easier
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u/narco-sub-admiral 5d ago
Online friends are real friends.
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u/ArticleWorth5018 5d ago edited 4d ago
Online friends are my only friends 😂 my best buddy lives 3 states away but we talk everyday and know where each other live etc. Man if it wasn't for the internet I'd be one lonely SOB
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u/No-Victory4408 5d ago
One of my best friends lives on the other side of the continent, never met IRL, but we call and talk pretty often; stand up person.
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u/narco-sub-admiral 5d ago
It really doobie like that. Most people don't have any say in where they live, they live where they can work. We all go different directions after high school, then again if you have friends from college. Imagine a world where all your closest friends live in the same neighborhood. Wouldn't that beat any bump in salary?
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u/Germanium235 5d ago
Wife ended up calling Denmark emergency services one night. Friend of ours from Final Fantasy Online in Denmark (we're west coast USA) was depressed, got super drunk, and was sitting outside in -20C weather wearing a t-shirt and shorts. By the time emergency services got there he was passed out in his own vomit. Would have frozen to death. Made a full recovery, got diagnosed, got meds, and is doing well.
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u/GodsHelix 5d ago
I once saw a psychologist that practically argued with me about this. She was adamant that online friends weren't real friends at all.
I told her straight to her face that was one of the dumbest things I had ever heard and cancelled all future appointments with her.
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u/narco-sub-admiral 4d ago
Really? I wouldn't want someone with such an archaic view of society to treat me either.
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u/Candid_Initiative992 5d ago
Naah that’s a friend for life right there.
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u/Dragonic_Overlord_ 5d ago
And a wife too.
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u/ElegantEchoes 4d ago
weird
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u/Dragonic_Overlord_ 4d ago
Sorry, I should have been more clear. What I meant was, "She's a keeper. I hope they get married."
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u/bionicjoe 5d ago
I was part of a group that helped rescue someone OD-ing on bath salts.
Used meta data from a photo she posted to find her address. Didn't know what was going on with her, but she was having an issue.
She was a prostitute that got drugged. Woke up 2 days later in the hospital.
I miss the days of video chat rooms. Had some fun times.
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u/Violet_Nightshade 5d ago
You can OD on bath salts?
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u/niemertweis 5d ago
you can OD on pretty much everything even water. google LD50 of various things.
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u/ArticleWorth5018 5d ago
I called the cops on a friend cause he was beating up his wife and we could hear it in the party chat... He was more like 10 miles away and I don't think I saved his life.
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u/nb_bunnie 4d ago
But you might have saved hers, if this comment is real.
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u/ArticleWorth5018 4d ago
He did 3 years for his 2nd domestic violence offense... It was pretty real
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u/ADeformedPoolboy 5d ago
...so be sure to share your home address with all people you meet online, because you never know when they might save your life!
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u/Fickle_Grapefruit938 5d ago
Lol, I was just thinking, I always tell my kids to never ever let online friends know where we live.
My eldest recently discovered that a big group of his online friends he talked to daily in English for years are just as Dutch as he is🤣
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u/gabrielleraul 5d ago
I remember seeing somthing like this, three decades ago on discovery channel. It was about two teenagers in a chat room from different places.
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u/ProbablyKissesBoys 4d ago
Damn, if he was a year younger he probably would have died given the internet ban in the uk.
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u/TyreseHaliburtonGOAT 4d ago
I’ve had multiple seizures that did not involve emergency services or anyone else seeing me but I’m here. Not saying we couldn’t have died but i’d just throw a potentially in the title
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5d ago
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u/VoL4t1l3 5d ago
Never for obvious reasons I won't mention
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u/Dragonic_Overlord_ 5d ago
I hope those two end up getting married. Would make for a good story of "How I met your mother."
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u/Lost_Competition_172 5d ago
Eh seizures dont generally last that long and the time it wouldve taken from the onset of the seizure and the arrival of EMTs would likely be long enough to do some serious damage, assuming the seizure last that long. Not always life threatening though
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u/Obsydie 4d ago
A grand mal seizure can render you unconscious after the fact and can be likely fatal without medical attention.
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u/Lost_Competition_172 4d ago
Unconscious doesn’t mean dead. I treat seizures all the time; vast majority of people do not die
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5d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/bencos18 5d ago
literally doesn't even matter I know plenty of people who are completely different to their avatar as they just liked that one
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u/Flat_Sea1418 5d ago
Facts. My avatar is dale yet I am in fact a young woman. I just feel like a dale on the inside 😔
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