During my undergrad studies at university, I spent a year living in South Korea as a foreign exchange student. I was originally going to live in one of the on-campus dorm rooms but they were beyond horrible in every respect. Luckily I had my Korean girlfriend (who is now my wife) who, as a local, was able to help me find a really nice studio apartment that otherwise I would've never had access to. The studio wasn't very big but it was cozy and cute and I quickly fell in love with it.

The only problem with my studio was that it had a super narrow, super steep wooden staircase that led up to an open floor where I had my bed. What made this whole construction even more dangerous was the fact that the staircase didn't have a handlebar. On one side was the wall but on the other side it was completely open.

One morning after a bad night with little sleep I got up to go to class. I couldn't see the individual steps and usually climbed down the staircase on all fours... just to be sure. That morning I must've been inattentive or stressed out. Either way, I slipped and lost my balance when I was still all the way up. Instinctively I reached out my hands to grab a handrail but like I mentioned - there was none. I remember falling over the edge of the staircase down to the lower floor and thinking to myself "oh shit, this is going to hurt really bad."

When I woke up again, I was lying on the floor in the kitchen area (the kitchen was right below the staircase). I got up, looked around and... saw a lot of blood. There was blood on the floor and when I touched my face, my hand was covered in blood. The truly terrifying part however was that my mind had been completely wiped out. I didn't know where I was or what had happened. I didn't even know who I was. I couldn't remember my name, age or any other personal information. I was terrified by the blood because I thought maybe I had become the victim of a crime... and maybe the perpetrator was still in my studio. Strangely, there was one single person I remembered and it was my girlfriend. I couldn't quite tell how I was related to her but I knew that she's someone who loves me very much and someone who would be able to help me if I called her.

When I called my girlfriend and talked to her like a confused time traveler, she immediately figured that something bad must've happened. She explained to me who I was, where I was and a few other basic things. After that she called an ambulance.

The ambulance came sooner after and rushed me to the hospital. Fortunately South Korea has an excellent healthcare system. The doctors at the hospital put me into an x-ray machine and did some other examinations. My girlfriend managed to come sooner after so I wouldn't feel so lonely and scared.

In the end, it turned out that I had been incredibly lucky. From later reconstructions back in my studio in connection with my injuries, I was able to tell that I had first crushed onto the kitchen counter with my chin. This caused me to lose a few teeth and it made a pretty bad chin wound that had to be stitched but it also decelerated my fall significantly. After I had crushed onto the kitchen counter, I fell onto the hardwood floor and hit it first with the side of my head (my temple area). This is probably what caused the concussion.

I was incredibly lucky because I only had a concussion but no brain injuries. If I had missed the kitchen counter and my head had impacted the hardwood floor after an almost 3-meter (9-foot) fall, I would have almost certainly suffered severe brain injuries; I may have even been killed.

One of my pet peeves about canes are that they don't help much with overhead objects. I've banged my shoulders and head on so many things.

I once cut my neck on the edge of a handicap sign. I avoided the pole but not the sign that jutted out.

I had a really bad grease burn all over my hand it was third degree and they had to graft skin from my leg to put on my fingers and hand I spent to weeks in the hospital and a total of four weeks out of school

I walked into the edge of a for sale sign outside an apartment. It had been zip tied to a fence and the zip ties had slipped so it could fall over sideways. It was only made out of that fluted plastic stuff but I got it right across the bridge of the nose. The cane went straight underneath it. I still have a tiny scar.

I Broke my arm falling off a high deck that didnt have railings. I was drunk.

For a time I got up every weekday morning to go for a run. One morning I met with the hitch of a caravan (what in the US you call a trailer). The caravan was parked in someone's driveway, but the hitch was jutting out blocking the footpath.

Naturally, I did not see it.

I went right over it, but luckily the leg I put into it was on the up swing so that it glided over it, slicing rather than bashing. I tumbled over and cracked my right elbow on the hitch as I fell. I sat there on the footpath, less than impressed. My left leg was cut open over the bone - the cut was about 10-15cm. My right elbow was sore - I thought it must be bruised badly. I kept stretching out and contracting in my arm but movement became increasingly difficult.

I was actually going to get up and continue my run at first, but decided I'd rest a little. Then a woman walking her dog came by and stopped to see if I was ok. She advised me to go home. I had dad take me to the doctor later, but he sent me straight to emergency - the cut was too deep for him to stich and to get my arm x-rayed.

I remember when the girl tried to get me to extend out my arm fully to x-ray it. That is the only time in my life I have ever cried out in agony.

Suffice it to say I'd fractured my radius near the elbow. I can't remember how many stitches they put it my leg, it wasn't all that many though.

Had two and a half weeks off work; took six weeks for my arm to heal; and I'm left with a gnarly scar on my left leg.

I didn't go out running any more after that and now own a treadmill (which, funnily enough, led to the second broken bone of my life when I stacked it due to inattentiveness and fractured a finger).

I walked into a sign because it was too bright for me to have my eyes open but insisted I knew where I was going. I spontaneously leaned towards am object and bam, metal sign to the head. I somehow managed to hit the sign so hard I got a concussion.