Had my older sister (late 20s) taken off life support. She was extremely healthy (she was a police officer, taught self-defence classes and was a national champion in several martial arts competitions), but she had an undiagnosed issue with her liver and kidneys and because of her stellar overall health no one suspected a thing until it was too late.
To make a long story short, she was rushed to the hospital after going unconscious and her friend called 911. She stopped breathing right around the time she arrived at the hospital, and the staff took over the crucial 5 minute mark to properly intubate her (I'll get into that later).
My family has many doctors in it along with many family friends who are doctors. As a result, it was difficult for any of us to deny the simple fact that after going so long without oxygen there was just no chance that she could regain consciousness and live anywhere close to normal.
After about 4 days of her being in a hospital bed surrounded by an enormous amount of friends, family and fellow police officers, we made the decision to take her off life support. The one detail I'm afraid I'll have to refrain from discussing is how it affected my father, so you'll have to excuse me for that.
Anyway, it's the one thing I think about every single day of my life. I don't regret it because under the circumstances it was necessary but there are moments when it hits me a lot harder than usual and I have to just take a moment to process the reality of it.
Also about the intubation taking so long... The medical staff were relatively new and inexperienced, which is why it took so long to intubate her. For anyone about to say "you should sue!", all I'll say is that no amount of money will bring her back, and believe me we had (and still have) lawyers telling us we could sue the hospital for millions and easily win in court. Instead, our family made an agreement with the hospital that a full inquiry had to be done to prevent this from happening again, or at least reduce the likelihood of this happening again. That was particularly difficult because we essentially had to re-live that horrible experience all over again for the 2-3 years it took for the inquiry to be complete, but we believe it was the right thing to do.
Lastly... If anyone reading this somehow recognizes this particular story, all I ask is that you don't reveal any of our identities. If you know what happened, you know that what we went through was unimaginable so please just respect our privacy. My parents have been through enough. I'm sharing for a number of personal reasons, the main one being that I want people to read this and cherish the people around them because life can end at the drop of the hat.