When someone comes too close to death, not once, not twice, but seven times, and still survives; what do you call them, unlucky or extremely lucky? Today, we are going to talk about Adolphe Sax, the man who barred all misfortunes and went on to invent the Saxophone.

Adolphe Sax was born in 1814 in the Belgian municipality of Dinant. Although he was initially named Antoine-Joseph Sax, he started going by the name of Adolphe.

Adolphe Sax

Adolphe went on to invent Saxophone in the year 1846, but that’s not where our story starts. Considering the childhood Sax had, it was nothing less than a miracle that he survived long enough for his invention.

Hardly young to stand, young Adolphe fell down several flights of stairs with his head smacking on the stone floor. The reports differ vastly regarding how bad the accident really was, with some saying he was bedridden for a week, and others claiming he went into a coma.

At the age of three, Adolphe drank a bowl full of ‘milk’ except it wasn’t really milk but watered-down Sulphuric acid.

One can say Adolphe was particularly fond of swallowing things, as years later, he accidentally swallowed a large needle, but luckily, he didn’t face any serious injury.

Once he toppled onto a burning stove, which caused severe burns on his side. Luckily, it didn’t turn into any severe infection, as is common in the case of burns, and he survived.

Adolphe Sax
National Today

The closest he came to death was at the age of 10 when he fell into a river and nearly drowned. It was thanks to a random villager, who saw him floating face down and rescued him, that he survived.

There was also an incident where he nearly died after a gunpowder container accidentally exploded in his father’s workshop.

He was also once rendered temporarily comatose when a roof stone fell on his head while he was taking a stroll.

All these incidents made Adolphe’s mother understandably worried and she said that her son was “condemned to misfortune and won’t survive.”

Adolphe Sax

Talking about Sax’s story full of misfortunes, people often joke that somebody with the time machine either targeted the wrong ‘Adolphe,’ or seriously hated Sax and didn’t want it to be invented.

Jokes aside, how unlucky do you have to be to experience all that, and how lucky do you have to be to still survive?

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