I'm descended from a clan of Irish badasses.
My ancestor won a decent patch of land to run his kingdom in by chopping his hand off and tossing it onto the land (in a race for it, BTW), and won on a technicality. It was such an awesome (and sick) act, it's part of the family crest with a freaking bloody hand on it (which also shows a dark awesome sense of humor). As an easter egg, that's also part of the reason why I chose Bloodfist for my airship's name.
Add to it, my grandfather on my mom's side served during WWII in the Pacific part of the war, and his ship was hit by a crashing plane (or was it a kamikaze?), the boat was a total wreck on the verge of destruction, and that plane crash almost did it in. With not a moment to lose, he made the call to shut it off to patch it up before the ship has a chance to detonate by any means (fuel lines and such), the boat and it's crew were saved.
Amazingly, I have yet to see any mentions of it.
My grandmother (mom's side) was quite badass herself in her days, but I haven't heard all the stories about her; but despite the times, I remember hearing she was quite the force to be reckoned with; along with her being able to spout vulgarity to levels that would make a sailor blush. Even in her elderly years, she could take things on without fear, and handle them amazingly well. I mean, I remember hearing a story that while she was 70+, she crashed my dad's dirtbike pretty harshly, and shrugged off the pain in laughter. Rest her soul, passed away a handful of years before the century mark a few years ago. If not for what could've done her in, she'd still be alive to this day.
And then you have my parents who were both broadway performers with a nice handful of achievements themselves, and quite the few obstacles to overcome in their lifetimes.
I guess a summary is that my family is crazy, and crazy awesome. I mean, what haven't we been hit with already that we haven't overcome?