nepallover123, you don't need to know the actual life threating event to answer his question. I am not an expert on this Asylum nor I have done one myself. But  I know few friends who got approved and few were denied.
However, I know this basic - that you can file Asylum based of many circumstances, and his\her (matt20) would fall under somthing like "fear of life in his/her homecountry".

Back to his question -
matt20, I don't think you will loose ur current status of F1, so meaning that your CPT shouldn't be canceled as well. I have seen many who had filed Asylum while F1, and their case was denied and they did nothing to adjust their status.

However, what I have heard is that if your case is denied, and if you wish to futher challenge that in immigration court with the help of a lawyer, and at that point it gets more complicated, and at that point you might loose ur current immigration status.

I hope this helps.