I Was So Ill I Couldn’t Walk As a Stranger Essentially Lifted Me to a Bathroom.

At the age of nineteenth year, my daily commute meant taking an crowded coach. It remained jammed and was consistently without any seats when I got on.

On one specific day, I began feeling quite nauseous when the coach rocked around each corner. I repeatedly told myself to persevere just a little longer before the bus arrived at my destination, so I could then rush hurriedly for the nearest public toilet to throw up.

As we neared the avenue close to my stop and it dawned on me I was unable to hold on. In an instant, it seemed a fog descended upon me. My vision turned hazy and muffled; as if someone turned off the audio. My mind raced, “I am about to pass out”.

Fortunately, I stood near the front of the bus, so I took a few steps forward and asked the driver to open the doors, informing him I was going to get ill. He opened the doors and I weakly exited onto the sidewalk.

I was resolved not to vomit in front of multiple lanes of cars, so I gathered myself and began attempting to make my way to the park across the road, where I thought I’d at least be able to secretly conceal myself behind a bush to throw up. Yet I likely blacked out. I could feel my body but I couldn’t walk and my vision was blurry, so I began inching my way to my intended destination.

“Everything alright, love?”

At that moment, I got scooped up. There was a strong arm supporting me and heard a man say, “Are you okay, dear?” I explained to this kind passerby that I needed to be sick. So he virtually carried me over to a close-by structure and put me in the ladies’ toilets. He asked me if I needed him to stay with me but I refused.

After a short while, I felt better sufficiently to sit down and from outside the door I heard his voice asking, “Do you need anything, love? Is there anything you require?” I was incapable to get up just then but did manage to thank him and after a few more minutes recovered the use of my feet. I got myself home and spent the following days recovering from what was later diagnosed as a horrible case of gastroenteritis.

I never saw the stranger’s face – only his legs along with a sizable steelwork tools container he held – yet he rescued me, when I was at my most vulnerable.

Many times, life has a way of making you defensive, aggressive and competitive. What he did was the kind of action that reverses that hardening of the heart. He served as evidence that people’s natural inclination is to be kind, something I love about humanity.