In Such Poor Health I Was Unable to Walk Until a Fellow Passenger Practically Supported Me to the Toilets.

During my 19 years old, my regular journey to work meant taking an packed public transport. The vehicle was always crowded and invariably became standing room only when I got on.

On one specific day, I was feeling terribly ill as the bus lurched around every turn. I repeatedly told myself to hold on just a little longer until the bus arrived at where I needed to get off, so I could then rush hurriedly to the closest public toilet to vomit.

As we neared the road leading to the destination as it dawned on me I wasn’t going to hold on. In an instant, it was like a curtain fell over me. Everything just went hazy and muffled; like someone had cut the sound. My mind raced, “I will lose consciousness”.

Thankfully, I was positioned near the front inside the vehicle, so I took several steps toward the driver and asked the driver to stop, explaining to him I was going to get ill. The driver opened the entrance and I stumbled out on to the pavement.

I was resolved to avoid being sick before six lanes of traffic, so I gathered myself and started trying to walk to the park opposite the street, where I thought I could at least find some privacy behind a bush to throw up. Yet I apparently fainted. I could feel my physical self, yet I couldn’t walk and my vision was blurry, so I started crawling towards the park.

“Are you okay, dear?”

In that instant, I got scooped up. There was an arm around my waist and heard a man say, “Are you okay, dear?” I explained to this kind passerby that I had to to vomit. Thus, he practically supported my weight over to an adjacent building and placed me into the female bathroom. He wanted to know if I needed him to wait for me but I refused.

After a short while, I felt better enough to sit down and from outside the door I heard his voice asking, “Are you feeling better, dear? Can I get you something?” I was incapable to get up just then but I did succeed to thank him and following a brief period recovered the use of my feet. I got myself home and spent the following days healing from which was a severe stomach virus.

I never glimpsed that man’s face – merely his legs and a large steelwork tools container he was carrying – but he helped me, during a time when I was completely helpless.

Many times, life tends to make people self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. His was the sort of gesture that undoes that emotional callousness. He was proof that people’s natural inclination is to be kind, something I love about humanity.