Feeling So Sick I Couldn’t Walk Until a Fellow Passenger Virtually Carried Me to a Restroom.

At the age of my late teens, my regular journey to work was on an packed public transport. It was perpetually full and invariably became standing room only once I boarded.

On one specific day, I began feeling terribly ill while the vehicle rocked around each corner. I continuously reassured myself to endure for a few more stops before the bus got to where I needed to get off, at which point I could make a mad dash to the closest public restroom to throw up.

We were coming down the avenue close to my stop and I realised I wasn’t going to last. In an instant, it felt as if a curtain fell over me. The world became hazy and muffled; similar to when one muted everything. My mind raced, “I’m going to faint”.

Luckily I was near the front on the bus, so I managed a couple of steps to ask the driver and requested that the driver to stop, informing him I was going to get ill. He promptly opened the bus doors and I stumbled out onto the sidewalk.

My intention was not to vomit in view of a busy multi-lane road, so I forced myself up and started trying to make my way across to the park across the road, where I believed it would allow me to secretly conceal myself among some shrubs to vomit. But then I likely fainted. I was aware of my body but I was unable to walk or see clearly, so I started inching my way to my intended destination.

“Are you okay, dear?”

In that instant, I was lifted up. There was an arm around my waist and a man’s voice asked, “You right, love?” I told this unknown man that I had to to get to a bathroom. Therefore, he almost supported my weight into a nearby building and guided me in the ladies’ toilets. He inquired whether I required him to stay with me but I declined.

Not long after, I had recovered to the point of sitting down when from beyond the door I heard his voice asking, “Are you feeling better, dear? Can I get you something?” I could not to stand up right away but did manage to thank him and following a brief period recovered the use of my legs. I made my way home and spent the following days healing from what was later diagnosed as a nasty tummy bug.

I did not see his features – just his lower half along with a sizable container for tools he was carrying – but he saved me, during a time when I was at my most vulnerable.

Many times, life has a way of making you guarded, hostile, and combative. His act was the type of kindness that melts away that hardening of the heart. He demonstrated that humanity’s innate tendency leans toward compassion, a quality I adore about my fellow humans.