I Was So Ill I Was Unable to Walk As a Stranger Practically Supported Me to a Bathroom.

At the age of my late teens, my regular journey to work was on an packed public transport. It remained crowded and would always be standing room only when I stepped aboard.

On one specific day, I began feeling incredibly sick when the coach rocked around each corner. I repeatedly told myself to endure another few kilometres so the bus could reached where I needed to get off, at which point I could sprint quickly for the nearest public restroom to vomit.

As we neared the road leading to my stop and it dawned on me I would not be to hold on. In an instant, it felt as if a curtain fell over me. The world became white and really quiet; like someone had muted everything. My mind raced, “I will lose consciousness”.

Luckily I was toward the front of the bus, so I took a few steps forward and asked the driver to stop, telling him I needed to get ill. The driver opened the entrance and I stumbled out on to the pavement.

I was determined to avoid being sick in front of six lanes of traffic, so I forced myself up and began attempting to walk across to the park across the road, where I believed it would allow me to find some privacy among some shrubs to vomit. Yet I likely blacked out. I was aware of my physical self, yet I couldn’t walk or see clearly, so I began dragging myself toward the grassy area.

“Everything alright, love?”

At that moment, someone picked me up. I felt someone holding me and heard a man say, “Everything alright, love?” I told this kind passerby that I required to get to a bathroom. So he virtually carried me into a close-by structure and placed me into the female bathroom. He asked me if I needed him to remain with me but I said no.

After a short while, I had recovered to the point of sitting on the toilet when from beyond the stall I heard his voice asking, “Do you need anything, love? Can I get you something?” I wasn’t able to rise just then but did manage to express my gratitude and shortly thereafter regained the function of my legs. I got myself home passing the following days getting over what was later diagnosed as a severe stomach virus.

I never glimpsed the stranger’s face – just his lower half and a large steelwork tools container he was carrying – but he helped me, when I was at my most vulnerable.

Often this world tends to make people defensive, aggressive and competitive. His was the sort of gesture that melts away that emotional callousness. He demonstrated that people’s natural inclination is to be kind, a quality I adore about humanity.