Feeling So Sick Walking Was Impossible When a Man Practically Supported Me to the Toilets.

During my my late teens, my morning travel was on an crowded coach. It remained jammed and was consistently completely full by the time I boarded.

On one specific day, I began feeling incredibly sick while the vehicle lurched around the bends. I repeatedly told myself to endure for a few more stops before the bus arrived at my stop, and then I could make a mad dash for the nearest washroom to throw up.

As we neared the road leading to the destination as I realised I was unable to last. All of a sudden, it felt as if a fog descended upon me. My vision turned hazy and muffled; as if someone muted everything. I said to myself, “I will lose consciousness”.

Fortunately, I stood toward the front of the bus, so I took a few steps forward and asked the driver to open the doors, explaining to him that I was about to vomit. The driver opened the bus doors and I weakly exited on to the pavement.

I was determined to avoid being sick in view of multiple lanes of cars, so I gathered myself and began attempting to walk to the park across the road, thinking I could I’d at least be able to find some privacy near some foliage to throw up. But then I must have lost consciousness. I sensed my body but I was unable to walk or see properly, so I started dragging myself toward the grassy area.

“Everything alright, love?”

Right then, I got scooped up. There was someone holding me and a man’s voice asked, “Are you okay, dear?” I explained to this unknown man that I had to to be sick. Therefore, he almost helped me walk into an adjacent building and guided me in the ladies’ toilets. He asked me if I wanted him to wait for me but I declined.

A few minutes later, I had recovered to the point of sitting down and from the other side of the stall I heard him inquire, “Are you OK, love? Do you need anything?” I could not to get up just then but did manage to say thank you and shortly thereafter recovered the use of my limbs. I returned home and then spent the following days recovering from what turned out to be a horrible case of gastroenteritis.

I never saw that man’s face – only his legs and a large metal toolbox he was carrying – but he saved me, during a time when I was at my most vulnerable.

Frequently, society has a way of making you guarded, hostile, and combative. His was the sort of gesture that reverses that hardening of the heart. He demonstrated that people’s natural inclination is towards kindness, a trait I cherish in other people.