Feeling So Sick I Was Unable to Walk When a Man Essentially Lifted Me to the Toilets.

At the age of nineteenth year, my morning travel meant taking an express bus. It was perpetually full and was consistently without any seats when I boarded.

On one specific day, I started experiencing terribly ill while the vehicle lurched around each corner. I continuously reassured myself to persevere just a little longer before the bus reached where I needed to get off, at which point I could make a mad dash to the closest public restroom to throw up.

As we neared the avenue close to my stop and I understood I wasn’t going to hold on. In an instant, it was like a veil came over me. Everything just went white and really quiet; as if someone muted everything. I thought, “I will lose consciousness”.

Luckily I was near the front on the bus, so I managed several steps toward the driver and requested that the driver to pull over, informing him I was going to get ill. He promptly opened the doors and I hurriedly stepped out onto the street.

My intention was to not get sick before six lanes of traffic, so I gathered myself and endeavored to stumble across to the park across the road, where I believed I could at least discreetly hide among some shrubs to vomit. But then I apparently lost consciousness. I could feel my limbs, but walking was impossible and my vision was blurry, so I began inching my way to the park.

“Everything alright, love?”

At that moment, someone picked me up. I felt an arm around my waist and heard a man say, “Are you okay, dear?” I explained to this kind passerby that I needed to be sick. Thus, he practically supported my weight into a nearby building and guided me in the ladies’ toilets. He inquired if I needed him to wait for me but I declined.

A few minutes later, I had recovered to the point of sitting on the toilet when from beyond the stall I heard him inquire, “Are you OK, love? Can I get you something?” I wasn’t able to get up right away but did manage to thank him and after a few more minutes recovered the use of my feet. I got myself home and spent several days healing from what was later diagnosed as a severe stomach virus.

I never glimpsed that man’s face – just his lower half and a large steelwork tools container he was carrying – but he helped me, when I was in my weakest state.

Many times, life can make you self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. His was the sort of gesture that undoes that hardening of the heart. He was proof that people’s natural inclination is to be kind, something I love in other people.