Feeling So Sick I Couldn’t Walk When a Man Virtually Carried Me to a Bathroom.

Back when I was 19 years old, my daily commute meant taking an express bus. The vehicle was always crowded and would always be completely full once I stepped aboard.

During a certain commute, I started experiencing quite nauseous while the vehicle rocked around each corner. I continuously reassured myself to hold on another few kilometres until the bus got to my destination, at which point I could sprint quickly to the closest washroom to be sick.

We were coming down the avenue close to the stop when I realised I wasn’t going to make it. In an instant, it felt as if a curtain fell over me. My vision turned hazy and muffled; similar to when one muted everything. I said to myself, “I am about to pass out”.

Thankfully, I was positioned toward the front of the bus, so I took a few steps toward the driver and asked the driver to pull over, informing him I was going to get ill. He opened the entrance and I weakly exited onto the sidewalk.

My intention was not to vomit in front of six lanes of traffic, so I forced myself up and started trying to walk across to the park on the other side, where I thought I’d at least be able to find some privacy behind a bush to be sick. But then I likely blacked out. I could feel my limbs, but I couldn’t walk and my vision was blurry, so I began inching my way to my intended destination.

“Are you okay, dear?”

Right then, I was lifted up. There was someone holding me and a stranger inquired, “Are you okay, dear?” I managed to tell the mysterious stranger that I had to to vomit. So he virtually helped me walk into a nearby building and guided me into the female bathroom. He asked me if I wanted him to wait for me but I refused.

After a short while, I had recovered sufficiently to sit down and from outside the stall I heard him inquire, “Are you OK, love? Do you need anything?” I was incapable to rise right away but did manage to thank him and after a few more minutes was able to move my limbs. I returned home and spent the following days getting over what was later diagnosed as a nasty tummy bug.

I never glimpsed his features – only his legs and a large steelwork tools container he held – yet he rescued me, during a time when I was at my most vulnerable.

Frequently, society has a way of making you self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. His was the sort of gesture that melts away that hardening of the heart. He was proof that people’s natural inclination is to be kind, something I love in other people.