Feeling So Sick Walking Was Impossible Until a Fellow Passenger Virtually Carried Me to the Toilets.

At the age of 19 years old, my daily commute was on an crowded coach. It remained crowded and would always be without any seats when I got on.

One particular morning, I was feeling terribly ill as the bus lurched around each corner. I kept telling myself to persevere just a little longer until the bus reached where I needed to get off, at which point I could rush hurriedly toward the most convenient public restroom to vomit.

We were coming down the avenue close to the destination as I realised I wasn’t going to make it. In an instant, it was like a curtain fell over me. My vision turned blank and silent; as if someone cut the sound. My mind raced, “I will lose consciousness”.

Luckily I was close to the driver of the bus, allowing me to take several steps toward the driver and asked the driver to open the doors, telling him I needed to be sick. He promptly opened the entrance and I weakly exited on to the pavement.

I was resolved not to vomit in view of a busy multi-lane road, so I picked myself up and endeavored to make my way to the park across the road, where I thought I’d at least be able to find some privacy behind a bush to throw up. However I likely lost consciousness. I could feel my physical self, yet I couldn’t walk or see properly, so I began inching my way to the park.

“You right, love?”

Right then, I was lifted up. There was an arm around my waist and a man’s voice asked, “Everything alright, love?” I told this kind passerby that I needed to be sick. Thus, he practically supported my weight down into a close-by structure and placed me into the female bathroom. He wanted to know whether I required him to wait for me but I said no.

After a short while, I regained my composure sufficiently to sit on the toilet and from the other side of the stall I heard him ask, “Do you need anything, love? Is there anything you require?” I wasn’t able to rise right away but I was able to express my gratitude and following a brief period was able to move my limbs. I made my way home and spent the next few days getting over what was later diagnosed as a severe stomach virus.

I did not see that man’s face – merely his legs along with a sizable steelwork tools container he was carrying – yet he rescued me, at a moment I was at my most vulnerable.

Many times, life can make you guarded, hostile, and combative. What he did was the kind of action that undoes that hardening of the heart. He demonstrated that humanity’s innate tendency is towards kindness, a quality I adore in other people.