I Was So Ill I Couldn’t Walk Until a Fellow Passenger Virtually Carried Me to a Bathroom.

Back when I was my late teens, my regular journey to work was on an packed public transport. It remained full and invariably became standing room only once I boarded.

During a certain commute, I was feeling terribly ill while the vehicle rocked around each corner. I repeatedly told myself to hold on just a little longer until the bus arrived at where I needed to get off, and then I could make a mad dash to the closest public toilet to be sick.

We were coming down the avenue close to the destination as I realised I would not be to make it. Suddenly, it felt as if a fog descended upon me. My vision turned white and really quiet; like someone had muted everything. I thought, “I will lose consciousness”.

Thankfully, I was positioned close to the driver inside the vehicle, so I managed a few steps forward and asked the driver to open the doors, telling him I needed to vomit. He opened the entrance and I hurriedly stepped onto the sidewalk.

My intention was to not get sick before a busy multi-lane road, so I picked myself up and endeavored to stumble across to the park opposite the street, where I believed I could at least secretly conceal myself among some shrubs to be sick. Yet I apparently lost consciousness. I was aware of my body but walking was impossible or see properly, so I started crawling towards my intended destination.

“Everything alright, love?”

In that instant, someone picked me up. I felt someone holding me and a stranger inquired, “Are you okay, dear?” I managed to tell the unknown man that I needed to vomit. Therefore, he almost supported my weight down into an adjacent building and placed me into the female bathroom. He inquired if I needed him to remain with me but I declined.

After a short while, I felt better sufficiently to sit down when from beyond the stall I heard him inquire, “Are you OK, love? Do you need anything?” I was incapable to stand up right away but I did succeed to thank him and shortly thereafter recovered the use of my feet. I made my way home and spent the following days recovering from what was later diagnosed as a severe stomach virus.

I never glimpsed that man’s face – merely his legs and the big steelwork tools container he was carrying – but he saved me, when I was in my weakest state.

Many times, life has a way of making you defensive, aggressive and competitive. His was the sort of gesture that reverses that emotional callousness. He was proof that our default setting leans toward compassion, a quality I adore about humanity.