Feeling So Sick I Couldn’t Walk Until a Fellow Passenger Essentially Lifted Me to a Restroom.

At the age of 19 years old, my daily commute meant taking an packed public transport. The vehicle was always crowded and was consistently standing room only by the time I stepped aboard.

On one specific day, I started experiencing terribly ill while the vehicle rocked around the bends. I kept telling myself to hold on another few kilometres so the bus could arrived at where I needed to get off, and then I could sprint quickly to the closest public toilet to be sick.

We were coming down the road leading to my stop and I understood I was unable to hold on. All of a sudden, it seemed a curtain fell over me. Everything just went white and really quiet; similar to when one cut the sound. I thought, “I will lose consciousness”.

Thankfully, I was positioned toward the front inside the vehicle, so I managed a few steps toward the driver and told the operator to open the doors, explaining to him I was going to be sick. The driver opened the entrance and I stumbled out onto the sidewalk.

My intention was to avoid being sick in view of a busy multi-lane road, so I picked myself up and endeavored to make my way across to the park opposite the street, where I thought I’d at least be able to find some privacy near some foliage to be sick. But then I must have fainted. I was aware of my body but I couldn’t walk or see properly, leading me to start dragging myself toward the grassy area.

“Everything alright, love?”

Right then, someone picked me up. I sensed an arm around my waist and heard a man say, “Are you okay, dear?” I explained to this mysterious stranger that I needed to get to a bathroom. Thus, he practically supported my weight into a close-by structure and placed me in the ladies’ toilets. He asked me if I needed him to stay with me but I refused.

After a short while, I regained my composure sufficiently to sit on the toilet and from outside the door came him ask, “Do you need anything, love? Is there anything you require?” I wasn’t able to get up just then but did manage to thank him and following a brief period regained the function of my legs. I made my way home and then spent the following days recovering from which was a horrible case of gastroenteritis.

I did not see that man’s face – only his legs and a large metal toolbox he had with him – but he saved me, at a moment I was completely helpless.

Often this world has a way of making you self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. His was the sort of gesture that reverses that protective shell. He was proof that our default setting is to be kind, something I love in other people.