Feeling So Sick Walking Was Impossible Until a Fellow Passenger Practically Supported Me to the Toilets.

Back when I was 19 years old, my morning travel involved an express bus. It was perpetually crowded and invariably became standing room only once I boarded.

One particular morning, I began feeling terribly ill when the coach swayed around each corner. I kept telling myself to endure for a few more stops before the bus reached where I needed to get off, so I could then sprint quickly for the nearest public toilet to vomit.

We were coming down the road leading to my stop and I understood I was unable to hold on. All of a sudden, it was like a fog descended upon me. My vision turned white and really quiet; similar to when one turned off the audio. My mind raced, “I will lose consciousness”.

Thankfully, I was positioned close to the driver of the bus, so I managed several steps forward and told the operator to open the doors, telling him I needed to get ill. He opened the bus doors and I stumbled out out onto the street.

My intention was not to vomit in front of a busy multi-lane road, so I gathered myself and began attempting to walk toward the green space opposite the street, where I thought it would allow me to find some privacy near some foliage to be sick. Yet I must have blacked out. I could feel my body but I was unable to walk or see properly, so I began crawling towards the park.

“Are you okay, dear?”

Right then, I was lifted up. I felt someone holding me and heard a man say, “You right, love?” I explained to this mysterious stranger that I needed to get to a bathroom. So he virtually helped me walk over to an adjacent building and put me in the ladies’ toilets. He inquired if I needed him to wait for me but I declined.

After a short while, I regained my composure sufficiently to sit on the restroom floor when from beyond the door I heard him ask, “Are you OK, love? Can I get you something?” I could not to get up at that moment but I did succeed to express my gratitude and after a few more minutes regained the function of my legs. I returned home and then spent the following days getting over what turned out to be a horrible case of gastroenteritis.

I never saw that man’s face – only his legs and a large steelwork tools container he held – but he helped me, when I was completely helpless.

Often this world has a way of making you self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. What he did was the kind of action that undoes that emotional callousness. He served as evidence that our default setting leans toward compassion, a trait I cherish about humanity.