From Hidden Brain Media, I'm Shankar Vedantam. This is my unsung hero, stories where one person reached

out to help another in a time of need.

I would like to thank my unsung hero. I do not know her name.

And all the sudden I look up and this hand slides two warm chocolate chip cookies

across the desk. To this day it was one of the nicest things anyone has ever

done for me.

Today's story comes from Alan Ayers.

My unsung hero involves an incident that happened over 50 years ago. In 1970, I was participating in a skydiving jump meet in Gainesville, Florida, and we had a team competition.

And for the team competition, myself and two others were jumping out of a Cessna,

1.72. And for the jump meet, they had removed the passenger door and the front passenger

seat, but unfortunately the seat belt remained and was still buckled.

And as I left the plane, I tripped over the seatbelt and fell out the door with the

seatbelt looped around my ankle.

I was completely out of the plane on my back staring up at the belly of the Cessna

with only my boot visible to the pilot who is the only person left in the plane.

I tried to pull myself up to reach the buckle, but I just couldn't.

I was pretty much helpless and totally out of options and what happened next was incredible.

The 23 year old pilot unbuckled her seat belt crouched down in the door of an airplane with both hands off

the yoke and freed my ankle. I tumbled away and safely opened my shoot.

And to this day I can see her two young hands reaching out of the door to unbuckle the belt.

When I landed in the confusion after I got down, I wasn't able to find her to thank her.

I owe my life to this person, we'll always think of her as one of the bravest people imaginable. Alan Ayers lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He says this incident taught him a lot

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