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.

He just pulled up a chair and we talked.

I'd say for about...

I can't even express to you how much you've changed my life.

Today's story comes from Brad Larson.

In May 2001, Brad's family gathered at a diner in Manhattan to celebrate his graduation

from NYU.

That would be the last time he saw his mom. She died

suddenly, just two weeks later. About four years after her death, Brad decided to return to

the diner where he had last seen his mom. So I took a seat at the bar, and there were maybe,

I don't know, five or six people there in a bartender. And they

were all talking with each other like they knew each other. It seemed like a very kind of regulars

kind of place. And I was quiet. And at some point, the bartender turned to me and asked me who I was and why was I there.

And it felt like everyone's kind of energy went, whew.

And I shared that that was the last place that I had seen my mother.

And I remember them just kind of immediately wanting to know my story and ask me about my mom and

know more about what had happened.

And it seems very New York.

They were loving and interested.

...