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.

My unsung hero is the kind stranger who helped me get to my grandfather's funeral.

And he just says, today you tomorrow me and I never thank you very much for changing my life.

Today's story comes from Denise Elliot.

In 1968, when she was 16, Denise brought a friend to the Bahamas for a vacation.

The two teenagers were from Illinois and had never been to the ocean before.

When they got to the beach, they noticed that no one else was there

and that the waves were huge.

So we had seen in the movies people body surfing and having fun in big waves and we thought that was great.

And the only person was this boy, a local boy, who just happened to be walking by.

He was maybe eight.

He could have been younger.

So we took off our shoes and put our towels down and the boy stopped and was staring at us.

And we thought it was kind of rude, but what the heck? He was just a little kid.

So we ran into the water.

Well, the big wave just immediately took over.

I was completely helpless, swirling around in this powerful water, choking on salt water and

sand. I was on my way to drowning when this little boy pulled me out of the water onto the beach and then I saw he also pulled my girlfriend out.

And we were coughing and sputtering and everything,

and he just stood there for a minute making sure we were okay.

And then he just went on, his walk.

...