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

Today's story comes from Eric Johnson.

In January 2022, Eric Johnson's husband, Dennis, was diagnosed with lung cancer.

There are days of enjoying music, dancing, and gardening quickly turned into a life-centered around cancer treatments.

One day, Dennis became too weak to sit up and was admitted to the hospital.

The couple was told he'd need another round of radiation, but even with the new treatment,

he would only have a 50% chance of surviving. It was during this hospital stay that they met

their unsung hero, a nurse named Sherry. She was something wonderful, like out of a movie,

this sturdy woman in her blue scrubs with her

pigtails. She turned to both of us and gave us the kindest, most no-nonsense road map for what

actually did happen in the next two weeks. She looked at me and she said,

he's going to want to go before you're ready,

but you just have to let him go.

Then she looked at him and said,

when you're ready to go,

it's going to be really hard on him.

So you have to be really sensitive to him.

...