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.

Thank you so much for the chance to tell you about my unsung hero.

I just left there feeling like there was hope for my situation and my kids.

I can never thank you enough for all you've done for me and

I'll never be able to repay you. Thank you.

Today's story comes from John Kinchew. In 2013, John was in the prime of his life. He had a three-year-old son and a newborn daughter,

and he was on track to become a partner at an international law firm. But then one day in September he began to feel very

dizzy. He was admitted to the Missouri Baptist Medical Center in St. Louis.

That's where he met his unsung hero, his hospital roommate.

Usually we think of our heroes as being strong or seemingly invincible?

No, mine was lying in a hospital bed. He was weak. He was immobile. He was vulnerable. He was vulnerable, probably talking with him.

Then my speech started to decline quite rapidly. It was at this time that my unsung hero pushed the call button on his bedside remote medical professionals rush into my room and began to think I was suffering from his stroke because my speech was clearly affected.

John doesn't remember much about this moment, but he now knows what was happening.

He was having a massive stroke, and his roommate's quick actions may have made all the difference.

Without him, doctors would not have known

to perform the life-saving surgery needed on my skull.

Now I would like to tell him that I am doing much better than when we met over nine years ago.

I am driving doing church activities and I have returned to work. Most importantly, I am once again daddy to a little five-year-old girl who was born years after my stroke. Without him, it is

unclear if I would have lived or died.

If I had died, my child would never have been born.

I was unable to thank him years ago. I want to say that he not only said me, but in doing so he saved my unborn daughter. I will be blessed for the rest of my entire life because of my unsan heroes actions. John Kinshu of St. Louis, Missouri. In addition to being a lawyer and stroke

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