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.

Hello, I would like to thank my unsung hero.

He invited me to come over for Christmas because we're both.

We were my unsung heroes. I just want to say thank you. Today's story comes from Julie Moore.

Several years ago, Julie went on vacation to Mexico with a friend's family. One day, they visited a hot springs resort. The water was

rich with minerals, making the pools incredibly cloudy. After soaking for a while, they decided

to go on the water slide. I got up to the top. It was my turn, and I pushed off. And as I came around

one of the curves, I kind of flew up off of the slide, and I pushed off and as I came around one of the curves, I kind of flew up off of the slide

and I heard people in the pool gasp. I hit the water. I felt myself go to the bottom and slide

across the bottom of the pool. But I was so disoriented from going around the loops of the slide that I didn't know

which way was up, and I opened my eyes and the water was so murky, I couldn't tell which way was

up. I couldn't see what was going on around me. I just couldn't push off, and the water had made the

bottom of the pool slick, and I couldn't get up.

And I realized that I was down there for too long and I couldn't breathe and I knew that I had

to take a breath. And I thought, no, this isn't what I want. I'm not ready to die. I don't want to die like this.

I don't want to die here.

And just as I was starting to lose consciousness,

hands came down through the water and reached and took hold of my arms and pulled me up. I had my eyes open and I could see myself approaching

the sunlight, but as the water was getting shallower and shallower over my face, I knew I couldn't help

but take a breath. And I opened my mouth and it was filled with water,

but somehow my throat closed down and I couldn't pull that water into my lungs. And when I broke

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