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, my unsung hero story is from a doctor I heard over 30 years ago.

He's an unsung hero because he rarely got any recognition for his huge heart and his unselfish actions.

You mean the world to me and I can't thank you enough. Today's story comes from Justin Horner. In 2010, Justin was driving down a

busy freeway in Portland, Oregon when his tire blew out. He pulled over to the side of the road, made a sign that

said he needed help, and waited. Three hours later, right as he was about to try to hitchhike, a van pulled up.

And out-bounded, I guess what I would call my unsung heroes.

It was a migrant working family, agricultural family that was in Oregon picking fruit.

And they didn't speak any English, save for their youngest daughter, who was probably like five or six.

She spoke a bit of English, and they just immediately said about helping.

The father found a log on the side of the road, sawed a chunk out of it, and used it to lift the car.

He gave Justin his lug wrench to remove the busted wheel.

But the wrench was flimsy, and before he knew it, it was broken.

I just cheered the head clean off of it, and the guy just took it from me and he immediately gave it to his wife. They had a short conversation and she got in the

van and took off. It was explained to me that she was going to go replace it and she was

back in no time. When she returned we were able to get the wheel off and we were able to get the spare on and it was just amazing and you know when we got finished she even produced this big water jug you know what you would dump on a coach at the end of a winning football game and we were able to wash our hands and I just thank them and thank them and

thank them and I tried to give her money. I only had a $20 bill and I just

thought you know you drove around you've been here for an hour, it's the least I could do, and she just wouldn't take it.

And, you know, I understood, you know, they just wanted to help, but I was really adamant about giving them this money.

I eventually just kind of put it in her hand and I just said, you know, there's no way I'm taking this money and I and I kind of walked away and it was when I walked away that

Their little girl called out she asked me if I was hungry and in fact I was starving I was on my way to lunch when I had the blowout and she brought me a tamale from their cooler and thanked me and I thanked her and she jumped in the car and they just took off.

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