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 I just want to say thank you.

Today's story comes from Kate Baker. About 20 years ago, Kate and her husband and their two-year-old

son Neil were on a flight to Europe.

When we got on the plane in New York, all three of us were healthy.

But halfway over the Atlantic Ocean,

Neil started to get very warm and his face was red. Then he started foaming at the mouth.

He was having a seizure.

The flight attendants were going up and down the aisle,

asking anyone if they were a doctor, if they could take a look at him.

No one would come forward and then the pilot started

announcing is there a doctor on board and should I turn this plane around and again no one came forward.

Then one of the flight attendants asked my husband who was holding Neil, is he breathing? And he said, just barely. I was standing in the aisle.

Well, when I heard those words, I think I must have gone into shock because I couldn't feel anything and I couldn't speak.

Then I noticed three women, passengers, get out of their seats and come toward me.

They were Muslim women wearing the hijab, and they came to me and put their arms around me.

Then they were speaking to me in a language that I didn't understand.

It might have been Arabic or Turkish, I'm not sure.

But the tone of their voice was so so soothing and they stood there with me with their

arms around me until the flight attendant told us that we should move to the front of the plane and take a seat up there.

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