From Hidden Brain Media, I'm Shankar Vedanta.

This is my unsung hero.

Stories where one person reached out to help another in a time of need.

My story is about a group of unsung heroes.

He just pulled up a chair and we talked at the fair about 90 minutes.

I don't know if she really understands or appreciates the full impact that she's had in

my life and still continues to have.

Today's story comes from Wendy McDowell.

When Wendy was very young, her parents separated.

A few years later, when she was eight years old, they arranged for her to travel from

upstate New York, where she was living with her mom, to North Dakota, to visit her dad.

No one in Wendy's family was able to fly her back and forth, so it was decided that she

would be shaperone by a family friend.

A 19 year old she had never met.

We're calling her Kim.

Their flight out to North Dakota was uneventful.

On their way back to the east coast, Kim and Wendy landed in Chicago for a layover.

They discovered that their connecting flight was cancelled.

And that's when Kim made a choice that Wendy still struggles to understand.

She booked herself on another flight headed home and left Wendy to fan for herself.

She left me in the Chicago O'Hare Airport.

As an eight year old with no flight, no plan, no adult in charge of me just literally walked

...