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.

My Unsung Hero was my...

Max saw me, came over and asked how I was doing and if I needed help. So whoever you are,

thank you so much. Today's story comes from Natalie Cook. Earlier this fall, she brought her two-year-old

foster daughter to the park. The little girl was born prematurely, and she uses her walker to get around.

These kinds of outings can be stressful.

Natalie never knows how the other kids will react.

Some kids will run off with her walker, or they just stare at her.

This time we went to the park, She was just running around like she normally

did with her walker, going from equipment to equipment, swinging, having good time as she does.

And a little boy ran up to her and just said, what's wrong with her? And I literally had no

idea what to say. I froze. I wasn't sure how to explain her disability to an adult, let alone a child. And I just told him, well, she was just born tiny. And she's just taking a while to catch up. So the little boy, he said, okay, he ran off to play with his friends. And then a few minutes later, he came back.

And he started playing with my daughter.

He was pushing her on the swing.

He was bringing her walker to her.

And then he started to even pick up on the sign language I was using to ask her if she wanted to keep swinging or to get done.

And then he started to get all of his friends to be involved as well. He started telling them as well about her disability and what

she could do, not what she couldn't do. And he was like a proud little mom. He said, look what

she can do. She was born really tiny and she's, she's trying to walk.

And before I knew it, the playground was cheering her along. They were all learning the sign

language to go along with her. They were asking questions, helping her up the slides. And I was

...