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.

I do not know the full name of my unsung hero. I... She came

straight up to me, she looked me in the eyes and she smiled. So whoever you are,

thank you so much.

Today's story comes from Theresa Hernandez.

In January 2020, Theresa was 33 weeks pregnant and a first-time mom.

One morning, she had a strange feeling about her baby.

She decided to go to the hospital to make sure everything was okay.

When she got there, she and her husband learned that her everything was

okay. Her husband learned that her baby's heart rate was dropping. Her doctor told her

that her baby needed to be delivered that day by C-section.

And when she said that, I was like in complete shock.

I said, like, but he's too little.

And she said, yes, but if he's inside inside I won't be able to help him if something goes wrong.

So they rushed me to the OR and I started thinking like I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to have this

C section and I started like having like a panic attack having difficult to breathe. And this nurse she took my hand and I started squeezing

her hand and then she hold me while they were doing the epidural and she started like robbing my back

and then I think she placed one hand on my cheek and she started like humming and I felt like my mom was there holding me.

When your mom is there it doesn't matter how old you are, but if you're going through something difficult,

when your mom is there, you feel protected, you feel like you can do it.

You feel like everything is going to be right.

...