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 unsun hero is the kind stranger who helped me get to my grandfather's funeral.

And he just says, today you tomorrow me.

Thank you very much for changing my life.

Today's story comes from Tessa West. In 2012, Tessa was visiting her father at a hospital in Riverside, California.

My dad had been sick for around two months with a blood disease called apastic anemia, and

on the day he died I went to visit him with his wife Barb. We found him in the

final shaking throes of sepsis. Now when you see death firsthand every part of

it gets encoded in your mind. I remember seeing a tear forming in the corner of my

dad's eye. It was really the only evidence I had that he was aware of what was

happening to him. But not all thoughts that went through my mind that day were

trauma related. I also remember looking around and seeing

something wildly out of place in his hospital room. Sitting in the corner of the

room sat a woman named Becky Bice. Small Bond and spunky, I had known Becky for years, but my dad and

Becky had both lived in Riverside for most of their lives and a lifetime of small conversations

had created a bond. What on earth was she doing here? It turned out that conversations had

a bond. What on earth was she doing here? It turned out that Becky had stopped by that day to say hi

and she just found herself in his room at the exact moment he started dying.

Poor Becky, how awkward this must be for her, I thought to myself. But then she did something totally remarkable. As we all sat there in shock, Becky blurted out,

Hi, Dwayne, it's me, it's Becky from Freddie Finn.

Freddie Finn was the dance studio that we all went to his kids.

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