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 story is from a doctor I heard over 30 years ago.

He's an un-son hero because he rarely got any recognition for his huge heart and his unselfish actions.

You mean the world to me and I can't thank you enough.

Today's story comes from Trieste Belmont. A note for listeners that this story has to do with suicide.

In 2014, Trieste was struggling with depression.

Her grandmother had just died, and she and her longtime boyfriend had just broken up.

Life felt unbearable.

Around that time, Trieste was teaching a dance class. She didn't have a driver's

license so friends and family would give her rides. One day her ride didn't

show up.

I waited for about an hour and they never came.

So I decided to just walk home.

It wasn't super far but longer than I wanted to walk. I was just

having one of the worst days of my life. On the way home I crossed over the 49 bridge and it's a pretty high bridge and I was

looking down at all the cars just feeling so useless and like such a burden to everyone in my life

that I decided that this was the time and I needed to end my life. I was sobbing and crying and working up the courage to just go through with it because I knew at that moment that it was going to make everyone's lives better.

And a car came driving up from behind and they shouted,

Don't jump, right, as I was in one of my darkest moments,

and those words just changed everything for me.

Having a stranger care about me in my darkest time

...