From Hidden Brain Media, I'm Shankar Vedanthem. This is my unsung hero,

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

My unsung hero is a boy named Spencer.

He was like a son.

Julie would drop off soup at our house. I look forward to it every week.

I would say thank you for giving me one of the best gifts of my life.

Today's story comes from a woman named Vanessa. She asked us not to use her last name to protect her privacy.

It was July of 1985 and my husband and I at the time had traveled from Texas to Alaska and why we did that is a story for another time.

But in Anchorage we bought a used Ford Bronco and we headed to Fairbanks.

They were broke and unemployed and their marriage was on the rocks.

We were just kind of destitute and Roman country and didn't know where

we were going to sleep the next night because we had left Texas and walked away from

everything. I had nothing left in the world, nothing.

And somewhere along the way, my husband decided it would be a great idea to pick up a hitchhiker.

So, you know, against my wishes, he pulled over and picked up this guy.

I didn't like him from the beginning, but after a few hours in the car together, we all need to stop at a rest stop and we finally found one.

And I hopped out, rushed over to the ladies room.

And when I came out a few minutes later, my husband was exiting the men's room and we locked eyes and we looked over at the parking lot and the hitchhiker and our truck were gone.

He left us stranded on the side of the road with nothing but the clothes we were wearing.

And I think we had like a dollar 27 between us.

So we became the hitchhikers.

So we're we're walking down the road the highway outside

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