This week, we're bringing you an episode from another podcast you might like.
It's called My Unsung Hero and it's about providing an antidote to the despair that can come with daily news.
Every episode reveals stories you don't often hear about everyday acts of kindness and courage that can transform a person's life.
Kind of like what we do here on the StoryCorps podcast.
Here's their host, Shankar.
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 don't know the name of my unsung hero.
Hi Shankar, I would like to talk about my hero.
My unsung hero is the man in the Panama hat on the flight to Boston.
And he just says, today you, tomorrow me.
And I never saw him again.
Today's story comes from Lesher Day.
In 2017, after a long battle with Alzheimer's, Lesha's mother, Stephanie, passed away.
But years before that, before anyone knew about her disease, Stephanie was living a pretty normal life.
She would often make the 45-minute drive to visit Lesha and her two granddaughters in another part of Connecticut.
It was a route she had driven hundreds of times.
But one day, when she was supposed to come to Lesha's house, Stephanie didn't show up.
The morning passed.
Morning turned to afternoon.
I wasn't hearing from her.
And at that time, my mother didn't have a cell phone, so I had no way of reaching her.
Much, much later in the day, my phone rang and it was my mother.
And, you know, she sounded fine.
She didn't sound like she was in any kind of trouble.
She was actually laughing.
So I said, what happened, mom?
I thought you were supposed to be at the house.
And she said, oh, I have a story to tell you.
It turns out she was headed in my direction and she just completely missed the highway exit to my town and she kept going.
And she must have driven a really, really long time, at least an hour because she ended up leaving the state of Connecticut.
And by the time she realized that she was lost, it turns out she was in Rhode Island.
So when she realized she didn't recognize the landscape, the highway signs, everything looked different.
She pulled over to a gas station.
And I think she approached a young man at one of the pumps.
And she must have explained to him that she was lost.
And I think probably in the conversation that she had with this stranger, he must have realized that my mother suffered from memory loss.
I'm guessing he saw that she had Connecticut plates and maybe she seemed confused.
So this perfect stranger did something I think is pretty remarkable.
You know he could have done nothing at all, but instead what he did was he told my mother to go ahead and get back in her car and follow him.
And so he drove from wherever they were in the state of Rhode Island all the way into the middle of Connecticut, to central Connecticut where she lived.
And he kept her in his rearview mirror the entire time.
And my mother was a pretty slow and careful driver, so I'm guessing that that trip one way probably took him easily an hour and a half just to get her back home.
My mother did show me a slip of paper that this man had given her.
And all it said was his first name Jason, and there was a 401 telephone number, a Rhode Island exchange.
And eventually that slip of paper disappeared.
I don't know if my mother threw it away or if, in cleaning out her house eventually, maybe I somehow misplaced it.
So if I knew who Jason was and if you were standing in front of me today, I would say thank you.
Thank you for saving my mother's life.
Thank you for preserving her dignity that day.
Thank you, Jason.
Lesha Day of Old Sabra, Connecticut.
Do you have your own story of an unsung hero?
Someone who noticed you were struggling and went out of their way to help?
The producers at My Unsung Hero are looking for stories of one person in one moment when someone showed you unusual generosity.
So find a quiet place and record your story using your phone and aim for three minutes or less.
Then email the file to myunsunghero at hiddenbrain.org.
Again, that email address is myunsunghero at hiddenbrain.org.
We'll be back with more conversations from the StoryCorps archive soon.
Thanks for listening.
