In stressful times, it's helpful to be reminded of all the good people out there, willing to step up in a moment of need.
In 2017, Lesia Day's mother, Stephany Fal, died of Alzheimer's. But years earlier, before anyone knew about her disease, Fal's life was pretty normal. She lived about 45 minutes from her daughter, and often stopped by to spend time with her two granddaughters. The route to Day's house was one she had driven hundreds of times. But one day when she was supposed to come visit, Fal didn't show up.
It turned out she had gotten lost on the drive.
"By the time she realized she was lost ... she was in Rhode Island," Day said. "So when she realized, she pulled over to a gas station. And I think she approached a young man at one of the pumps, and, you know, she must have explained to him that she was lost."
Day says she thinks the man realized that her mother suffered from memory loss.
"He could have done nothing at all, but instead 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 rear view mirror the entire time."
Day estimates it must have taken him at least 90 minutes to get her mother back home.
Her mother once showed her a slip of paper with the man's name and phone number, but it was later lost, and all she can remember now is his first name, Jason.
"If I knew who Jason was, and if [he] 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.' "
To share the story of your unsung hero with the Hidden Brain team, record a voice memo on your phone and send it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.
Laura Kwerel and Autumn Barnes produced this story for Hidden Brain.
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