JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Time now for "My Unsung Hero," our series from the team at the Hidden Brain podcast. "My Unsung Hero" tells the stories of people whose kindness left a lasting impression on someone else. Today, we revisit a story from John Kindschuh. In 2013, John had two young children and he was on track to become a partner at an international law firm. But then, one day that September, he began to feel very dizzy. He was admitted to a medical center in St. Louis. That's where he met his unsung hero - his hospital roommate.
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JOHN KINDSCHUH: My speech started to decline quite rapidly. It was at this time that my unsung hero pushed the call button on his bedside remote. Medical professionals rushed into my room and began to think I was suffering from a stroke because my speech was clearly affected. Without him, doctors would not have known to perform the lifesaving surgery needed on my skull.
Now, I would like to tell him that I am doing much better. I am driving, and I have returned to work. Most importantly, I am once again daddy to a little girl who was born years after my stroke. If I had died, my child would never have been born.
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KINDSCHUH: I want to say that he not only the saved me, but in doing so, he saved my unborn daughter.
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KINDSCHUH: I will be blessed for the rest of my entire life because of my unsung hero's actions.
SUMMERS: John Kindschuh of St. Louis, Missouri. You can find more stories of unsung heroes and learn how to submit your own at hiddenbrain.org.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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