Hidden Brain - Deb Pierce: My Unsung Hero

Episode Date: April 30, 2021

In every episode of Hidden Brain, we thank an Unsung Hero — a colleague, a friend or a family member who has helped make our work possible from behind the scenes. Recently, we asked you to tell us about your own unsung heroes. This week, Deb Pierce remembers the nurse who showed up at one of the hardest moments in her life — when her newborn daughter passed away.

This is Hidden Brain, I'm Shankar Vedanta. For a long time, we've been closing our show with a shout out to an unsung hero, a colleague, a friend or a family member who's helped make our work possible from behind the scenes. Recently, we decided to ask you to tell us about the unsung heroes in your life. Hi, Shankar. I would like to talk about my heroes. Hey, I wanted to share my story about an Unsung Hero. My Unsung Hero is the man in the Panama hat on the flight to Boston. As the plane nearer... My Unsung Hero would definitely have to be my fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Abrams.

She was trying to keep her eyes open. I don't know who they were. I can't even remember their face. But I do remember what they did for me. I can't even express to you how much you've changed my life. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you.

Here's one response that we wanted to share from a listener in Newton, Massachusetts. Her name is Deb Pierce. She had a story about an unsung hero who showed up at one of the hardest moments in her life. It's Valentine's Day, 1983, and I've just delivered a baby that lived for an hour and a half. She was born prematurely and I was distraught. And as I lay in my room several hours later, it was the evening and I couldn't fall asleep., I lost a lot of blood and I was, um, had a couple of transfusions. And I felt so alone and I went out to the nurse's unit to see whether anybody might come and sit with me and hold my hand.

And this nurse came and she, she was, um, red, curly red hair, just an angel she seemed. She sat there and I just poured out my heart and how sad I was. And I said, the biggest question is, I don't know where she is and whether I'll ever see her again. And she's my daughter and I'm her mom and I want to hold on to that. And this woman said, no one knows where we go after we leave this world. Believe what works for you. And that really helped me because I was able to have a picture of her as well and healthy and us being reunited at some point. In the next morning, I got up and went out to the nurses station to see whether I could

thank her and the nurses there said, we don't have an Irish nurse here. There's no one that meets that description. So I don't know who she is. I never thanked her. But she sure was an angel. I'll call her my unsung hero. Hidden Brain listener, Deb Pierce. Deb has two other children and now three grandchildren. Her daughter's name was Elizabeth. Deb told us every moment of her life was a gift. If you missed our earlier story about another unsung hero, go back and listen to the episode titled A Cold Nevada Night. If you have a story of someone who has played a transformative role in your life and you're willing to share it with a hidden brain audience,

please find a quiet room and record a voice memo on your phone. Be sure to include what happened, how your unsung hero helped you, and what you would like to say to that person today. Send your recording to us at ideas at hiddenbrain.org using the subject line, Unsung Hero. We've also included details on our website about how you can get the best audio recording of yourself.

Go to hiddenbrain.org slash Unsung Hero. I'm Shankar Vedantam. Thanks for listening.