Hidden Brain - Unsung Hero: A Cold Nevada Night

Episode Date: April 24, 2021

In every episode of Hidden Brain, we thank an Unsung Hero. Many listeners have written to say they love this segment, even sharing their own Unsung Heroes. Today, we're sharing one of those stories with you.

Hey there, Shankar here. During the credits of every episode of Hidden Brain, we take a moment to thank an unsung hero, someone who's not on the staff of the show, but has helped us out immensely and deserves recognition. Over the years, many people have written to us to say they love this segment. Recently, we asked listeners to share their unsung heroes with us. Hi, Shankar. I would like to talk about my heroes. My unsung hero would definitely have to be my hero. I am so grateful for this unsung hero. I wanted to share my story about an unsung hero.

I can't even express to you how much you've changed my life. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. Today, we thought we'd bring you one of the stories we received. In 1997, April Oswald was in our early 20s. She was in a road trip from California to Colorado with her boyfriend John and their two dogs. About midway through the trip, a town called Lovelock, Nevada, which is really kind of

in the middle of nowhere, I was driving and it was an SUV and I flipped the car and the car went like back over front for about a hundred yards. I undid my seatbelt, got out of the car, started yelling for him and then completely collapsed. Now, it was freezing temperatures, probably something in the 20s, and the two dogs also were alive, but one was injured very badly. Well, my boyfriend at the time got up to the road and was trying to flag people down, and this was the middle of the night, so nobody was stopping, and so he took off his jacket

in the middle of a cold, Nevada night, and he threw it at a guy that eventually stopped. First of all, I ended up having to be life-lighted to the near hospital, so thank goodness this guy stopped. But what he also did was then, for the next three nights, he drove our dog back and forth from the veterinary clinic where he was getting blood transfusions to the hotel where my boyfriend was staying. And he also drove my boyfriend back and forth to the hospital where I was to see me and to the hotel where he was staying. I mean, I honestly don't know if I

would have survived if this guy had not stopped and helped me. And to this day, I don't know his name, I don't know who he is. I, because I was in pretty bad shape, don't know what he looked like, but not only did he stop, he also continued to help over the next few days. I don't even know that we ever got a proper chance to thank him. I know that I didn't, and wouldn't even know where to begin to look for him now. But what an amazing thing for a stranger to do in the middle of a cold Nevada night. That was Hidden Brain listener April Oswald, sharing a story about her unsung hero. We're exploring the possibility of featuring more stories about unsung heroes.

If there's someone who has played a transformative role in your life and you're willing to share the story 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. Recordings of about 5-10 minutes are plenty. 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. you