MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Time now for My Unsung Hero, our series from the team at Hidden Brain. My Unsung Hero tells the stories of people whose kindness left a lasting impression on someone else. Today's story comes from Nicole George-O'Brien. When Nicole was 16, she began having seizures. Her doctors tried out a bunch of medications, but her seizures wouldn't stop. So when she was 21, she had brain surgery, and her life went back to normal.
NICOLE GEORGE-O'BRIEN: I hadn't had any seizures for five years, when one day, while I was driving over the San Mateo Bridge to get to my job, I had a seizure. And when I woke up in the hospital and realized what had happened, I was horrified and really worried that I had hurt someone. And that was one of the first things I was asking the nurses and the doctor that were there, did I hurt someone? Did I kill anybody? And they told me about how a man had seen me having a seizure in my car and pulled over and helped people go around me, directed traffic around me. And somehow no one was hurt.
I didn't hit anyone, they didn't hit me, which is kind of a miracle. No one I talked to had any information about who he was. I believe he had just driven off after that, after the ambulance came. So I don't know anything about him, but he clearly changed my life and probably the lives of several people on the freeway that morning. I later became a therapist, and I think one of the influences on my decision to become a therapist was just the care and kindness that he showed me that day, and it contributed to my desire to do a type of work that also gave care and kindness. I have two kids. I've had a great life, and I feel incredibly grateful to him for allowing that to happen.
KELLY: Nicole George-O'Brien from Arcadia, Calif. After the accident, she began a new medication. She has not had any seizures since. Well, we would love to hear about your unsung hero. You can use your phone, record your story - it takes five minutes or less - and then you send it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.
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