AILSA CHANG, 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. And today's story comes from a 17-year-old girl named Clarice. We're only using her first name to protect her privacy. When Clarice was 14 years old, she was admitted to the hospital in the middle of a mental health crisis. After she arrived, medical staff repeatedly asked her to explain why she was there. It was painful and exhausting. But eventually, she got to meet her two unsung heroes - the EMTs who took her by ambulance from the ER to the psychiatric ward. She remembers their names were Hugh and either Alexis or Alexa.
CLARICE: The two of them walk in. They put me on a stretcher. And I felt terrible, because my dirty, stinky feet were in his face as both of them wheeled me to the ambulance. The thing that particularly stands out about this moment, though, is when they finally got me in the ambulance and they asked me what music I liked. And if you know me, you know that my immediate answer was Taylor Swift. And we decided together that they were going to play Taylor Swift, "Reputation" - her album.
And they didn't make me talk about what had happened. Not that it was their job, but they could have. They didn't question it. It didn't feel like they were judging me. They just played Taylor Swift, and I sat in the back of the ambulance and cried and listened to "Reputation." So that's what really stood out to me and what makes them my unsung heroes because they were such a break of relief during the worst time of my life.
I don't think I ever had a chance to thank them. Maybe I mumbled it, but probably not. And if they were standing in front of me right now, I don't know what else I would say other than thank you 'cause that's what I really needed then, and I don't think there are really words to describe how much that had helped me.
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CLARICE: And these two people continue to impact my life every day because whenever I think back to that time - that day specifically - I also always think about that ambulance ride and how, in such a terrible, dark place in my life, there was a little bit of light.
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CHANG: Clarice says she is now in a much better emotional place than she was that day. Next year, she'll graduate from high school, and she's looking forward to attending college. You can find more stories of unsung heroes at hiddenbrain.org.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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