This happened few weeks ago: I was on my way to Chicago to visit my daughter. I normally take Amtrak, which is very convenient. it wasn’t mine first time taking a train. A train is almost always full. The passengers normally mind their own business and focus on their trip.
The Amtrak person announced that a train should be here in 10 minutes or so. All the passengers got up and made a line and were waiting for the train to arrive. I was pretty much all the way back. When I started putting my coat on, that’s when I noticed the guy front of me was looking at the right side and was pointing to the direction.
When I looked at his face, he looked really worried. And then suddenly everyone was looking at the same direction. The whole thing happened so quickly. The guy who was pointing to the right ran that way. I looked up to see what was going on. I saw a woman was sitting in the chair she had her purse on her lap. That made me think she was also a passenger. Her whole body was shaking and was about to fall. The guy who was front of me ran toward her as fast as he could before she would fall down. He helped her to lie down on the floor and turned her on her side. Then he started helping and talking to her as much as he could. Right away we all knew that she was having a seizure. Her eyes were kind of closed and she was out of it. Many people gathered around her. But sadly I would say the room was full of at least around 100 people. There was no a single doctor or a medical student. Right away the Amtrak guy called 911. I couldn’t think of anything else but to be by her and help her. I also ran toward her and put my hands on her. I noticed she was trying to breath but was struggling. The entire room could hear how hard she was trying to get each breath. It was pretty scary. I wiped her mouth because she was bleeding. I tried to help her as much as I could.
Meanwhile the train arrived, and people started leaving. I didn't want to leave her like that, but I knew paramedics were on their way. I was almost the last person to leave, and the guy who jumped to help her first was still with her. I wondered if he missed his train or not.
I was feeling guilty when I was leaving but I knew there was nothing else I could do more than what I already had done. When I was leaving that’s when I realized I didn’t have my purse or my bag around me. It was far away from me. And nobody steal anything or moved my things. While I was sitting in the train, I couldn't stop thinking about her. And was hoping she got help on time and was OK. Also the guy who helped her what an angel. I don’t even know his name. But he was a such a nice guy. And the interesting thing was that it doesn’t matter--- I look at people as people, not based on the skin color. But she was a black woman, and the guy was a white man. What a beautiful human being.
It is so nice to see when people put skin color on the side and treat each other as they would want to be treated --- with care and respect. When I came back to Champaign, I stopped at the Amtrak station and asked the lady who was working there at that time but she didn’t know anything about her what happened. I hope and pray she is safe and sound. 