< 'I was broken and needed help': After her father died, a stranger stepped in

April 1, 20249:15 AM ET

'I was broken and needed help': After her father died, a stranger stepped in

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ARI SHAPIRO, 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 Roxanne Olson. In 1999, when Olson was 23, she left her home in Eureka, Calif., for a job on a cross-country music tour. Then her father died of a sudden heart attack. Olson rushed to Chicago's O'Hare airport, where a security threat delayed her trip home.

ROXANNE OLSON: Somebody ran through security with a bag, and they had to shut down the whole section of the airport and evacuate us. It turned out it was over 6,000 people. And we're all standing out there on the street, and I just remember helicopters overhead. And we stood out there for hours. You know, it felt like the most crazy, surreal thing to be happening on this day - that my dad is dead, and I'm standing out there in Chicago.

When they finally let us back into the airport, I didn't know, you know, where to go, who to call, what to do, and it kind of felt like everybody was busy just running around. And I was standing there in the midst of all this chaos when this woman comes up to me. And she's pushing a wheelchair, an empty wheelchair. And she walks up to me, and she says, I'm here to help people like you. And she had a name tag. And it was something like Angela or Angelina, but all I remember is thinking it said Angel.

And she navigated me out of all of that chaos and through some back area of the airport. And I told her my story. I told her about how I was trying to get to Eureka, and my dad was dead. And she just seemed to understand my problem. And she talked to whoever the right people were, and she got me on the very first flight out.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

OLSON: And that was the - you know, that was it. I made it. I made it home that day. You know, there was something about me that she just saw, that I was broken and needed help. And she saved me. And I know that if she helped me that day, she probably helped a lot of different other people too.

SHAPIRO: Roxanne Olson lives in Santa Cruz, Calif. And you can find more stories like this on the "My Unsung Hero" podcast.

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