The father needs to reach his daughter in the intensive care unit. A Stranger Helped Him: NPR

Daniel Willingham and his daughter, Esprit.

Daniel Willingham

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Daniel Willingham

Daniel Willingham and his daughter, Esprit.

Daniel Willingham

This story is part of the My Unsung Hero series, from the Hidden Brain Team, about people whose kindness leaves a lasting impression on another person.

In 2010, Daniel Willingham was on his way home to Central Virginia. He had just given a talk about his work in Maryland and was still away from home for a few hours when he got a call from his wife.

“The first thing she said was ‘Whoa.’ So I knew that couldn’t be good,” Willingham recalled.

His wife was visiting family in Canada with her children and was calling from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Their daughter, Esprit, was in the pediatric intensive care unit.

Esprit had a chromosomal disorder that caused any kind of illness, even the common cold, to be life threatening.

“When my wife called, Esprit was on a ventilator. So there was real reason to believe she might not survive this,” Willingham said.

Willingham needed to get to his wife and daughter as soon as possible. He drove two hours home and booked a flight to Toronto. But when he took out his passport, he realized that it had expired.

The only way to instantly regenerate it was with the doctor’s assurance that it was a matter of life or death. So the pediatrician in Willingham made an emergency call to the FCO.

But I had to do the paperwork at the State Department office in central Washington.”

Central Washington was several hours away. And at this point it was already 4pm and there was no chance of getting there before they closed.

“This is where my unsung hero enters,” Willingham said. Because someone in that office in Washington was willing to wait for me.

When he arrived around eight in the evening, the building was dark.

“I walk into this big office building and it looks lifeless, you know… I’m staring at the door. Then from the shadows, this guy comes into the lobby and walks me in.”

Willingham does not remember what he said to the young man who helped him, or how the man responded. But he remembers walking out of the building with his new passport in hand.

“I got to the hospital in Toronto late that night, and was able to be with my wife and daughter,” Willingham said. “Esprit survived this disease, and lived another 11 years.”

There were so many singing protagonists, so to speak, associated with that episode: our pediatrician and the doctors and nurses at the hospital, all of whom we thanked. But I never thanked this young man who gave up his evening so properly that even the father, who was a stranger to him, could be with his sick daughter soon.”

My Unsung Hero is also a podcast – new episodes are released every Tuesday. To share your unsunghero’s story with the Hidden Brain team, record a voice memo on your phone and send it to [email protected].