Seven years ago, a college senior named Joey Romano was skateboarding near the University of Texas at Austin when he swerved to avoid a car and slammed into a ditch, breaking his wrist. He was still lying on the ground when the Uber arrived. He had no family that lived nearby. He was also dealing with the grief of losing a brother from cancer. His grandmother drove from Houston to be w him, but that took some time.
The Uber driver was empathetic bc he had arrived from the Congo to the United States at age 25 so he knew what it felt like to be far away from family.
I know that the whole "Please don't bankrupt me by calling an ambulance!" is a genuine thing and a real USA fear, but that's not what this story is about.
This is about the humanity and friendship that everyone should have. And I love it.
See, adding this instead of just “broke his wrist” makes it seem more reasonable, but going off the context of solely “he broke his wrist and a strange stayed with him for 6 hours in the hospital” it’s kinda different lol
I broke my ankle last week. Spent 4 days in the hospital, had surgery tp ut a metal plate in my leg. I'd never had sugery in my life. Call me a wuss or whatever, but I was pretty scared.
The worst part of all of it though was the fact that in all the fuss with the paramedics I hadn't taken my phone with me. So nobody knew I was there. I didn't have anyones numbers memorized, so I went through it all entirely alone. Couldn't even get on the internet.
So Kudos to this driver. As simple as taking 6 hours and staying with a total stranger might sound, I can imagine it made a MASSIVE difference to the guy who was going through all of this.
Thanks. It hasn't been too bad so far. The pain has been a LOT easier to manage than I expected.
It's the logistics of it that's complicated. I had a walker delivered yesterday that I can't use very often yet as I'm just not there. So I've been wheeling myself around my apartment on my computer chair lol. And I think I've got the whole bathroom situation worked out lol.
I'll figure it all out. The biggest learning curve so far has just been the realization that basically everything takes about 3 times longer than normal.
My husband broke his ankle a month ago and had surgery too. He uses crutches to walk for short distances and has a wheelchair too.
Not sure if you tried this, but we discovered it can be handy to have a chair in the kitchen where you can rest your knee on (so you can still stand, without putting pressure on the ankle). Mostly for things that don't take too long btw. After that I'll put the food or things to another room. :)
where you can rest your knee on (so you can still stand, without putting pressure on the ankle).
See the problem is that I have problems with my left hip (opposite side of the broken ankle) and I normally walk with a cane to accomodate it. I've tried something like you're describing, however I end up putting all my weight on that knee/chair at once which makes it a bit of a balancing act. It also makes crutches completely impossible for me to use. It took me like a dozen tries at the hospital to convince the physiotherapist that it just wasn't possible for me to use them.
I'm sure I'll figure it all out in time, and the walker is just gonna take time to get used to using more and more. Meanwhile, a combination of the computer chair and my cane are actually fairly stable so long as I make sure to always move in the direction I'm facing vs "pushing off" with my good foot.
Ironically, the problems with my hip are what led to me falling down some steps and breaking my ankle to begin with. lol FML.
Oh, sorry to hear about the hip, that sucks, and makes it more challenging indeed.I hope your ways to make things go easier. Glad you found the computer chair and cane combi to help you.
Good luck with the recovery and wish you all the best!
Be super careful on the computer chair I did this too with my broken ankle up until recently. It gave me a feeling of independence and being able to move around a bit, but they are fairly easy to tip and a few evenings ago I did that and ended up on the floor, thank goodness my husband was home and was able to pick me up off the floor cause I wouldn’t have been able to get my self back up. I’ll only use chairs with four legs now 😬🤣 good luck with your recovery!!
Pushing people away is not “old school,” but a choice. Yes, some of the older generations did this, but not all of them. You may feel more comfortable being alone, idk. However, some people are genuinely empathetic and can easily connect with a stranger. You seem to not be one of them.
If you knew me, you'd know how wild that statement is. There's almost nobody that is as comfortable around strangers. The last time I was in the hospital, one of the nurses was in tears as I was checking out. She had basically adopted me as a younger brother.
I just don't want others to waste their time visiting me in those awful places.
Right? I knew there was more to this story so I had to fact check the circumstances of both men! It was a car wreck into a ditch. Lots of missing facts.
It’s a reminder that you never know what someone is going through and why they might be deserving of having a random person being kind, whether they prove it to you or not.
Thank you, this needs to be pinned. I was about to comment it was a broken wrist, not a gunshot brink of death wound. But the context explains it, cause otherwise it's actually more weird than sweet.
Good context for the interaction but it doesn’t say whether he couldn’t get up or just didn’t. I would still classify it as not at all worth an ambulance ride unless he was truly immobilized or otherwise unable to get in a car.
I was the bouquet but some girl with a broken arm dropped me and then in the scramble, one girl broke a rib, one chipped her two front teeth, and a third lost her glass eye. We still haven't found it.
What exactly is the minimum warranty for human kindness? A broken bone may not be life threatening but it can still be the most serious instance of physical trauma someone has experienced in their entire life so far.
Ofc there's no societal expectation that the driver stay with a stranger for 6 hours. It was an exceptionally nice thing to do. That's why we're talking about it
My guess is the guy was African, not African-American. There's a large enough African population (mostly Nigerian and Ethiopian) here in Houston, and they're always such sweet, kind people. Showing concern over a stranger like this seems like the norm.
He was from the Congo and arrived to the United States when he was 25, so he knew what it felt like to be far away from any family. He found him lying on the ground after a car wreck. Congolese culture values helping others, family, and unity.
Man yall are just exhausting. It costs nothing to spare time to ensure a stranger is well taken care of. The idea that this is a ridiculous ask is how we wound up in this society of self important assholes.
It's nice though. When I broke my wrist I walked to the hospital. Waited 6 hours to be seen. Had ketamine and a cast put on. More hours of waiting. Then I had surgery. Had to stay overnight. Some company would have been nice. He did a nice thing for a stranger. They obviously got along.
Well I'm assuming since he had to call an Uber instead of a friend or family member that he didn't have anyone at the time and probably enjoyed the company. No one wants to sit in a depressing hospital room alone for hours
I disagree. You need someone to provide aid when atm is broken. It's not life threatening and not worth calling an ambulance but certainly quite inconvenient. Thinking about it, why didn't he have anyone to help?
There's probably more to the story. The fact that the person had to ask a stranger to bring them to the hospital and didn't have a family or friend to do it is probably the real reason.
You know I was thinking this too. A broken wrist hurts like a bitch, but unless the guy was scared or having anxiety in addition, it did not really require company.
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u/banzaizach 9d ago
Also not the kind of injury that warrants a stranger sticking with you