Driver Picks Up Distraught Mother Forced To Leave Son in Hospital, What He Does Next Is Precious
Family is one of the most important elements of our lives. Fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters — they serve as a bulwark when life wars against us.
We may lose our jobs, have romantic relationships crumble or face health woes. Yet having family helps us stand strong and face another day.
But what happens when your family can’t be there to help? And what do you do when standing strong is a physical impossibility?
Matt Adams had to face just that situation. According to a GoFundMe campaign, he was involved in a driving accident on May 3, 2018.
A driver blew through a red light and struck Adams. Unfortunately, Adams wasn’t in a car when it happened; he was riding a motorcycle.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Association has pointed out the sad truth that motorcyclists are far more prone to injury than those in cars. “Motorcyclist deaths occurred 27 times more frequently than fatalities in other vehicles,” the Association said.
Fortunately, Adams didn’t die, but he was paralyzed from the waist down. That started a journey to recovery that would separate him from the people he loved most.
After the accident, he was transported from Amarillo, Texas, to Denver, Colorado. The city’s Craig Hospital specializes in rehabilitating people that have spinal injuries.
According to NBC Nightly News, his mother, Karen, traveled with him. But she soon ran into a problem.
Eventually, Karen realized that she had to go home in order to keep her job — the job that provided the family with health insurance. So she said her goodbyes, packed her belongings and called an Uber.
Little did she know that Uber driver Joe Crawford would come to pick her up and that he would become a much-needed rock in her son’s life. “I could tell right away that something was wrong,” Crawford said, noticing that the woman in his car seemed distraught and asking her if everything was alright.
“She said, ‘No, I don’t want to leave (my son).’ And I said, ‘If he needs anything, if he needs anything whatsoever, you reach out to me.’”
That sound like a throwaway promise, the kind of thing you say to soothe a person at the moment. But Crawford meant it.
When Karen called him not long after the ride, he went to visit Adams — and continued to visit every single day afterward. Crawford spent time with the man, helped move him around, and even aided him in tying his shoes.
“I said, ‘You’re not alone,’” Crawford recalled. “‘Your family can’t be here, but you’ve got family here. You’re part of ours now.’”
WATCH: Uber driver proves kindness of stranger can travel a long way. pic.twitter.com/hBoGj8kZ5t
— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) September 10, 2018
Ironically enough, Crawford only started driving for Uber after he lost his job. Now, he sees the shift less as a trial and more as a blessing.
“This is the hardest part of my life,” Adams said. “If I’d had to have gone through it by myself, I don’t really know what kind of a mental state I’d be in right now.”
Adams has since returned to Texas. But he and Crawford already have plans to reunite.
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