MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Time now for "My Unsung Hero," our series from the team at the Hidden Brain podcast. "My Unsung Hero" tells the stories of people whose kindness left a lasting impression on someone else. Today's story comes from Julie Moore. Several years ago, Julie went on vacation to Mexico to visit with a friend's family. One day, they went to a hot springs resort. The water was rich with minerals, making the pools incredibly cloudy. After soaking for a while, they decided to go on the waterslide.
JULIE MOORE: I got up to the top. It was my turn, and I pushed off. And as I came around one of the curves, I kind of flew up off of the slide and I heard people in the pool gasp. I hit the water. I felt myself go to the bottom and slide across the bottom of the pool. But I was so disoriented from going around the loops of the slide that I didn't know which way was up. And I opened my eyes, and the water was so murky I couldn't tell which way was up. I couldn't see what was going on around me. I just couldn't push off. And the water had made the bottom of the pool slick and I couldn't get up. And I realized that I was down there for too long and I couldn't breathe, and I knew that I had to take a breath.
And I thought, no, this isn't what I want. I'm not ready to die. I don't want to die like this. I don't want to die here. And just as I was starting to lose consciousness, hands came down through the water and reached and took hold of my arms and pulled me up. I had my eyes open and I could see myself approaching the sunlight. And when I broke through the surface of the water, I leaned over and let the water drain out of my mouth, and I coughed, and I was just gasping. And those hands that had pulled me out of the water led me over to the family.
And the people that had pulled me up out of the water let me go and sank back into the crowd. And I heard people say, ma'am, are you all right? Ma'am, are you all right? - in English and Spanish. And I looked around and I tried to figure out who had brought me up, but I don't know who it was. They were angels, as far as I can tell, that had reached down and pulled me out of the water and saved my life.
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KELLY: Julie Moore lives in Apex, North Carolina. And you can find more stories of unsung heroes and learn how to submit your own at hiddenbrain.org. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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