ROB SCHMITZ, 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 Tom Sinclair. When he was 6, Sinclair wandered away from his family's campsite along Lake Superior, and he got lost along the rocky shoreline. He walked for hours and eventually stopped to sleep. At dawn, he continued to walk. That's when he heard a voice behind him.
TOM SINCLAIR: I heard someone say, Tom, is that you? And I turned around, and there was the man who became my unsung hero. I believe he was a camper. He was standing on top of a rock, and he came over to me and he said, Tom, how would you like to see your mom? And I said, yes, I would really love to see her. And he took me by the hand and he said, well, let's go back this other way. And by then, I was exhausted. I'd been going all night, and he estimated that I'd walked at least three miles. And so he picked me up on his shoulders and he carried me back, and he just talked to me as we walked back to the campsite. And, you know, I didn't know how terrified and exhausted I was until I was on his shoulders and realized I was safe.
We got back to the campsite, and he put me in my mom's arms, and she was just crying hysterically. And I never saw him again. When I was found, they had had dozens of people looking for me. They had boats and the rangers and they'd brought people in from the prison. And what really found me was this one guy who ignored the advice and warnings of the search teams not to go out, and he went the wrong way, and he walked for miles. And he had to have started when it was dark because it wasn't long after sunrise that he found me and brought me back home.
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SINCLAIR: I'm 66 now, and that experience had such a profound impact and effect on shaping the way I look at things, the way I do things, and had an influence on how I raised my children.
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SINCLAIR: I always wish that I could have thanked him. And I really feel like he may have saved my life.
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SCHMITZ: That's Tom Sinclair. He lives in Dryden, New York. You can find more stories of unsung heroes and learn how to submit your own at hiddenbrain.org.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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