How a stranger's kind words stayed with a father and daughter

John lifts his young daughter above his head so she looks like she's flying above the horizon. John hide caption

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John

A few years ago, John's young daughter, Keane, began to experience strange medical symptoms. Almost overnight, she developed tics, had sudden emotional outbursts and became terrified to let her feet touch the floor. Both John and Keane are being identified by only their middle names, to protect her medical privacy.

By the time she was 12, Keane could no longer leave the house, except for trips to the doctor. One warm day, after three months inside, John decided they should go outside. He found a small wagon to pull her in and set it up so she'd feel comfortable.

"It was just a firewood cart souped up with a gym mat and a blanket and a little Bluetooth speaker," he said.

He wheeled her down the road near their house. That's when their unsung hero appeared, driving a white pickup truck.

"I heard this voice out of nowhere," John recalled. "It just said, 'You are so great. You're a great dad. And you, young lady, you are awesome. You keep going, girl. You keep going.' We were frozen in joyful shock about what was happening."

He looked up to see an older man smiling at them.

"And I said, 'Thank you, sir. Thank you so much. Your words mean more than you know,'" John said. "He waved without looking back again. Just waved his hand out the window and kept crawling forward."

Keane was eventually diagnosed with PANDAS — pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections. It's a neurological condition in children that can develop suddenly, often after a strep infection.

In the six years since his daughter got sick, John and his wife have told Keane's story to doctors again and again, looking for answers. He says many of them rarely acknowledge how hard it is.

"Then sometimes they stop and say, 'You're doing a great job.' That's really all you want to hear. Because you're just so scared," John said.

For John and his family, those words of recognition continue to matter deeply, even though Keane is now back in school and doing better. He says since Keane fell ill, they've heard similar encouragement a few times.

"But that old guy in that truck, when he said it — somehow it meant the most," he said. "And it changed our day. It changed our life, in a way. And I just want to thank him, wherever he is. So thank you."

My Unsung Hero is also a podcast — new episodes are released every Tuesday. To share the story of your unsung hero with the Hidden Brain team, record a voice memo on your phone and send it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.