Sad moment with customer in Taxi Today

[les_taxi]

Well I will admit this - I had a tear in my eye today and was pretty choked

A young woman about 21-ish came to my taxi on crutches - she was with her gran, but got in on her own.

I said jovially 'What happened to you then?' She then went on to explain she had a fight with a train !

I was stunned and asked her about it as I'm not bad at dealing with tricky situations.

Poor lass went on to explain she was in a dark place and decided to end it all.

Without appearing to be a perv, I told her that it was hard to comprehend that someone as pretty as her (she was lovely) and articulate (which she endorsed in my mind the more we chatted) and that surely she had everything going for her.

She told me she had had an abusive childhood and could not help feeling worthless.

This was choking me up and I said, 'If I could, I would adopt you'. She laughed at that and unfortunately our journey to the Mental Health Unit at the hospital was nearly over and I just so wanted to chat to her.

I said I hoped she would never consider that again, and she said she hoped so too - 'only hoped '

She had previously worked on a ward at the Hospital and kept getting embarrassed when she bumped into the other nurses.

I gave her my card and asked her to ring me if ever she needed a lift.

In all my years of doing the job, that was the saddest journey I had ever done, and I so hope she is ok one day and leads a happy life.

I drove away with tears in my eyes!

[Dedworth]

Very sad Les, I hope the experts get her sorted out

[stevewool]

just goes to show how lucky we are with what we have

[joebloggs]

there is a saying 'you can see and fix a broken bone but not a broken mind'

[grahamw48]

Les, I also have a nice taxi driver in York to thank for putting me on the right mental track again, after finding my ex had buggered off with another man.

He basically reminded me that my son needed me.

Anyway, good on you mate.

Compassion costs nothing, and may save a life.

[fred]

Very sad..You may have helped make a difference Les.

[Arthur Little]

What a dreadfully sad story Les ... I doff my hat to you for your act of chivalry, kindness & compassion towards this young lady in her "hour of need"; and I too, that your chat with her will be a contributing factor in soothing her troubled mind through helping the lass realise that life can, indeed, be worth living after all.

[Michael Parnham]

What a story Les, well done for being so helpful to the young lady, I'm sure you may have helped her way of thinking in future!

[Longweekend]

Mental illness is so difficult to understand for those who do not suffer from it, I truly hope she overcomes her problems.....

[les_taxi]

Thanks for the reps guys

Still thinking about her this morning.

[lordna]

Sad story.. Similarly, my work involves visiting kids excluded from school mainly for medical reasons and this includes kids some who have attempted suicide, self-harmers etc. A lot of them have been bullied. Equally heartbreaking and I am glad my visit is just to set up or collect a laptop, but sometimes these kids or other family members do share their stories with you. All you can do is listen and be positive and in some cases report back to a superior what was shared.

[cheekee]

It sounds like a case of that she meant to do it.

I looked after one young girl after she survived being hit by a train.

Suffered multiple injuries and traumatic brain injury.

Sadly I deal with overdoses on a daily basis.

Some patients I see have been admitted over 40 times with overdoses.

I hope she gets good professional help.

Well done to you sir.