Published August 11, 2026 at 5:23 PM EDT

AILSA CHANG, 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 Ashleigh Bell Pedersen. In March of 2020, shortly after the COVID-19 lockdown began, Ashleigh was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. She lived alone but had a community of friends who would leave food on her doorstep.

ASHLEIGH BELL PEDERSEN: But they were all afraid to come close to me because I was immunocompromised. So everybody abided by the pandemic protocols, like, to the letter, which was wonderful in a way. I knew they loved me. I knew they were protecting me, but it also meant that I was going through chemotherapy and surgeries and radiation with not a single hug from anyone. There just was no physical touch. So I remember being delighted when the medical staff would put an IV in me because it meant that they would touch my arm. So one of the people at Texas Oncology was this nurse, Pat, and I always looked forward to seeing Pat. She was this feisty nurse. She was super supportive and wonderful. And I remember in the course of one of my chemo infusions, Pat shared with me that her son was living at home. She and her partner had agreed to not hug him, but she would sneak in hugs on occasion.

And I don't know what prompted me, but I opened up to her that hugging people was something that I really missed. That was the hardest part of going through cancer at that point in my life. Later that day, I was getting ready to leave my chemo infusion, and Pat came scurrying over to me. And she pulled down her mask, and she said, I'm going to break pandemic protocol. And then she put up her mask back on and then wrapped both of her arms around me in this huge hug. It felt in some way like it was this reminder that I existed and was seen at this time when so much of my experience with cancer had really been behind closed doors.

If I could see Pat again, gosh, I would just thank her for really being such a source of light throughout treatment. It's not only that she heard me, but she knew that I needed this really essential thing. And she was willing to do it for me, so I think I would just thank her for risking getting in trouble at her job (laughter) to give this patient something that she needed so much.

CHANG: Ashleigh Bell Pedersen is a novelist living in Brooklyn, New York. 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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