One B.C. woman is hoping to make the world a kinder place by telling the story of how she met a man named Sid.
Mariam Roya was leaving the Superstore parking lot on King George Boulevard in Surrey near 74 Avenue last Thursday when she noticed someone lying in the road.
“I just saw him frazzled and just in the middle of the street, right before the intersection and he was just on the ground,” Roya told Global News. “For a minute I didn’t know what he was doing but I saw him, he was trying to get up and he just fell.”
It turns out, Sid, who is 80 years old and of no fixed address, had tripped trying to cross the street and fell, hitting his face on the road.
Roya said the worst part was that no one was stopped to help.
So Roya put her signal on, pulled up beside Sid and got out of her car.
“I noticed that he was on the ground so I grabbed his hand and I put one of his hands on my shoulder and I grabbed the other one and I just said, ‘Can you try to stand up,’ and he did and I managed to walk him to my car and I opened the passenger door and I let him sit in there.”
“I knew his hands were really cold. I’ve never felt hands that were so cold.”
So she cranked up the heat and that’s when she saw the blood and the cut on his head.
She said they needed to call an ambulance but Sid just said, “No, no I’m scared.” Roya told him he didn’t need to be scared, but he said he doesn’t like sirens and needles so she offered to drive him to a nearby hospital.
It turns out, Sid had been lying in the road for about 10 minutes before Roya stopped to help.
She says after she helped Sid up and into her car, a woman also stopped and told Roya she had seen Sid lying in the road about 10 minutes before. She was in a rush and didn’t stop then, but had changed her mind and come back to make sure he was OK.
“That’s what bothered me because I don’t know if her intentions were to come back and pick him up. Because she said she just wanted to come back to make sure that somebody had helped him,” she said.
“Which is just sad.”
“It angered me, but at that moment I was just thinking, ‘Let’s get him to the hospital’.”
Roya said at first, the level of care at the hospital was not what she expected, but now Sid is being well taken care of and getting better.
She has been sharing updates on her Facebook page about Sid and thousands have been sharing her posts and sending her messages.
His story has become so popular online that staff have moved him to a more private area to try and stem the flow of visitors going to see him.
“It’s amazing what social media can do,” said Roya. “I’ve had people from Africa messaging me saying they’re with me and they support me. I’ve got people from India, people from China.”
“Regardless of just us, our community here, I want everybody around the world to get that message. So I was really happy about that.”
WATCH: Sid and Roya post meaningful message from his hospital bed to drivers who didn’t stop to help him
Roya made a video with Sid from his hospital bed and Sid says he appreciates all the messages and well-wishes and he has no ill-will to those that didn’t stop to help.
He adds that some people can just have a lack of respect for other human beings.
Roya plans to keep in contact with Sid once he has made a full recovery. Doctors at the hospital are also working to get Sid into a care home so that his treatment can continue.
But she wants everyone to know that what she did doesn’t make her any type of hero, it just makes her a better human.
“When you know someone needs the help, regardless of who it is, just reach out and help,” she said. “If we all just did our part, half the world’s problems would be gone.
“My message is let’s bring back humanity. Let’s not think about anything else but to help each other.”