Man collapses in the street: passers-by take pictures of him instead of helping him
Having trustworthy, helpful people around us is always important: whether they are friends or relatives, their support can be useful, sometimes even vital. It is obviously a reciprocal relationship that must never be taken for granted, but in times of need, it can make all the difference. Unfortunately there are times when we find ourselves on our own (or with only strangers around us). So what happens when we find ourselves in these circumstances?
All we can hope for is to entrust ourselves to others and hope they come through for us, even if they are strangers. But can we depend on this happening? The subject of this story has an opinion about this:
This story took place in a district of Rome, Italy, where 47-year-old Marco suddenly found himself in serious difficulty. He had just left work - around 23:45 - and had phoned his partner to tell her he was en route home.
But a few minutes later Marco, despite being a blood donor in perfect health, began to feel very unwell: "Since I was feeling worse and worse, I thought that standing still in street and getting some big lungfull's of fresh air would help me," Marco stated.
However, Marco's condition did not improve - quite the contrary...
Marco became very dizzy and he fell to his knees: "I started walking towards a tobacco shop, hoping to get help from someone, but I was unable to walk more than a few meters ...," Marco said.
In fact, the 47-year-old fainted and bashed his head on the hard pavement: "I passed out and remained helpless on the ground, I couldn't move or speak. I only perceived what was happening around me in fleeting moments of lucidity," he described. But this is not the full horror of this story...
Despite the late hour, quite a few pedestrians walked by Marco, ignoring him: "He must be a junkie, let's keep going; Look at this bum... how disgusting": these are some of the comments that Marco heard as people stepped over him. Someone even stopped to shoot a video of him with their cell phone. Fortunately, and more than an hour after he collapsed, someone asked Marco if he needed any help.
"Is everything alright? Do you need an ambulance?" a woman's voice asked him. Marco managed to nod his head before passing out completely. In the end, Marco woke up inside a CAT scan machine and his condition stablized. He had been seized by a syncope (a fainting spell) and had then suffered a head injury when he fell on sidewalk. He later wrote a note that he hung up at the tobacco shop, asking his rescurer to contact him so he could thank her.
This proves that one can be alone, even in a crowd of people; not to mention that Marco was well dressed and was clearly not a junkie or a "dangerous" person. In any case, calling an ambulance costs nothing and could save a life.
