ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Time now for "My Unsung Hero," our series from the team at Hidden Brain. "My Unsung Hero" tells the stories of people whose kindness left a lasting impression on someone else. Today's story comes from Samantha Hodge-Williams. When Hodge-Williams was 20, doctors discovered she had a large ovarian mass. They scheduled her for emergency surgery at a medical center in Baltimore. The day of that surgery is etched into her memory.

SHAPIRO: Time now for "My Unsung Hero," our series from the team at Hidden Brain. "My Unsung Hero" tells the stories of people whose kindness left a lasting impression on someone else. Today's story comes from Samantha Hodge-Williams. When Hodge-Williams was 20, doctors discovered she had a large ovarian mass. They scheduled her for emergency surgery at a medical center in Baltimore. The day of that surgery is etched into her memory.

SAMANTHA HODGE-WILLIAMS: They had you take off everything and put on a surgical gown, and then, while you're still awake, they wheel you into the surgical room. And it seemed kind of like the hustle and bustle, that they were getting on with their jobs, not really thinking about what it would be like for me to be going into this situation where I was really terrified.

And so the anesthesiologist walked up to me, and I remember she had sunflowers on her scrubs hat and a very kind smile. And she said to me, OK, why don't you think about something that you like to do? And all I could think at that moment was, what a ridiculous thing to tell me. Here I am, terrified about what's going to happen in the next few hours and what my future holds, and you're asking me to think about something that I like to do. And so, in a kind of cheeky way, I said back to her, well, what do you like to do? And very calmly, she said to me, I like to sing. And I said, oh, will you sing to me?

So then she proceeded to start singing "The Phantom Of The Opera," which is what I drifted off to, into the surgery. And it was the most lovely thing. And since then, when I've had to have surgeries, I always remember her there by my side. And I can picture her almost with me through every surgery - her reassuring voice and how much it meant to me, the care that she gave, not just the science of medicine, but the compassion and care to take a few moments and to care for me. So I will always be grateful to her. And I don't know her name, but thank you.

SHAPIRO: Samantha Hodge-Williams lives in Oakland, Maryland. You can find more stories like this at hiddenbrain.org. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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