Have you ever saved someone's life?
I did once.
Back in 2001 a friend had to undergo a biopsy in hospital and it was recommended that he stay the night there as he lived alone at home. Either that or have someone stay over at his house to watch over him.
After the procedure he looked really ill - a sort of ghostly yellow, but he was determined to go home because he'd had enough of hospitals having had cancer the previous year.
So I agreed to spend the night at his and we got a taxi home. He then said he was really tired (this was around 4pm) and would go straight to bed.
I made myself something to eat then watched some movies from his large collection, falling asleep on the sofa at around 11pm.
The following morning I heard a loud banging/kicking noise coming from his bedroom so I went to investigate. He had fallen out of bed and couldn't get up; his speech was slurred also. I got him back into bed but, suspecting a stroke or something I phoned 999. They came out immediately, assessed him and took him back to hospital.
Later that night I found out that he had indeed suffered a stroke and was stable. I phoned his housing association to let them know, then gathered some of his belongings - things he might need in hospital - and dropped them off.
I visited him twice, once just a few days later when he was still pretty much out of it, and another time at a different hospital where he was convalescing.
Personal circumstances led me to move to England for a number of years and we lost touch; I didn't really keep in touch with anyone once I'd moved away.
Then, just a couple of years ago, 2015 or 16 I googled his name, like you might do when curious about what happened to people from your past. A newspaper article caught my eye: in 2007 he was sentenced to 2 years in prison for breaching a sexual offences prevention order - SOPO. For some reason he had 2 of his neighbour's 4 year old children in his flat and had given them chocolates and 50p each - nothing more than that. But he obviously had committed sexual offences before as the SOPO was from 2004.
I was surprised - he didn't seem the type but then, looking back on our friendship a few little things added up. He had children's videos - TV shows and movies for children and once I had loaned him a CD - it was a Cat Stevens compilation with a picture of a small boy on the front and my friends eyes seemed to light up at this. There were other things I remember, too but at the time I had no idea. He was from Glasgow and I always wondered why he'd moved East.
If he's still alive he'll be 58 now and with a walking stick or one of those motorised scooters for the disabled.
So I did save his life by being there that night, there was no way he could have made it to the phone, but was pretty shocked and disgusted by what I found out years later.