While walking across a bridge in Dublin, Irish teenager Jamie Harrington encountered a man in distress.
I saw this guy in his 30s sitting on the ledge of the bridge. I just thought, “wow…” I stopped and asked him if he was okay, but I knew from the look in his eyes he wasn’t, and he didn’t say anything either, but I saw tears coming from his eyes. I pleaded with him for a while to come down and sit on the steps, and eventually he did.
They “sat on the sidewalk on the south side of the Liffey” and talked for about 45 minutes. Before they parted ways, Jamie called the man an ambulance. He also took the man’s phone number, so they could keep in touch.
And about three months ago, he texted me that his wife is pregnant, they’re having a boy, and they’re naming him after me. Can you believe that? They’re going to name their child after me… He said in that moment that I approached him, he was just about to jump, and those few words saved his life. That they’re still ringing in his head every day. “Are you okay?” I can’t really understand how these few words could save his life, but he told me, “Imagine if nobody ever asked you those words…”
Jamie’s story went viral after it was shared via the Humans of Dublin Facebook page in August.
Sources: “Irish teenager Jamie Harrington (17) who talked a stranger down from a Dublin bridge is thanked in an incredible way.” Belfast Telegraph 4 Aug. 2015.