Good Samaritan who came to mother's aid renews Island man's faith in P.E.I. kindness

When Wade Lynch went to a Charlottetown store with his 87-year-old mother recently, he didn't expect to have his faith in the kindness of Islanders renewed. But when his mother experienced a crisis while shopping, that's just what happened. 

As Lynch and his mother made their way through the large store, picking up everything from Christmas presents to personal shopping items, an emergency struck. 

Lynch's mother had recently been taking antibiotics, which took a toll on her gastrointestinal system, her son said. Though she'd thought the symptoms had subsided, he said they quickly reappeared in the middle of the shopping trip.

Lynch said his mother bent over and told him, "I need to use the facilities right away, or there's going to be trouble." 

Lynch said he took his mother, who uses a wheelchair and requires some assistance operating it, to the bathroom. 

The only stall in the men's room was being used, he said, so he called out to announce he would be entering the women's bathroom to deal with an emergency. 

This woman just took this action… It was the kindest thing I've ever seen.— Wade Lynch

Before he could finish explaining what the emergency was, Lynch said a woman — who "may have descended from heaven" — showed up to help. 

"She stood in front of us and she said, 'Hello, my name is Kay and I'm a health-care worker. I know exactly what to do,'" Lynch said.

"I thought, 'I have to trust this woman because I have no alternative,'" he said. "There's nothing I can do. We're in crisis, I know it." 

Lynch said he was waiting for a while to find out whether his mother was all right inside the washroom, and was relieved when he heard her distinctive laugh.

"Mom and this woman… It's like they were at a tea party. They were having this conversation that was going all around the world in politics and the state of finances in the world."

'The best Christmas present'

When the two women came out, Lynch said it was like they were old girlfriends. 

"We never, ever talked about what had just happened," he said. "This woman just took this action… It was the kindest thing I've ever seen. It's the best Christmas present I ever received. It was this gift of selfless kindness.

There's kind people all over the world, but on Prince Edward Island, people take action.— Wade Lynch

"She just did this good thing because it was the right thing to do and it was selfless and it was action," he said. "There's kind people all over the world, but on Prince Edward Island, people take action." 

Lynch said the timing of this incident — just before Christmas — also had an impact on him. 

He said that although he loves Christmas songs and the happier elements of the season, he struggles with the pressure of the holiday. 

"There's a lot of pressure at Christmas. There's a lot of unnecessary spending. There are people on this Island who can't afford to feed their children and feel pressured into providing things for them. I get down a bit about that.…

"Then you realize, oh my gosh, this is the gift. This is what we really could give each other for Christmas: an act of kindness," he said. 

"It just made me feel so glad to live here and to be in this community that fosters that kind of caring."