A call on an anonymous hotline typically remains just that — anonymous. But a woman in a suburban east London, England town unexpectedly met the man who saved her life years earlier.
Georgina Laurie, a 60-year-old grandmother, went into a depression when her husband died suddenly in 2013, Kent Online reported.
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“A year prior to that, I’d had a stroke so my whole life completely changed and I couldn’t cope with that,” she told the publication. “I got really depressed, really down and I really couldn’t see there was a way forward in life for me. I had no intention of ringing Samaritans and no intention of ringing and telling anybody.”
Samaritans is a U.K.-based charity that provides emotional support for people dealing with issues including job loss, financial concerns and suicidal thoughts, which was what Laurie had experienced.
Laurie did not consider calling the volunteer-based charity until she opened her cabinet and a card fell out of it.
“So I phoned up and this gentleman answered and for an hour listened to me wittering on, and I know I was talking about the difficulties in the family since my husband died, and it was really difficult,” she said. “I told him what I was going to do. He didn’t judge me; there was no judgment, there was no trying to change my mind. I felt completely that I could trust him and open up. For an hour I was wittering away, but still determined to go through with what I had planned.”
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Laurie was about to hang up the phone but then she heard the voice on the other end say, “I would just like to say one thing; this all sounds totally exhausting.”
Laurie said she hadn’t thought of that and before hanging up, she remembered thinking to herself, “Yeah, you’re right I am exhausted; I am emotionally and physically exhausted.”
Two and a half years later, Laurie joined a Samaritans location not far from where she lives. She worked her way up in the organization. Then, last year while she was training one of her mentees, she worked with the local location’s director, Des McCarthy.
“I suddenly heard Des say, ‘it must have been exhausting for you’ and it was like being transferred back all those years, I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “It was really one of those serendipitous moments and I realised that it was Des I had spoken to.”
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Laurie speaking to McCarthy on the phone that night was random; her call could have been diverted to any of the call centers. Laurie hesitated to tell McCarthy she was on the phone with him years earlier, but after confiding in another volunteer who encouraged her to share, she said “it just organically came out.”
Yet while McCarthy’s words stuck with Laurie for years, McCarthy has no recollection of their conversation.
“I don’t have a stock of phrases. Some people will have a comfort in using a stock of phrases when they begin but I don’t think I ever had,” he said. “It’s not something I say very often at all.”
The experience has come full circle, as McCarthy, who trained Laurie, is stepping down from his director role. Laurie will assume the position in February.
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