Good Morning, This message is overdue by a couple of weeks, and I apologize. But I want to make sure that this bus driver gets kudos. This happened on January 30th, 2015. His name is Kyle, and he was driving bus number 9540z (not sure if there was a z on the end of that number or if I accidentally hit it when putting it in my phone). It was the 522 bus at 7:58am south bound on the Bothell Way and 153rd St in Lake Forest Park stop.

This was a stressful day for me, as it was the day before my birthday, and I had just been diagnosed with breast cancer and was on my way to go have a consultation with the surgeon up on First Hill. I decided to take the bus instead of trying to drive downtown.

I had already just missed the bus I intended to take, and I was feeling flustered as I don’t know the bus system well, and was unsure of which was the next best bus to take. While I had my smart phone, I was not fast enough with it, and was worried that I would miss the next bus I needed to catch. I could not be late for this appointment, and was on the verge of tears when Kyle’s bus pulled up. I knew enough to know that the 522 went downtown, and decided to get on and figure it out from there.

When I stepped on, Kyle, with a genuine friendly smile says “Good Morning! Welcome to the bus!” Relief washed over me as I could tell immediately, that this was a friendly face that would help me sort things out. And that he did! He helped me get where I needed to go, but more importantly, when he found out I was going to the Swedish Cancer Center, he shared that his good friend was going through the same thing and offered some great advice. We parted ways with him genuinely and warmly telling me good luck and wishing me the best. I don’t know if I will ever be lucky enough to have Kyle as my driver again, as I’m not sure they always have the same route and my appointment times vary. But I do hope our paths cross again. And I hope I have provided enough info for you to know who he is. He deserves recognition for sure! He filled my very stressful morning with compassion and kindness, and I have never been so grateful to have missed a bus! Thank you Kyle for being the angel that saved my day!

With much gratitude, Kathleen C.