ATLANTA — A 73-year-old Woodstock woman with cognitive impairments drove 40 miles from home, worrying her family, but when she ran out of gas, a metro Atlanta man stepped in to help.
Xavier Fair was at his friend's tire alignment shop last Friday afternoon in southwest Atlanta when he noticed a woman in the parking lot, looking confused.
"I brought her inside the shop to make sure she was fine," Fair said. "She was still shaking. I was like, 'I assure you you’re gonna be alright.'"
Helton and Fair live in different cities, but they are forever connected.
Fair recalled the moment he found Helton's mother.
"It was like she really couldn't remember. You could tell she was scared,” he explained.
He noticed her car was out of gas and convinced her to call her daughter.
"I said, 'You mind if I talk to Lisa?' That’s when I started talking to you," Fair said, referring to Helton.
"I was like 'Who are you and where are you, where is my mother?'” Helton questioned when she picked up the phone.
After Fair spoke with the woman's daughter, she got her mom an Uber.
Helton said her mother has had cognitive problems for years. Over 150,000 Georgians are living with cognitive issues, which can cause problems with memory and driving.
“She only weighs about 85 pounds, and so that with the cognitive issues, she’s very frail,” Helton said.
The daughter added she has set up Apple tags and Google alerts to keep in touch with their mother and unfortunately missed the alert the day her mom drove miles away from home into the West End in rush hour traffic.
“She only drives about 30 mph so I can’t even imagine her on the interstate driving 30 mph,” Helton said.
Helton said she was grateful her mom ended up at the tire alignment shop and that Fair stepped in. Fair then called to check in on them the next day.
“You just went above and beyond,” Helton said.
“Just giving God all the glory he just had me in the right place at the right time,” Fair said.
Helton said after the incident, her mother gave up her car keys for good, and now her children drive her where she needs to go.