An Uber Driver Stayed by His Side When…See More

An Uber Driver Stayed by His Side When He Was Alone in the ER. 7 Years Later, They’re Still Friends
“That one act of kindness helped me see the good in the world

Seven years ago, a college freshman named Joey Romano was skateboarding near the University of Texas at Austin when he swerved to avoid a car and slammed into a ditch, breaking his wrist.

Romano made a choice that would change his life, though he couldn’t have known it at the time: He called an Uber instead of an ambulance.

“I didn’t have very good insurance, and I was worried about the cost,” Romano, now 29, tells TODAY.com.

When driver Beni Lukumu arrived, Romano was still lying on the ground. Carefully, Lukumu helped him into the car, reclining the passenger seat to minimize movement and pain. Their first stop was urgent care, but Romano’s injury was too serious, and he was quickly sent to the emergency room.

Lukumu insisted on driving Romano to the hospital at no charge. Then he found out that Romano had no family nearby to come help him. Lukumu had immigrated to the United States from the Congo at age 25, and knew what it was like to be far from loved ones.

With a busy day of rides ahead of him, Lukumu looked at his young passenger, alone and in excrutiating pain.

“It wasn’t even a question for me,” Lukumu, who now works in insurance, tells TODAY. “I was staying with Joey. He needed somebody to be by his side.”

Romano recalls how Lukumu took charge, signing him into the ER, and then sat with him from 2 to 8 p.m. Lukumu says the hours he missed at work didn’t even register; his new friend mattered far more.

“I was on a morphine drip and I remember feeling glad he was there. He has this warm presence, and strangely, it felt like we had known each other forever,” Romano says.

Romano’s grandmother, who lives in Houston, made it to the hospital around the time he was being discharged. She offered Lukumu payment, which he politely refused, though he did agree to join them for dinner, a gesture that cemented a friendship lasting more than seven years.

Lukumu had no way of knowing it, but he’d found Romano at one of the lowest points of his life. His brother Johnny had died of leukemia at age 10 in 2008, and Romano was struggling badly with his grief.

After losing my brother… and experiencing so much loss beyond that… I just became really insular. I could barely take care of myself, let alone others,” he says. “I just shut down and closed myself off. I became really cold.”

Romano’s voice thickens with emotion as he remembers how Lukumu pulled him out of that dark, isolating place. Meeting Lukumu, he says, was a turning point. It’s what drives him to look for ways to help others whenever he can.

“That one act of kindness helped me see the good in the world again,” Romano says. “Having him spend his entire day with me — a complete stranger, for no reason than the goodness of his heart, helped me to put things into perspective. Beni absolutely changed my life.”

Lukumu, an accomplished gospel singer, now works in the insurance industry in Austin, while Romano is a renewable energy developer. “We check in on each other a couple of times a year,” Romano tells TODAY.

Lukumu hopes people will take from their story a message about the power of human connection, how simple acts of compassion can create bonds and change lives.

“The world is so divided right now,” he says. “What we need is love and kindness.”