Just prior to my diagnosis with a serious chronic illness, I began experiencing some disturbing health events - seizures, muscle paralysis, acute body aches, randomly losing the ability to see and hear, etc. Most frustratingly, there was really nothing connecting any of the things, no pattern, nothing. All I knew was that something was seriously wrong with me.
Nonetheless, I was a senior in college, determined to finish all my classes and get my degree as planned.
One winter morning, I left my journalism class and headed for the women's restroom located on the same floor. I exited the stall and... Everything went black. I had no idea what was happening to me, only that I was surrounded by darkness, and I was more comfortable than I had felt in a long time, perhaps ever. It was as though I were lying on a bed of the softest quilts, relaxed, happy. Nothing bothered me in the slightest.
Suddenly I became aware of a woman's voice, telling me she was there and everything would be okay. As I was rather lost in a personal Shangri-La, I didn't really focus too much upon her.
Then, just as suddenly as everything else, I gradually became aware of where I was... Lying a nasty public bathroom floor, covered with winter grit. I even tasted a few particles of sand in my mouth. By then, paramedics had arrived. They helped me to a sitting position, then out into the hallway where they gave me oxygen. Later we would go to an ambulance and to the ER.
The following day, I returned to school. I wasn't sure of the details, given the experience I'd had. But I could swear that the woman who had spoken to me during the episode had said she was a professor in the building. I wanted to thank her for sitting by me and trying to comfort me during such a terrible moment of my life, so I checked the office doors on that floor, looking at the nameplates.
There wasn't a single oman's name, only men's.
Is it possible the female professor was from another floor or department? Of course. But at that time, I was an English and journalism major - both departments were housed in the same building, and neither was too large. I knew basically every professor, at least by name and sight if not by experience. The voice I'd heard belonged to no one I knew.
Also curiously, no one who had seen the incident - and of course, a student randomly keeling over and needing EMS had certainly attracted a few onlookers - was able to tell me about any woman sitting with me.
It's been over a decade since this happened. I've had my share of ups and downs with my illness, but never again did anything like this happen. Nonetheless, I've never forgotten it.
(As a bit of history, the university is the oldest in CT - it was founded in 1849. So I'm sure any number of educators and students have passed through all the buildings in the past.)
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