An Uber driver from the English city of Bradford has been showered with praise from locals after it was revealed that the elderly woman he and his family cared for was also a lonely passenger that he picked up nine years earlier.
Manzoor Khan, known by friends and family as Many, had driven out to a hospital in the city of Leeds when he first met 83-year-old Patricia ‘Pat’ Wilde.
After noticing that Pat had been crying, Manny learned that the retired laundry worker had just suffered the loss of her brother, David, who was the last of her living family members.
Upon arriving at her home, Manny decided that his lonely and heartbroken passenger needed some support, so he made the decision to take her to his home for some refreshments and a shoulder to lean on.
“I brought her to my home. I thought, I can’t drop this lady off and just say ‘here you are, love, see you later,’” Manny told the local news.
“I said to my wife her name was Pat, her brother has passed away and she’ll be stopping with us for a while. We made her a pot of tea.”
According to Pat, Manny’s family – consisting of wife, Rashmeen and daughter, Sabina – were extremely welcoming and made her feel both safe and comfortable.
Remarkably, Pat stayed with Manny’s family for six weeks following their first encounter.
As the bond between Pat and the family continued to grow stronger, Manny and his wife also assisted Pat with the difficult task of finalising her brother’s funeral arrangements.
The family did so knowing full well that fellow members of the British-Pakistani community would view Manny’s assisting in Pat’s wishes for her brother to be cremated as an issue.
“I fell out with a lot of my community because she wanted her brother to be cremated,” said Manny.
“They said because I’m Muslim, cremation is not allowed. But it was her doing it and she’s Christian.”
After six weeks of support in Manny’s family home, Pat felt strong enough to return to her own home which is within walking distance of Manny and his family.
“You don’t have to be poorly.”
Since then, Pat and the Khan family have continued to remain very close with Pat who visits Manny’s home every night for dinner and TV watching before he walks her home.
“If she ever needs me, all she has ever got to do is give me a phone call. She is part of the family now, we adopted a grandma,” Manny explained.
This sense of safety and security is something that Pat will be forever grateful for.
“It feels as if I’ve got somebody I can trust and go to if I don’t feel so well. Manny and his family have been very very good to me,” said Pat.
“I love them and I trust them with my life. If I want anything, all I have to do is push a buzzer and he’ll come to help.”
