SF woman tracks down the man who did 'everything right' helping her through seizure on Muni platform

A woman waiting for her train at the Van Ness subway experienced a seizure — and was fortunate enough to have been helped by a stranger through the episode. Wanting to thank him, she asked Twitter to help find this Good Samaritan. less A woman waiting for her train at the Van Ness subway experienced a seizure — and was fortunate enough to have been helped by a stranger through the episode. Wanting to thank him, she asked Twitter to help ... more Photo: Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle Photo: Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 25 Caption Close SF woman tracks down the man who did 'everything right' helping her through seizure on Muni platform 1 / 25 Back to Gallery

Finding someone who knows exactly how to react when a stranger is having a seizure is a rare thing.

Michelle Serna knows this. When Serna, 20, collapsed at the Van Ness station Muni platform Friday with a seizure, she was lucky. A stranger somehow knew the correct things to do: She was placed on her side. He was holding her head up. He found her medication in her bag, checked her emergency health information in her Apple health app. Paramedics were called and Serna's dog was kept close by.

"He had done everything right," Serna said.

Serna said she was semi-conscious when she saw the person who helped her through her medical episode, before she was taken away by paramedics. Afterwards, she decided she wanted to find the Good Samaritan. With not much to go on, she turned to social media.

"Everybody knows that Twitter is a huge thing — and SF Twitter is definitely a thing," Serna told SFGATE. "I feel like every techie is on Twitter in San Francisco, and I had a hunch that he lived in my neighborhood because we were both at the Van Ness station."

By Friday evening, Serna wrote her message seeking out the stranger:

"SF Twitter: I'm looking for a man that helped me at Van Ness station today @ noon when I collapsed and had a seizure on the platform. He knew how to help an epileptic person and waited until EMTs arrived. I want to thank him. Please retweet. @sfmta_muni."

SF twitter: I'm looking for a man that helped me at Van Ness station today @ noon when I collapsed and had a seizure on the platform. He knew how to help an epileptic person and waited until EMT's arrived. I want to thank him. Please retweet. @sfmta_muni — michelle serna (@michelle_serna2) April 7, 2018

Despite having a little over 1,000 followers, Serna's message was retweeted more than 1,300 times. A couple people commented saying a friend had written about helping someone in a similar situation that same day, but via Facebook. They sent this friend screenshots of Serna's Twitter message, in hopes of getting the two in contact.

Within four hours, Serna found him. She received a message from the man, and the two have plans to meet up.

"I knew he had gotten everything correct and for an epileptic person, that's incredibly rare," Serna said.

"I knew that I wanted to find him and thank him."

Describing another time when she experienced a seizure during a college class and having no one come to her aid, Serna said that having a seizure disorder is difficult, especially since she was diagnosed later in life.

"For people who have epilepsy, the most difficult thing that we worry about is going out in public, having a seizure and not being helped," Serna said. "Or people not really understanding what's happening to us."

Serna called it "a true testament" to the city that people were willing to help and learn how to handle seizures via her account on Twitter after her medical episode.

"I think that this is a true testament to the nature of San Francisco," Serna said. "I've only lived here for three years but ...I feel like San Francisco understands community and that they know how to help one another.

"A lot of people could have just left me on the ground because sometimes seizures look like somebody OD'ing, but people were really willing to help me. And then when I wanted to find that person, they wanted to help.

"...I'm so really happy that I live here and was diagnosed because I wouldn't want to be in any other community and face this, because I'm not facing it alone," Serna added.

Read the Center for Disease Control's tips and guidelines on how to how to help someone who is experiencing a seizure here.