Hero bikes across Manchester with tablets to save stranger in danger

A selfless student raced across Manchester on his bike – to save a stranger who needed her medication. 

Zeki Al-Khishali saved the day when a woman posted on the “for sale or swap in Stockport” Facebook page, saying she was in urgent need of her tablets.

The sociology student then sped from Stockport to rescue the Jolene Oliver in Wythenshawe.

Zeki and Jolene (image courtesy of NABB)

The pharmacy in town was her port of call, but typically at the moment she was most in need, her car decided to break down.

Jolene, from Wythenshawe, was home alone with her son, so was starting to panic when she posted online, on a page more used to dealing with things like used sofas and kids books.

Luckily the third-year History and Sociology student from Manchester Uni wasted no time when he saw Jolene was in trouble, jumping straight on his motorbike and zipping from his house in Stockport to town to pick up the medication, then to Wythenshawe to Jolene’s house.

Although she was obviously hoping for help, when Zeki arrived he described her reaction as ‘surprised that I did all that for someone I didn’t know, but she was very grateful nonetheless’.

Zeki’s good samaritan nature doesn’t stop there though, he’s a Duty Controller and fundraiser for the Blood Bikes Association.

He is currently doing advanced training to join their ranks. He told us a little bit more about them:

“The Blood Bikes offer an out of hours courier service for the NHS. We transport blood, donor breast milk, samples and other medical supplies to hospitals for free.

“Our couriers are highly trained motorcycle riders who remain on-call overnight, ready to set out on a moments notice to anywhere across Greater Manchester.”

Stockport’s answer to the batmobile

If you want to learn more about the fantastic work of the Blood Bikes Association, or want to donate then click here.

Feeling a little guilty for spending our time around freshers week lying under a blanket of Dominos vouchers rather than going out saving lives, we asked him for some words of wisdom on how we can all be a little more heroic:

“It’s harder to ask for help than to give it. You never know what other people are going through, so if you can do anything to help someone out, then do it. Pass it forward, and maybe someone will help you on the day when you most need it.”