A Wigan dad is searching for the ‘hero’ who helped calm his son’s panic attack while on a busy train

A former rugby player from Wigan is searching for the ‘hero’ who came to his son’s aid when he was having a panic attack on a busy train.

Shaun Ainscough – a former rugby player who played for Wigan Warriors at the start of his career from 2009-10 – was on a packed train home from the match between his former team and St Helens at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Sunday 5 July when his son started having a panic attack.

The 11-year-old boy was crying, screaming, shaking, taking his clothes off, and begging to get off the hot train carriage that was full of people travelling home from the match.

“All the fans [on the train] were singing and we were having a laugh, although because we were all stood up, we literally couldn’t sit anywhere,” Shaun explained to the BBC in an interview.

Shaun says he then became overwhelmed with emotion himself as he saw his son in distress, to the point where he also started crying.

But then, a woman – whose name is still unknown – came to the rescue and spent the entire rest of the journey trying to calm the boy, reassuring him with words and using a handheld fan to calm him down.

Shaun has since put out a post on social media – which has been seen by thousands of people – asking for the woman to come forward, as the pair are desperate to thank her in person and ‘give her some flowers’.

“It might not have seemed like a big deal to her but the small act was massive and we just want to say thank you,” Shaun explained.

Read more:

• Police appeal after woman is killed by driving wrong way down M62 near Rochdale
• NHS 111 service to begin offering crisis mental health support for the first time
• Guide Dogs desperately needs people in Greater Manchester to ‘foster’ its dogs while they’re in training

“She could read something over text, but in person means so much more, and maybe we could give her some flowers just to show how much we appreciated her that day.”

He concluded: “This hero came over and ended up being the strongest person on the train.”

Featured Image – Shaun Ainscough (via Facebook)