Kindness of strangers: I was sobbing with pain when a cashier gave me hot chocolate

He didn’t just shout me a drink, he made me feel understood and seen. I’ve never forgotten his gesture I had picked up a box of books at work when my back just went – I have never experienced pain like that in my life. I was off work for weeks, consumed by the agony of it and barely able to move. In desperation, I tried every treatment I could – massage, physiotherapy, herbal compresses. You name it, I’d given it a go. On one such Hail Mary mission I went to a back pain clinic, where my lower...

By Paul Byrne as told to Katie Cunningham