This story is part of the My Unsung Hero series, from the Hidden Brain team. It features stories of people whose kindness left a lasting impression on someone else.

Things weren't easy for Patrick Furlong during his teenage years. His parents got divorced when he was about 13 and his dad moved out of state.

One day in 2000, when Furlong was about 15, he was getting ready for a formal school event that required a tie and he realized he had no idea how to knot it.

 "I sat in front of the mirror and fruitlessly tried and failed, over and over again, to twist the tie into different knots that might make it look like it was supposed to," he recalled.

"As I realized that I wasn't going to be able to figure it out no matter what I did, there were these tears of frustration that started to bub

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