Bus driver surprises boy who kept her company with a new bike

Shamika Anderson and D.J. Fromme.
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/WISN 12 News)

When Shamika Anderson's bus broke down earlier this month in 92 degree weather, 10-year-old D.J. Fromme wasn't going to let her wait all alone.

D.J. told WISN he could see Anderson, a bus driver with the Milwaukee County Transit System, was sitting with her head down and "was disappointed," so he walked up to her and said, 'Hey, how are you doing?'" They started to chat, and D.J. opened up to Anderson, sharing that his guardian, Beate Fromme, was recently diagnosed with brain cancer, and that he hadn't been able to get the flat tires on his bike fixed.

Anderson said she was "intrigued" by how "humble" D.J. is, and how he is "still extremely positive. He didn't seem sad about anything. He just made the best out of everything, so I decided to purchase him a bike." Two days after their chance meeting, Anderson dropped the new bicycle off at D.J.'s house, to his shock and delight. "My heart just started racing and I ... couldn't speak at all," he told Fox 6.

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The new friends now keep in touch through regular phone calls, and Beate Fromme is still stunned by how much kindness Anderson continues to show D.J. "It's amazing, amazing that there are people like that," she said. Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.