Dylan Brown has modestly downplayed his role in rushing to the aid of a man having a seizure.
The Parramatta five-eighth has been praised for helping a charity worker manage a seizure until paramedics arrived while handing out clothes to the homeless.
Brown was among those who came to the aid of Rik English on Wednesday night when he started convulsing at Prince Alfred Square in Parramatta.
Mr English, who works with Pass It On Clothing, is in a stable condition at Westmead Hospital and will undergo neurological tests having not suffered seizures previously.
Brown was helping with the charity's clothing giveaway when English first began feeling unwell and stayed with him along with more than a dozen homeless men and women while medical attention was sought.
The 18-year-old rookie playmaker shrugged off suggestions he was a hero.
"No that’s silly. [It] makes me look like a hero when everyone helped," Brown said.
"I did what anyone else would have done in that position. I had to help. Massive credit to the homeless people too, they really rallied around us.
"One of the homeless women had actually had a seizure before so she was guiding me a bit."
Mr English took to Instagram to voice his gratitude.
Brown said he didn't hesitate to help, quickly grasping the seriousness of the situation.
"I was just standing around talking to everyone when all of a sudden one of the locals noticed Rik swaying a bit. Initially I didn’t think anything was seriously wrong, until one of the women started yelling for help," he said.
"He started saying ‘I’m not feeling very well, can someone get me some water please', but his speech was becoming slurred and he was stuttering to speak. I was freaking out as I’d never been in this position before.
"He then started deteriorating and convulsing, getting worse, so I took all his weight and was just holding him standing so he didn’t fall over. It was then obvious he was now having a full on seizure.
"By this stage I was fully freaking out as I was thinking the worse as he was clearly suffering the worse part of the seizure. So I slowly eased him to the ground and put him in the recovery position and I was struggling as he was a big guy.
"That was probably the one benefit of me being there as I was one of the stronger guys. He may have fallen over and hit his head which would have been awful.
"Once I had him in recovery, all the homeless people gathered around and we waited for the ambulance, kept him warm an supported his head.
"It was extremely confronting but I’m grateful I was there."
Pass It On Clothing founder Chris Vagg said "it was a crazy night".
"Rik went down in the middle of our service," Vagg told pan66.com.
"He was convulsing for a pretty lengthy amount of time, some six minutes or so, and Dylan was there the entire time, right through to the end looking after him.
"I rang the paramedics and was on the phone for about 10 minutes to them, so I had to handle that.
"So he's in Dylan's hands here. It's pretty incredible because a lot of the guys we work with, they don't have homes and they're taking care of our mate.
"And then there's Dylan, who's in charge of it all. Rik's OK and going well now, and you just stop and look at what this little community just pulled off. It's incredible.
"When shit hit the fan tonight we had about 15 or so homeless or disadvantaged people immediately around us, with me, Dylan and Rik and they all just turned up. Everyone did their job, and Rik's in good spirits now."
Brown is one of several NRL players and figures who have given their time and donated clothing to the Pass It On charity, which organises clothing giveaways at Parramatta, Martin Place and Gosford.
He and teammate Reed Mahoney have been regular figures at Parramatta since being introduced to the charity by their former teammate, Dragons star Corey Norman, with Mahoney contacting Vagg off his own bat earlier this year wanting to get involved.
"Dylan Brown is one of the most impressive kids, along with Reed Mahoney, that I've come across in the two and a half years," Vagg said.
Dyl didn't bat an eyelid, he kept calm, kept everyone else calm.
Chris Vagg
"Dylan's an ambassador with us and I needed him to take a lead in this emergency while I was on the phone, and he did.
"Dyl didn't bat an eyelid, he kept calm, kept everyone else calm and Rik's a big guy. He's 95 kilos or so and Dylan just looked after it all.
"He's just a credit to Parramatta and the NRL as well."
Along with Norman, who most recently helped out at the charity's Martin Place station last Tuesday, the likes of James Segeyaro and NRL referee Matt Cechin have been heavily involved with the charity.
After a bright start to his NRL career, Brown has been sidelined for the last month with a back injury.
The Kiwi product has begun running in his rehabilitation sessions this week but a first-grade return date remains unknown with Parramatta taking a cautious approach with Brown's recovery.
