Selfless student comforted man with cerebral palsy on crowded bus

Godfrey Coutto comforts Robert during the bus ride. Photo / Facebook

One man's act of kindness has gone viral online after he was photographed holding hands with a man on a crowded bus in Canada.

Student Godfrey Coutto, 21, was riding the bus in Hamilton, Ontario, last week when he was approached by a man named Robert who is deaf and has cerebral palsy and who wanted to shake his hand, the Huffington Post reports.

Mr Coutto shook the man's hand, but then Robert did not want to let go.

"He kept holding my hand," Mr Coutto told the Huffington Post.

"I thought I was getting pranked at first, but he just needed comfort."

A passenger on the bus witnessed the kind act and posted a picture onto a community Facebook page.

The post read: "I didn't know if u can post this but I would liking [sic] to say thank you to the guy who was seating [sic] beside a special needs gentleman... He allowed him to hold his hand and find comfort well in a packed bus.. It make [sic] my day when I see stuff like that."

Facebook users praised the young man for his act of kindness.

One Facebook user said: "What an awesome young man and thank God he was put there to help this gentleman through his bus ride. If the younger generation were all like this we'd be in good shape."

Another said: "This brought tears to my eyes I have a son who is special needs so I know all to well what it means to them when people show kindess [sic] ...your mom [sic] taught you well God bless you both..."

The post has already received over 50,000 likes and has been shared more than 10,000 times.