Dogs are known as “man’s best friend” (or in this case, woman’s best friend) and for good reason. They are good pets, loving and warm companions, and vehemently loyal to the death. Dogs deserve their status as the most popular pets on the planet, but sometimes they do something really special.

When a New York woman called Lauren adopted Victoria from a doggy shelter after she was abandoned by her owners, the two bonded immediately. But Lauren had no idea that her new best friend would one day save her life…

Saving Victoria

It was two years ago when Lauren made the decision to get herself a pet pooch. She went to her local animal shelter, which housed mainly hunting dogs who had been abandoned by their owners. Soon after Lauren arrived, she spotted Victoria in the pen and felt an instant bond with her.

Eyes Meet

As soon as Lauren’s eye met with Victoria’s it was love at first sight. So many of the hounds at the shelter looked malnourished and abused that Lauren plain felt like crying on the spot. The fact that it was in her grasp to at least save one of these poor dogs consoled her, and she pointed at Victoria…

New Friends

When Lauren got Victoria home she settled her in and then went to do some shopping. Lauren needed to buy some dog food, a doggy bowl and a basket of some sort so that Victoria have somewhere to sleep at night. Lauren was pleased with her decision to adopt a pooch, and was looking forward to the future.

Lease of Life

Lauren was feeling good. She was proud of herself for adopting Victoria and didn’t regret her decision for a split second. She had given Victoria a new lease of life, but she also felt like she herself had a new lease of life too. Lauren also felt a lot safer being a woman alone, having a pet dog to protect her…

Sense Of Smell

It’s fascinating to note that dogs have 25 times more smell receptors than humans. That means that their smelling ability is about 100,000 times stronger than ours. This fact is very relevant to our story because it turns out that Victoria was more than just a companion; she was a life saver.

Nose Pimple

Lauren had been scratching her nose for a few days. An annoying pimple had made an appearance and it was more than a little annoying. Lauren just assumed it was a spot or clogged pore that was plaguing her right nostril. But it started to change color, and it hurt, a lot…

Snuggle Time

Lauren, an attorney who lives in East Amherst, NY, loved snuggling and cuddling with her new pet pooch as she watched TV after a hard day’s work. “Whenever I’d sit down on the couch, she’d cuddle next to me and start sniffing that little spot on my nose, then she’d sit and stare at me,” said Lauren.

Spot Gone

After about a week the spot had disappeared from Lauren’s nose and she was relieved. But for some reason Victoria just couldn’t let it go. She stared at Lauren’s nose the whole time and kept trying to lick it at any opportunity she got. Lauren thought Victoria’s behavior was weird but she just assumed that she was being affectionate…

Check It Out

Lauren was getting a little freaked out by Victoria by this time, “When the spot went away, Victoria kept sniffing,” she said, “and I thought, ‘Why do you keep putting your wet nose in my face?’ It was so odd that I finally decided, ‘OK, since she’s being so persistent, I’ll go get it checked it out.’ ”

Shock Results

It’s no surprise that Lauren was shocked when summer came around and she went for a biopsy. That biopsy revealed that she had basal cell carcinoma, a common form of skin cancer that accounts for about 32 percent of all cancers. To Lauren’s mind, it’s due to all the tanning beds she frequented as a teenager, but that is just an assumption and not fact…

Lucky Lauren

Thanks to Victoria’s keen senses, Lauren’s nose cancer was found early, before it spread any further. In that situation, the majority of Lauren’s nasal tissue, as well as other parts of her face could have been affected. That would have meant invasive surgery and possibly even death if it went wrong. But thank god for Victoria.

Treats and Hugs

Victoria deserved to be handsomely rewarded for saving Lauren’s life, and rewarded she was. “I’m so grateful to Victoria, as you can imagine, she’s received lot of treats and hugs,” adding, “I always knew that hounds had an amazing sense of smell, but I never dreamed that it would have such a huge effect on me personally.”…

Dog Lover

Lauren is a busy person as she essentially has two jobs. Her main job is as an attorney, but she is also the founder of Magic’s Mission Beagle and Hound Rescue, Inc. Lauren set up the rescue service due to all the abandoned hunting dogs across North America. She is dedicated to her cause and puts in a lot of hard work.

South Carolina

Lauren had travelled a long way to meet Victoria; All the way to South Carolina in fact. As she explained, “I saw Victoria in a shelter in South Carolina and immediately wanted to foster her. Sadly, in South Carolina, it’s legal to abandon hunting dogs, so we spend a lot of time rescuing hounds down there and trying to get that state provision changed.”…

Appalling Situation

According to Lauren, “These dogs are devoted to their owners and are affectionate and tolerant,” adding that, “it’s appalling how many of them are tossed aside once hunting season is over. They deserve much better treatment.” And to that end, Lauren feels like she wants to help more abandoned dogs.

Lucky Find

It may have been coincidence, or fate, or something like that. However, this touching story just goes to show how deep the connection between humans and dogs really is. How did Victoria know that her new owner had cancer? And what prompted Lauren to actually go and get it checked out at the hospital?…

Amazing Creatures

Dogs are amazing animals, and hunting hounds are possibly the most remarkable of the bunch. While the brains of humans are dominated by the visual cortex, the brains of dogs are controlled by the “smell” cortex, known as the olfactory cortex. Essentially, that means that the smell parts of dogs brains’ are 40 times larger than in human brains.

Cancer Sniffers

As we just established, dogs have an amazing sense of smell; But how can they actually detect cancer in humans? According to numerous studies, as cancerous cells release different metabolic waste products than healthy cells, the change in smell is easily picked up by dogs…

Other Cancers

According to other studies, dogs can also detect prostate cancer simply by smelling the urine of a patient. Moreover, there are numerous other cancers that dogs can detect, including ovarian cancer and bowel cancer, some of which can be detected by canines through the breath.

Lifetime of Love

Lauren couldn’t be more thankful that she adopted Victoria on that day. “Victoria saved my life and my face,” she said, “and she’s earned a lifetime of love and praise. I’d like to tell everyone to pay close attention if your own dog starts to act in a similar way. Your dog might know something that you don’t, so don’t brush their unusual behavior aside. Go get it checked out. I’m sure glad that I did.”

Woman’s Genius Dog Saves Her Life After ‘Smelling’ Her Rare Life-Threatening Condition is an article from: LifeDaily

For police officers, there is no such thing as a typical day at the office. One day, an officer might spend the day handing out speeding tickets, and the next, they might help get a murderer off the streets.

On June 2, 1985, San Francisco police officers were notified of a theft at a local hardware store. While they were filling out a police report, a conversation with another customer tipped the officers off that they weren’t just dealing with a typical petty theft…

A Theft

On the afternoon of June 2, 1985, police officers were called to a San Francisco hardware store after a man was caught shoplifting. The man fled the scene, but officers on duty were sent to the store to get a description of the thief and file a police report.

A New Suspect

While police were at the hardware store taking down details of the theft, a man who identified himself as Robin Stapley attempted to pay for the vice that had been stolen. However, police officers started getting suspicious when they asked to see the man’s driver’s license…

Red Flags

The ID belonged to Robin Stapley, a man that had been reported to the police as missing just a few weeks earlier. But the man in the store looked nothing like the real Robin Stapley. And when the police checked the registration on the man’s car, they discovered it belonged to Paul Cosner, a man who went missing in November 1984.

An Arrest Is Made

The police started to get the feeling that something bigger was going on than just a petty theft. The police began searching the mystery man’s car, and arrested him on the spot when they discovered a gun that had a silencer in the trunk of the car…

The Mystery Man

Once back at the police station, detectives were determined to figure out the man’s real identity. After taking his fingerprints, they found a match in the system that belonged to Leonard Thomas Lake, which matched the name that the car’s license plate was registered under.

Who Is Leonard Lake?

It was obvious to police that Lake had gone to great lengths to keep his true identity hidden from them. Now that they knew his real name, it was time to figure out who Leonard Lake really was, what he was trying to hide, and if he had any connection to the missing men whose identities he has stolen…

Early Years

Lake was born on October 29, 1945 in San Francisco, California. When he was 6 years old, Lake’s parents separated and he and his siblings were sent to live with their grandmother. Lake was described as a bright child, but he would collect small animals like mice and dissolve them in chemicals.

Deviant Behavior

As a boy, Lake began taking naked photos of his sisters, which his grandmother allegedly encouraged, and threatened them in order to make them perform sexual acts on him. After graduating Balboa High School, however, it seemed Lake had moved on from his deviant past…

Joining The Armed Forces

Immediately after high school, Lake enlisted in the Marine Corps. He served 2 tours in the Vietnam war as a radar-electronics technician. During those years of service, he was diagnosed with schizoid personality disorder and received psychotherapy after a delusional breakdown.

Medical Discharge

Because of his mental state, Lake was medically discharged and sent home in 1971. A few months after moving back to California, Lake moved to a commune in San Francisco and got married in 1975. Not long after, Lake’s first wife found out he was filming and starring in sadomasochistic porn and left him…

A Second Marriage

For the next 8 years, Lake lived in a settlement on a 5,600-acre ranch in northern California. During his time there, Lake met and married Claralyn Balazsm. Together, they started making pornographic movies and his obsession with porn intensified.

A Fellow Marine

In 1984, Lake invited Charles Ng, a friend he had met a few years before through a war gamer magazine advertisement he placed, to live with him and Claralyn. Ng was a fellow Marine and had just served time in Marine Corps jail for weapons theft and desertion after he was dishonorably discharged…

Fantasy Becomes Reality

Soon after, Claralyn left Lake because of his increasingly strange behavior and obsession with porn, but allowed Lake and Ng to continue renting her cabin, which Lake had built a dungeon next to. With Claralyn out of the picture, the 2 men’s twisted sex and torture fantasies started coming to life.

The Killing Spree Begins

Over the following year, Lake and Ng abducted Lonnie Bond, his girlfriend Brenda O’Connor, and their infant son Lonnie Jr. Lake and Ng later abducted another couple Harvey and Deborah Dubs, and their son Sean. In both cases, Lake and Ng killed the men and babies right away but kept the women alive to rape, torture, and film them. When they grew tired of the women, they were either killed or left to die from the injuries they sustained from being tortured…

Other Victims

Lake and Ng also abducted and murdered many of the couple’s friends or families that came looking for them, 2 gay men, and some of Ng’s colleagues. By that point, Lake had also murdered his own brother and his friend Charles Gunnar to steal their money and their identities.

The Killing Spree Comes To An End

Lake and Ng had no intention of stopping their killing and torture spree, but it came to a sudden end when Ng was caught stealing a vice from a local hardware store on June 2, 1985. Ng fled the scene, but Lake ended up being taken into custody because of the gun in his car and the stolen identity…

Lake’s Backup Plan

Once police figured out Lakes true identity, he knew it wouldn’t be long before they searched his home. Lake gave up his partner’s name and then swallowed cyanide pills that he had sewn into the collar of his shirt. Lake died 4 days later, and by that point, Ng was long gone.

Uncovering The Truth

While searching for Ng, investigators went to the cabin the 2 men shared and found the dungeon, a burial site containing 40 pounds of burned and crushed human bones, video footage of the attacks, and countless weapons. Police also discovered a treasure map, which lead them to 2 buried 5-gallon buckets full of the victims’ personal belongings…

The Charges

Based on all the evidence at the cabin, investigators suspect Lake and Ng were responsible for the deaths of 11 to 25 men, women, and children. By that point, Ng had made his way across the border into Canada but was caught stealing yet again. Eventually, Ng was extradited to California to face the 12 counts of first-degree murder that he had been charged with.

The Verdict

Ng tried to argue that he had only observed the murders, rapes, and tortures but none of the evidence supported him. “Mr. Ng was not under any duress, nor does the evidence support that he was under the domination of Leonard Lake,” the judge said. Ultimately, jurors found Ng guilty of 11 of the 12 murders. Today, Ng is still on death row at San Quentin State Prison.

Police Arrest Former Marine After His Treasure Map Leads Them To A Disturbing Discovery is an article from: LifeDaily

We like to think that our choices and actions only affect our own lives, but in reality, our decisions can have drastic consequences for the people around us.

When an Oregon man got behind the wheel in October 2017, the only person he was thinking of was himself. However, his irresponsible decision had disastrous effects on an innocent family who crossed paths with him for just a split second…

An Afternoon Drive

On October 8, 2017, 25-year-old Lisette Medrano-Perez from Molalla, Oregon was driving her white Buick Century to Salem, which is about a 45-minute journey, at around 4:30 p.m. That afternoon, Lisette was joined by her 3 children and her niece.

A Normal Day

For Lisette, who worked at an assisted living center in Molalla, it was just a typical day as a parent to her 8-year-old son Ivan Ricardo, 6-year-old son Andrus, 4-year-old daughter Dayanara, and her 2-year-old niece Angelina, who she was acting as a temporary legal guardian for until she was allowed to legally adopt her the following week…

Highway 99E

While on their way to Salem, Lisette decided to take Highway 99E, which was 1 of the fastest routes from Molalla. However, when she set off for her destination that afternoon, she had no idea that taking Highway 99E would change her family’s life forever.

A Head-On Collision

During the drive, Lisette turned off Highway 99E like she was supposed to in order to get to Salem. However, when she made the turn, her car was hit head-on by a Land Rover that was dangerously driving on the wrong side of the road…

Total Destruction

Lisette didn’t see the Land Rover coming, and by the time she did, it was too late to get out of the way. The small Buick Century was completely crushed and thrown into the street. Tragically, Lisette and the kids didn’t fare much better than the car.

The Damage

Drivers who witnessed the horrific crash immediately called 911 to report the accident, however, the 25-year-old mother was killed instantly upon impact. By the time first responders arrived at the scene, all 4 of the young kids were also pronounced dead…

The Other Driver

When police approached the Land Rover, which wasn’t crushed as badly as the Buick Century, they found the driver, 27-year-old Favian Garcia, was still alive. He was injured and needed to be taken to the hospital immediately, but police had an idea of what happened when they saw Garcia’s eyes.

Minor Injuries

Garcia was rushed to the Salem Hospital, where doctors treated his relatively minor injuries considering the severity of the crash. After doctors were finished, the police performed a drug evaluation on him because they could see his eyes were glassy and bloodshot…

The Probable Cause

Police noted on a probable cause statement that Garcia’s speech was slow and slurred, which made them think he was drunk. However, when the officers asked him what happened and why he was driving on the wrong side of the road, Garcia told them that he ‘had a hangover all day.’

More Than A Hangover

However, as the officers suspected, Garcia wasn’t hungover. Blood tests confirmed he was still extremely drunk. According to Garcia’s blood test, his blood alcohol content was 0.318 percent, which is about 4 times the legal limit in Oregon of 0.08 percent…

A Crushing Day Of Work

According to the members of the Oregon State Police who responded to the accident and dealt with Garcia after the crash, it was the hardest day of work they had ever experienced. “It crushes your heart. I mean it just rips out your insides,” said Lt. Bob Charpentier, who has worked as a cop for 20 years. “Those little kids have loved ones that are gonna have to deal with this the rest of (their) lives.”

An Unforgettable Day

“I have young kids at home, so did several of my troopers and emergency responders,” Charpentier said. “One image that I’ll never forget is a pink princess crown, a ‘happy birthday’ crown. I’ll never, ever forget that. Close my eyes and I see it and I’ll never forget that…”

First Responders React

For Charpentier and the other first responders, it made them appreciate their families even more than they already did. “The first thing I did when I got home was I went and hugged my family. Just grateful that I’m fortunate that I get to go home to them when I do. And, you know, this family doesn’t get that opportunity,” Charpentier said.

Fighting For Justice

When the police officers woke up the following morning, they were determined to make sure Lisette and her 4 innocent kids got the justice they deserved for Garcia’s selfish and irresponsible actions. “They’re just driving down the road. They didn’t ask for this but that’s what they were dealt,” Charpentier explained…

1 Day Later…

The morning after the accident, the police went straight to the hospital, arrested Garcia, and charged him with driving under the influence and 5 counts of manslaughter. However, when police booked Garcia in the system, they realized he had a disturbing track record for driving under the influence and alcohol abuse.

A Sickening Track Record

In 2011, Garcia pleaded guilty to driving under the influence. He also was charged with driving under the influence in July 2017 and was charged with 3 counts of interfering with making a police report in May 2017 when he prevented a store clerk from calling 911 3 times after he got angry when she refused to sell him alcohol at 4:55 in the morning…

A Danger To The Public

Once police saw Garcia’s record, which included cases that were still open, he was also charged with reckless driving and driving with a suspended license. When he appeaered in court for his arraignment, Judge Rafael Caso denied him bail since his history of drunk driving proved he would be a danger to the community if released from jail.

The Only Comfort

After the initial arraignment, Garcia was held without bail at the Marion County Correctional Facility. For Lisette’s family, it was a comfort to know that the man responsible for taking her and her children away from them couldn’t do the same to anyone else again…

Justice Is Bittersweet

Even with Garcia behind bars, however, nothing could make up for the fact that Lisette and 4 innocent children tragically had their lives taken from them. “Those were completely innocent children,” said Lt. Boyd. “There are just no words to explain what happened.”

Still In Shock

“Everything’s back to normal here but it’s not for us. You know, it’s not for the family,” Lt. Charpentier said. “It was so surreal. It was like I was in shock,” family friend Maria Segoviano added. “I just couldn’t take it all in, especially all five of them, all in one hit, wiped out. I just couldn’t believe it. They were amazing children. They’re going to be truly missed. It’s amazing how much you can lose in one second. So try to live your life to the fullest.”   

Convicted Drunk Driver Gives Absurd Excuse At Scene Of Latest Tragedy is an article from: LifeDaily

It’s a crazy world we live in. Every day, all over the world, destruction, sickness, and sadness are reported to an audience of people who, whilst feeling for the afflicted, choose to do nothing about these tragedies: besides maybe pray.

Now, I understand that there may be a few naysayers out there amongst our readers, but I trust that by the end of this story, you may have a different opinion about the positive power of prayer…

Featured photo credit: www.godupdates.com

Simple Life

31-Year-old Grayson was, like many of his peers in this day and age, living at home and working on his parent’s farm. It was a simple life, driving the tractor and combine, and having his evenings free to do whatever he wanted, but he liked it.

Leisure Time

One of Grayson’s leisure time activities was participating in the amateur demolition derby that was the Mid-Atlantic Power Festival in Ruckersville, Virginia. The few times he had done it before, he’d come out without a scratch on him: though the same could never be said for the car. At this festival, though, something changed…

Thrown Out

Accidents happen, especially when one participates in a demolition derby. Grayson was driving with one of his friends when he suddenly felt a sudden rush of momentum. From that moment on, he didn’t remember a thing. Possibly because the car flipped and Grayson was thrown out and smashed hard into the dirt.

Dead on Arrival

There were emergency crews standing by, as they always were, but that didn’t really matter for poor Grayson, who wasn’t breathing when they ran over to him. He was airlifted to University of Virginia Medical Center.  He stabilized though, as best he could, and his parents were called…

The News

Grayson’s parents, Karen and Wayne, were frantically making their way out of the house and towards the university hospital in Virginia when they stopped for a second. Wayne held his wife and told her that before they get into whatever it is they were about to get into, they should pray. They asked God to help give them the strength to face the unknown.

Barely Alive

When they were finally allowed into Grayson’s room, they were treated to the sight of their son hooked up to countless machines. They were necessary though, because it was only by the grace of those machines that he was still alive. The doctors told them that there was a less than five percent chance he’d live, and even if he did, he would suffer severe brain trauma…

It’ll Take a Miracle

It took four hours for doctors to stabilize him and while he was on the table, he died twice. As they sat in his room, watching their son slowly perish, the doctors warned them that it would take nothing short of a miracle for him to make it through the next few days. “Doc,” said Wayne Kirby. “We believe in miracles. We’re on it!”

Severe Injuries

There were a number of pretty good reasons that the doctors believed Grayson might not survive the horrific accident. Nearly every bone in his body had been crushed, broken, or bruised. His liver was punctured, his kidneys were shutting down, and he couldn’t breathe on his own because both lungs had collapsed.

Hope Lives On

Grayson Kirby’s family and friends were not about to give up hope that he would return to them. Somehow they knew that the more people who prayed for their Grayson, the better his chances might be. So they formed a Facebook page and asked everyone they could find to pray for him. The response was overwhelming.

Joined in Prayer

Michelle Ciucci, a family friend and hairdresser, was among those who came aboard to pray for Grayson. “His Facebook page had like 8,600 followers and they’ve all prayed hard for him.” she explained. And as amazing as the thousands of prayers were, they were nothing compared to the dozens of fundraisers that seemed to follow soon after…

Lemonade Stand

Michelle’s son Sheldan had told his mother that he wanted to help the Kirby family in some way. He was young but he knew that the best thing he could do for them now, besides praying of course, was to see if they could make some money to minimize the mounting medical expenses. To that end, he built a good, old-fashioned lemonade stand.

More Funds Raised

Sheldan was amazed by the amount of customers he had at the stand, he made hundreds from it. Next came haircut fundraisers, cupcake sales, quilts, t-shirts, and handbags: all of them inspired by Grayson and used to not only raise money, but to inspire hope. With each added donation, each person made aware of the Kirby’s problem, more prayers got added to the page…

Power of Faith

On June 17, ten days after he had fallen into a coma and sat on the brink of death, Grayson Kirby opened his eyes. A few days later and he was able to mouth the words, “I love you,” to his father. At that moment, the Kirby’s knew that they were going to be ok. The power of faith had helped them through it.

10 Days

Grayson stayed at the University of Virginia Hospital for another six weeks after that. He had a long way to go in his rehabilitation, but it seemed like he would make a full recovery. The thing of it was, as miraculous as it appeared, the doctors couldn’t seem to find a way to explain how he had recovered so quickly or completely…

Bewildered by a Miracle

Like any mom, Karen Kirby believed that it was her son being “a special kid” that contributed to his recovery. As for Grayson himself, he has come out as saying he is bewildered by how much of a miracle it is that he’s still here. Grayson is thankful for all the support, the donations, and of course, the prayers.

Full Recovery

Before he could go home, Grayson was transferred to Sheltering Arms Hospital for more rehabilitation. He is expected to make a full recovery. He even hopes to be back working on the family farm with his father soon enough. Still, he has a rather long way to go before that’s possible…

Long Road

Currently, Grayson is undergoing physical therapy twice a week, working his lower extremities. Walking has been hard for him, mainly because he has no feeling in his lower legs and feet. When he’s not there, he’s doing what he can to help his father on the farm. He’s even been able to drive the tractor a bit.

Unexplainable

Doctors have still been unable to explain what happened in Grayson’s case, but they certainly plan to study it. In the meantime, as he recovers, Grayson has taken to social media and has agreed to appear on television to show the world the amazing power of prayer. He was recently on Steve Harvey to talk about it…

On TV

Grayson Kirby’s miraculous story has touched the lives of people around the world. He told the amazing tale on the Steve Harvey show to a national television audience of believers and nonbelievers alike. To date, they have heard from people in Germany, Korea, Ireland, ad Australia, sending their prayers.

Restored Faith

Whether you believe in God or not, this story is definitely one that can restore even the most wavering of faiths. I submit that even if you don’t believe that prayer saved Grayson’s life, you can still believe in the power of the human spirit, in humanity coming together to help one another in times of need.

Demolition Derby Disaster Ends In Unexplained Prayer-Fueled Recovery is an article from: LifeDaily

We often don’t give kids enough credit. It’s as much our fault as it is theirs, really. We assume they’re ignorant, pigheaded, and selfish and though they don’t know how to phrase it exactly, they think the same things about us.

This story is about one shy, quiet Texas girl who surprised everyone with just how resourceful she turned out to be, all on her own…

Rearrange Furniture

10-year-old Grace and her father, Jeff were working around the house, rearranging furniture in her room. She was trying to make the best of him being there by thinking about how great her room would look when it was all done. It was still her room after all, and that in and of itself was a good feeling.

Collapse

Just as he was lifting a particularly heavy armoire, Jeff collapsed. Gracie didn’t know what to do, she raced to his side and shook him to no avail. Eventually, after a few minutes, Jeff awoke, but Grace could tell that there was something very wrong with her daddy…

Stumbles and Mumbles

The 33-year-old father-of-two got to his feet and managed to stumble, for lack of a better word, to the couch in order to sit down. Unfortunately, he kept passing out each time Gracie tried to ask what was happening. Her ten-year-old mind struggled to find explanations for what was happening.

Confused

In the few moments that he was conscious, Gracie could see that her dad was very disoriented. He seemed confused about where he was and his eyes kept rolling back into his head. Gracie stayed by his side for a bit longer until instinct kicked in: she needed to call for help…

Call for Help

The situation had become increasingly more serious by the second and it was at this point that Gracie realized she needed to call someone to come and help them. She scrambled around for a phone, which as a 10-year-old in 2017, she certainly had, but found that there was a pretty big problem.

No Phone

Because bad luck always likes to show up at the worst times, Gracie’s cell phone hadn’t been charged. She rifled through her dad’s pockets for his own cell phone, but discovered it wasn’t there. Jeff was unconscious now and she couldn’t ask him where he’d put his phone. She did however have one more option…

Facetime

Grace, resourceful as ever, ran to her younger brother’s room to grab his iPod Touch. Thinking quickly, she clicked on Facetime and called her father’s cell phone. She listened intently for a moment until she heard a ringing from the other room.

Call 911

She grabbed the phone and quickly called 911. A few agonizingly long minutes later and the emergency officials knocked on her door. Gracie ran over and answered it. She could tell by the uniforms that these were the hope her father needed. “Where is he?” said one of the men…

Slumped

Grace walked the man over to her father, who was slumped and still completely unconscious on the couch. They read his heart rate, which was a measly and dangerously low 24 beats per minute. For comparison, a normal resting heart rate for an adult is typically ranges from 60 to 100 beats per minute.

Ambulance Ride

In the ambulance, Jeff was in and out of consciousness. He would wake up, feel as if he was covered in something, but not able to see anything. He could hear the paramedics yelling “Stay with me, Jeff.” But he was too confused to respond. A second later, and Jeff was unconscious again…

Stabilized

In the ICU, Dopamine was administered, as was the blood pressure medicine Jeff took regularly. While this was going on, his wife Kelly was heading to the hospital with Gracie in tow. By the time they had arrived, Jeff had stabilized. Before long he was staying conscious and thanking his brave daughter.

Tests and Uncertainties

Later that night, they weaned him off of the meds and the dopamine to make sure his heart would be able to get back into its normal rhythm. It did. Soon he was awake and talking and even walking on his own. There was one problem though, the doctors weren’t exactly sure why he collapsed in the first place…

Longtime Meds

After running multiple tests, doctors finally came to a conclusion. The thing that had undone Jeff was the very thing he had been taking as a precaution against this sort of things. In a strange twist of fate, the blood pressure medication he’d been taking for years had caused his heart rate to slow.

More Issues

Of course, the doctors also warned that it could be something else as well. Jeff could have developed a sort of neurological issue. He’s stabilized since then and is good as new, but has been keeping an eye on his health since that day just in case. As for the little girl of our story, she’s learned a lot…

Instinctual

Kelly Frederickson is more than proud of how her daughter reacted to such a harrowing situation. She admitted that this was Gracie’s first real emergency and that they had not done anything prior to that day to teach them what to do if a parent collapsed.

Acting Fast

Since that day though, the Fredericksons have made sure to drill emergency behavior into the kids. They are cognizant of what might have happened if Gracie hadn’t acted so fast. She stayed calm in a moment that would have forced an adult to panic…

Facebook Appreciation

The day after he went into the hospital, Kelly took to Facebook saying, “…We appreciate all the text, calls, prayers, and offers to help. We are truly blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives….Special prayers for Grace-she has been so strong and was so heroic Friday she has since been having emotional times and having a hard time leaving the hospital.”

Staying Strong

“She was able to stay strong for her daddy and brother,” said Kelly Frederickson. If not for her quick thinking, her father wouldn’t be alive. It’s not the only life lesson that she’s learned out of this nearly-tragic experience either. She learned one irrefutable fact that everyone should know nowadays…

Life Lessons

The most important lesson that Grace Frederickson learned from her father’s near-death experience? To always keep her cell phone charged. It just goes to show, you never know what can happen or who you might need to call in a pinch.

Kids These Days

Say what you will about kids and their mostly unhealthy attachment to electronic devices, but this story just illustrates how important those devices are in our everyday lives. If Gracie hadn’t known to use Facetime, Jeff may not have been rescued in time.

10-Year Old Texas Girl Finds Unusually Clever Way To Help Her Disabled Dad is an article from: LifeDaily

First responders have been trained to stay calm under extreme pressure when split-second decisions can mean the difference between life and death.

Regular people, on the other hand, often panic in emergency situations. Yet when 1 Irish man realized 3 kids were trapped inside a burning home, he bravely tried to save them. Without the proper training, however, he had no idea how to do it. But in the heat of the moment, he did manage to do something that saved everyone…

The Builder

When 47-year-old Peter O’Neill woke up on the morning of April 30, 2018, he expected it to be a typical day of working renovating a house on Main Street in New Ross, which is a town in the county of Wexford in Ireland. And for most of the day, it was a completely normal day.

A Red Flag

However, at around 3:30 that afternoon, Peter noticed a strong smell of smoke. At first he wondered if the home that was being renovated had caught fire, but as he looked around he didn’t see any trace of a fire. It wasn’t until he looked out the window that he realized where the smoke was coming from…

Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire

“It was around half three and I could smell smoke, so I just put my head out of a window on the second floor and I could see smoke billowing out from the house next door,” Peter said. The house next door had caught fire and the flames were quickly growing.

A Chilling Realization

As if the situation wasn’t bad enough, Peter started hearing what sounded like screaming children. In that moment, he knew he was going to have to do something to save them since it didn’t look like they could get downstairs and out of the house…

The First Instinct

“I rang 999 straight away, I could hear children crying, I went out the back and I see two of the kids at the third story window, they were getting sick and crying,” Peter said. “I heard another cry from the background and I knew there was another child in there.”

A Heroic Reaction

Peter estimated that there were 3 children in the home, but when 1 of the screams suddenly stopped, he knew he couldn’t just wait for help to arrive. ”That cry was getting a lot fainter and then it just stopped,” said Peter, who ran out of the house he had been working on, and over to the house next door…

Attempting To Help

Even though Peter had never received training for an emergency situation like this, he knew the children were going to die and he couldn’t sit back and do nothing. “I tried to get in one of the windows but it was so intense, I was overcome by smoke and I had to turn back around,” Peter explained.

7 Minutes Later

Peter tried his best to rescue the kids, but he he didn’t have the training or the equipment needed to deal with such a strong fire. Thankfully, however, he remembered to call the police to report the fire. Within a few minutes, first responders arrived at the home and got to work…

To The Rescue

“The fire services arrived really quickly, they had their ladders and I brought them around the back and was able to show them where the kids were,” Peter said about the firemen from the New Ross Fire Service that arrived at the scene 7 minutes after he called for help.

Leading The Way

“The fire service came and I brought them around the back and they could see the kids hanging out the back window and I was able to point them to the window where the other kid was, I’d say he was only about three years of age,” Peter added…

The First Rescue

The firefighters used ladders to climb up to a window on the home’s 3rd floor where they were able to pull a 9-year-old, a 7-year-old, and their father out. While bringing them down, the 9-year-old told the crew that his younger brother was still inside the home in his bedroom.

No Time To Waste

Meanwhile, a firefighter had already busted through the front door and ran up the staircase, which was on fire. Once on the 2nd level, the firefighter heard the 3-year-old’s coughs and found him lying on the floor next to his bed. Thankfully, the brave fireman got to him before it was too late…

Damage Control

“He was unresponsive but they started doing CPR and managed to bring him back around,” Peter said. As paramedics worked on the 3-year-old, the crew was fighting to put out the fire and administering oxygen to Peter, the 2 older boys, and their father.

The Situation Intensifies

All of the family members were rushed away in ambulances to the University Hospital Waterford, and on the way, the 3-year-old took a turn for the worse. Thankfully, however, emergency room doctors managed to stabilise him as well as treat his older brothers and father…

Part-Time Rescuers

“When the fire service came it was just bang, bang, bang and they managed to get everything done,” said Peter, who was also impressed with the firefighter’s quick action since they are technically retained firefighters, which mean they have full-time jobs in addition to their work with the fire department.

Unsung Heroes

“I’d never seen anything like it before and I don’t think they’re appreciated enough, it could have been three hearses instead of three ambulances there if they hadn’t acted so fast,” said Peter. “I had never been through anything like that before and I never want to experience anything like that again – it was a horrible experience…”

The What-Ifs

Like the family that was rescued, Peter was also sent to the hospital to be evaluated for smoke inhalation. According to Peter, however, the experience had a bigger impact on his emotions than his body. “It affected my head more than my health really – for a few days I just couldn’t sleep thinking about what happened and what could have happened,” Peter said.

An Investigation Begins

“It could have been an absolute tragedy, it could have been a lot different. It wasn’t a nice scene but it turned out well thankfully,” the 47-year-old builder added. While the 3 boys and their father were in the hospital, firefighters started investigating the home to see what caused the fire, which completely destroyed the structure…

An Ideal Outcome

According to Chief Fire Officer Paul L’Estrange, the fire broke out under the staircase of the 3-story home, which belonged to a Polish family of 7. So far, officials don’t know how the fire started, but they’re just glad the family members who were home at the time when it started are all expected to be fine.

Making A Difference

“The fire fighters of New Ross deserve the highest thanks and praise. Because of them the lives of three kids were saved. That is the real positive outcome of this story. There was an extremely good job of work done and they made a difference when it mattered most,” Chief L’Estrange said.

Part-Time Heroes Pull Kids From Home Seconds Before Being Engulfed In Flames is an article from: LifeDaily

As well as holding a lot of sentimental value for their owner, relics from the past often reveal some amazing secrets about how life was in the old days.

One fascinating and common relic which is often found is the war medal. But when it comes to war medals, there aren’t many things in life which hold a more special meaning for the brave men and woman who have fought and died for our freedom over the centuries…

Average Boy

Mike was your average 10-year-old boy, more or less. Raised in a small town called Worcester, Mike was into riding his bike with the neighborhood kids, going on long hikes and generally getting up to the usual mischief of a ten-year-old. However, Mike’s favorite pastime by far was digging in his back garden; Something he did often. As often as he could whenever it stopped raining.

Growing Up

Growing up by the River Severn in the medieval town of Worcester, UK was a treat for any little boy. A place replete with quaint Cathedral houses, tombs and even cloisters, growing up in this middle-English town was like growing up in history. Mike’s family weren’t wealthy by any means, by they were comfortable and Mike had everything he needed…

Canada Bound

Years later, as an adult, Mike found himself emigrating to Canada with his family, eventually settling in Toronto in 2004. By then, Mike had kids of his own, and a loving wife; But he never forgot what life was like back in Worcester as a kid for him, and sometimes regretted not giving his children the same upbringing, at least from an historic perspective.

Bunns Road

Mike grew up in a much humbler abode than did his children once he moved his family to Canada. Then again, life was different back then, and his kids were far more interested in their smartphones than in digging in the garden, especially in Toronto which doesn’t quite have the relic-rich soil of Worcester back in good ole’ blighty…

Dig Dig

Mike was bored as most ten-year-old boys one Saturday. No school, homework and household chores done, Mike wandered out to his favorite place, the back garden, armed with his trusty shovel and bucket. It wasn’t exactly a day on the beach, but it would have to do. It wasn’t raining and even the sun made an appearance through the low clouds from time to time.

Digging For Gold

Every kid fantasizes about digging for gold, or silver, or diamonds, or anything of value. All those childish aspirations to be rich and famous, a little bit like a pirate, but without the violence or Rum. On this day however, little Mike would actually get lucky and find some gold; Some real gold…

What’s That?

Mike may have dug in the moist earth of his back yard a bit deeper than usual that Saturday; Or perhaps he just found a lucky spot. Either way, what Mike was about to uncover was a timeless relic, and a valuable one at that, not just sentimentally speaking either.

History Uncovered

Mike had no idea what he had just stumbled upon; A gold medal, of some description, which was heavy even if it was caked with mud and small pebbles. When he took it inside, his folks knew it was real, and valuable, but they had no idea what it was. They knew it was old, but how old?…

World War I

Europe was a mess during the first world war, which saw millions killed in a bloodbath of territorial conquest from the years 1914-1918. There were many brave men and women who fought and died for their country, and those who survived received medals of honor. Some common and some less so, but sometimes they were given gold ones.

Treasured Heirloom

Mike Iacovelli spoke about how the medal he found 30 years ago became a valuable family heirloom, “I recall the delight when I started to clean off the dirt and realised that this was not just another old coin for my collection,” he explained, “It has been treasured by me for many years with my intention of one day finding the rightful owners and family who it once belonged to.”

Facebook Post

Mike always felt just a tinge of guilt about that medal. Sure it was buried in his garden but it wasn’t really his; It belonged to someone who really earned it. Mike, along with his wife Alison, decided one day not so long ago to try to find the rightful owner. And what better place to do that than Facebook?

Worcestershire Memories

While Mike and Alison weren’t sure exactly where to start posting on Facebook, they assumed that the Facebook group, Worcestershire Memories, was a good place to start so they posted a picture of the medal from Mike’s medal tin there. Before long the image went semi-viral on Facebook and they got some interesting responses…

Fond Memories

As a child Mike wanted to get more information about the medal he had found. Mike recalls, “I convinced my mother to take a trip to Worcester Museum to see if I could get more information. Understandably, back in the early 80’s, with nothing much other than the use of an encyclopedia, there was not much I could find.” However, the curator told Mike that his medal was quite common, and not really anything special.

George Hammond

Mike did however eventually discover the truth about his medal and who it belonged to. After receiving responses on Facebook it turned out that the medal had in fact belonged to A.G. George Hammond, a gunner for the 61st Division’s ammunition column. George sadly died on June 12, 1917, aged just 24, but was survived by his wife Nellie. Thankfully the couple also had a few children before George passed away…

Descendants Found

After much work on Facebook, Mike had somehow managed to find George’s great-great-granddaughter, a woman called Debbie Evans. When Debbie checked her inbox, she was thrilled to receive a message from Mike informing her about the medal which he had found.

Aunt Carol

Debbie was thrilled to be getting this piece of her family history back. After receiving the medal from Mike she said she plans to give it to her aunt Carol, who is the oldest family member alive to date. “I just got so emotional seeing the post on Facebook,” Debbie explained, especially as she had been looking into George’s history recently and had hit dead ends…

Ask Dad

Although Mike’s contacting Debbie was a total coincidence, as she was already trying to find out more about her forefathers, at that time she asked her Dad Chris about grandad George but he didn’t know anything at all. She randomly tracked down a researcher from Tenerife who was able to locate and send her a picture of George.

Spitting Image

Debbie was stunned when she first laid eyes on the grainy black and white picture of her Great-Great-Grandpa George. She said George was “the absolute spitting image of my eldest son, Lewis.” Debbie was thrilled to finally put the pieces of her family together, and thanked Mike for helping her do that…

Visiting George

Don’t worry, we aren’t talking about a seance here or anything like that. So happy was Debbie with the medal that, using George’s regimental number, she visited his grave, buried deep in the Arras, Northern France. Making the trip with some of her family Debbie said, “As far as we know, we’re the first family members to go and see his grave.”

Happy Family

Debbie and her folks were simply thrilled about the revelations that the medal find had revealed. Finally they knew something about their past. “Previously before, no one really knew anything about him (George), who he served with, when and where. We were going to get his medals replicated through the correct channels but finding the original is mind blowing.” Debbie said.

Long Lost WW1 Medal Found By Curious Boy Returned To Rightful Owner is an article from: LifeDaily

Our world is a place of inspiration and of tragedy. As a writer, I can say that without a hint of irony. Uplifting miracles and depraved horrors live together in our experience, side by side in the collective imagination that is the Internet.

This story has it all, a triple homicide, a confession, a recantation, and a family tragedy that, though it wasn’t known at first, was years in the making…

Found Dead

The police arrived at the home on Pitch Pine Crescent and found Caleb, a 40-year-old father of two, dead on the floor of the house he had once shared with his parents. On the surface, it seemed to be an accidental death. Of course, it was also the third such “accidental” death in the previous five years.

Earlier Deaths

Caleb’s mother, Bridget, had also been found dead in the house several years earlier. She was found at the bottom of the stairs. It also appeared to be an accident. A year before that, Bridget herself had discovered her husband Bill’s lifeless body in the main-floor bathroom. If it seems like an odd coincidence, that’s because it is…

Wrong COD

At the time of Bill’s death, the coroner had pronounced it to have been caused by acute cardiac arrhythmia. This wasn’t entirely incorrect, but the medical examiner had forgotten to add that it also looked like Bill had been assaulted prior to suffering the heart attack. So who could have attacked an elderly man?

Neck Injuries

Bridget’s death a year later was attributed to “neck injuries.” It still seemed she had fallen down the stairs, but for some reason, the investigation into it being an accident or not stalled completely. Then it stopped altogether. It wasn’t until Caleb was discovered in around 2013 that the police decided it might be time to look a bit deeper into these mysterious deaths…

Separation

Looking into his past, investigators uncovered that separation between Caleb and the mother of his two children, Melissa Merritt, had not exactly been genial. Caleb had been charged with domestic assault and had moved back in with his parents, Bridget and Bill Harrison. As such, they became much more involved in their grandchildren’s’ lives. It was a fact Melissa wasn’t happy about.

Years Apart

Despite the fact that all three Harrisons died in different years and at different times, in different ways, they also all perished at key moments in Melissa and Caleb’s acrimonious custody battle. The first, which took place in 2009, occurred when a judge gave Bill and Bridget shared custody of the kids with Melissa. At the time, Caleb was serving a jail sentence for driving while impaired and accidentally killing a man…

Custody Decision

After their split and whilst Caleb was in jail, Melissa Merritt began dating 28-year-old Christopher Fattore, who became a sort of additional father figure in the kids’ lives. Fattore and Merritt agreed that they didn’t want the children visiting their father in jail, a fact which rankled the Harrisons. That, coupled with the couple’s financial issues, prompted them to want to leave the province.

Suspicious End

They fled in secret, with the two kids in tow, and before the courts could do anything about it, Bill’s tragic heart attack occurred. At the time, the police thought nothing of the two situations, they didn’t seem related. Still, it seemed perfectly reasonable to assume that Bill and Fattore had some sort of confrontation, which resulted in his untimely death…

Twin Murderers

Melissa Merritt now faced murder charges for killing Bridgit while Christopher Fattore faced the additional charge of second-degree murder in the deaths of Bill and Caleb Harrison. Fattore’s contention was that he just wanted to “rough up” Caleb and the he hadn’t meant to kill him, and the same with Bill.

Coming Clean

During his initial police interview, which took place over 13 hours, Fattore confessed to attacking and strangling both Bridget and Caleb. He told them that Melissa hadn’t been involved at all. It was a slam dunk for the prosecution. There was a problem with the confession, however, though it wouldn’t come to light until the case against both of them went to trial sometime later…

False Confession

During the trial, when Fattore was brought in alongside his wife, he told the court that he was recanting his confession. He explained that he had taken the fall for the two murders because, the way he understood it, Merritt would be freed from custody and be allowed to be with their children. When he found out she was not, he told them he lied.

Not Rookies

There were some lingering problems with the prosecution’s case however. Mainly that upon first inspection into Bill Harrison’s death, the police officers were convinced that there were no suspicious circumstances. The defense argued that the police were “Experienced investigators” and “not just a bunch of rookie fools.” Which meant that perhaps the accusations were false from the start…

Tracked Down

Bridget’s accident happened a few months after she finally buried her husband and tracked down her missing grandkids. It was a day before she was to testify at Melissa Merritt’s parental abduction trial, that she fell down the stairs. If she had testified, she would have been given sole interim custody of the children.

The Connection

Three years later, when Caleb died the night before a 50-50 summer custody split reverted back to sole custody for him, the police realized their mistake. After that, police tracked down Merritt and Fattore and arrested them. Merritt was a mother of six and Fattore was father to the four younger children when they were taken to jail…

No Plan

Joel Hechter, Melissa Merritt’s lawyer, has argued that there is only the slightest bit of circumstantial evidence presented against his client. According to him, she only knew about Mr. Fattore’s plan after Caleb was dead. He attests that Fattore was right during his first admission, that Merritt didn’t do anything wrong..

Closing Arguments

“She didn’t kill anyone. She didn’t plot to kill anyone,” explained Mr. Hechter. He also added that both Merritt and Fattore would have had to be “criminal masterminds” to pull off what the police were alleging they had done. Three “accidental-looking” deaths in five years did seem like a stretch for these two folks..

Important Decision

The jury had a difficult task ahead of them. They had to decide what happened to Bill, Bridget, and Caleb. They had to decide who had done it, and if either Melissa Merritt or Christopher Fattore were actually the guilty parties after all.

No Luck

The issue is, if Fattore isn’t found guilty of committing the acts, which the evidence shows he did alone, then the police are going to look awfully incompetent, It would mean that he successfully managed to hide his direct involvement in two murders from the police for several years. Soon enough, the verdict was in…

Guilty

In the end, the jury could not reach consensus on whether or not Merritt had killed her former mother-in-law, Bridget Harrison. They declared a mistrial in her case. As for Fattore, he was found guilty of murdering both Caleb Harrison and Bridget Harrison. Though they declared him not guilty of second-degree murder in Bill Harrison’s death.

Lingering Questions

How did the Peel police miss two homicides? How did they allow the killer, an obvious suspect, to go free for years between them? These questions will take some internal investigation to answer. Ultimately, though one of the killers was indeed brought to justice; the cost the province will undoubtedly pay is high.

Canadian Police Investigate Strange And Unforeseen Link Between Three Untimely And “Accidental” Deaths is an article from: LifeDaily

You’ve probably heard “dogs are man’s best friend” a million times before and with good reason. As most people with a dog will tell you, there is real and mutual love between them and their pets. Still, despite our fondness for them, dogs can be dangerous animals.

That’s why when a dog is on the loose with no owner around, it can cause quite the commotion, especially if it’s one of the “scarier” breeds. When one dog on the loose in a Texas community was confronted, it would show it’s true nature…

Real Differences

No matter how you feel about dogs, it’s undeniable that there are major differences between the breeds, especially when it comes to safety. A 150 lb Mastiff is just flat out more dangerous than a 10 lb Shih Tzu.

‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ Breeds

Aside from the differences in size that come with different breeds, some kinds of dogs have reputations about their behavior. While breeds like Labradors and Beagles are known for being friendly, some breeds have a reputation for aggressive behavior…

Notorious

Probably the most notorious of those “dangerous” breeds is the pitbull. People will say that they’re mean and vicious, naturally aggressive towards people and other animals, they have a tendency to suddenly “snap,” and have an abnormally strong bite and once they bite down, they can “lock their jaw” in place.

False Narrative

The problem with these “attributes” of the pitbull is they just aren’t based on facts. Pitbulls’ bite strength is the same as other breeds of a similar size and they have no special “locking” mechanism. According to the American Temperament Test Society, pitbulls have a slightly better than average temperament compared to other breeds…

Reputation Reversal

In fact, pitbulls used to have the opposite sort of reputation. At one point, they were considered friendly, sweet, family dogs like Petey from the Little Rascals if you’re old enough to remember that show. Their vicious reputation only really started in the 70s when folks living in cities started using pittys as guard dogs because of their reputation for strength and loyalty.

Spike of Fear

Regardless, pitbulls’ bad rep persists and when someone sees one out on its own, it’s almost certain to cause a spike of fear. So when someone spotted a hulking pitbull walking around Texarkana all by himself on a Sunday in April, they didn’t hesitate to call 911…

Responding to the Scene

The dispatcher taking the call appropriately informed both police and animal control. Officer Travis Frost was the policemen sent out to check out the scene. As he slowly drove through the area where the dog was spotted, it didn’t take long for him to find him.

Duty First

Officer Frost saw the pitty laying on someone’s front porch and, as reported, the dog was massive. Still, it’s a police officer’s duty to risk putting themselves in harms way to protect the rest of us, so Officer Frost got out of his car…

Taking Precautions

But he wasn’t going to get out without taking precautions. In order to protect himself in case the dog tried to attack, Officer Frost left the door to his patrol car open so he could jump back inside to safety if necessary.

Moment of Truth

With one hand on the door, Officer Frost whistled to the dog to see how he would react. The pitbull quickly perked up his ears and swung his massive head in the cop’s direction, then came the moment of truth as he got to his feet…

Big Buddy

What happened next may come as a surprise to many. The big fella trotted over to Officer Frost with his tongue hanging out and his tail wagging. Far from vicious, the dog was just as pleasant and friendly as can be.

Like Old Pals

After Officer Frost let the pooch sniff his hand, he had no quarrel at all with getting petted by his new uniformed friend. Then “after Travis pet the dog for a minute, he went right up to the patrol unit, jumped in the front seat, and just made himself at home,” the Texarkana Police Department would later say in a Facebook post…

Just Chilling

While 911 calls about stray dogs are not uncommon, this one was special. “The unique thing about this one was the dog was so darn friendly,” said one police spokesman. With the big pup sitting shotgun, there was nothing left for Officer Frost to do but hang out with him until animal control arrived. He simply sat there, petting the big boy — who was cool as a cucumber — and snapping selfies.

Golden Boy

When an animal control officer arrived, he similarly had no troubles with the gentle giant. It turned out the dog, whose name was Gold, had an implanted chip but the owner’s contact information had not been updated in the system. That meant despite his congenial nature, Gold would have to spend a night in “the slammer.”…

Reunited

Thankfully, the Animal Care & Adoption Center was able to track down Gold’s owners and he was quickly reunited with them the next day. In the meantime, the pictures and story Officer Frost had posted to Facebook had begun to go viral.

Going Viral

As of this writing, the post had been liked nearly 100,000 times and shared nearly 50,000, and has gotten nearly 10,000 comments. While most people were simply glad to hear a nice story that contradicted the negative stereotypes about pitbulls, some people took issue with the story…

More Misconceptions

Specifically, a number of commenters pointed out that Gold “didn’t look like a pitbull.’ In truth, pitbull isn’t actually a dog breed but actually an umbrella term for several different breeds, including the American Bully, which is what Gold was.

Collateral Damage

The confusion about what a pitbull actually is is one of the problems with the negative stereotypes that surround them. Quite often, any old dog with a blocky head gets labelled as a pitbull, meaning those that just have the “pitbull look” share in the undeserved stigma for no reason at all…

Real Consequences

The dogs getting a bad rep for no reason has real world consequences for them as well as for their owners. Not only are pitbulls flat out illegal in some places, dogs with pitbull like appearances make up the overwhelming majority of the 1.2 million dogs euthanized in shelters in the US each year.

Making a Difference

And even in places where pitbulls are legal, finding rental housing without a breed restriction can be a near-impossible task. Thankfully, every time a story like this one comes out that demonstrates the true nature of these sweet dogs, it chips away at the negative stereotypes.

Police Officer’s Facebook Post Goes Viral After 911 Call Over Stray Dog is an article from: LifeDaily

In an emergency situation, there are generally 2 kinds of people. When confronted with danger, some people understandably panic, not sure what to do. Others stay calm and immediately spring into action. Usually, the word we use for that second type of person is hero.

In professions like emergency room staff, first responders, and soldiers, ordinary people learn how to be heroic through extensive training. Then, there are some people who are just born with that ability inside them. But when one man took decisive and heroic action in the face of danger, everything wasn’t what it seemed…

Ordinary Guy

Michael was a typical middle-aged guy living in upstate New York in the middle class town of Halfmoon. The 43-year-old was home by himself on a Thursday afternoon in October when he noticed something strange.

Something In The Air

Michael wasn’t sure at first but he thought that he caught a whiff of a smell at once familiar and out of place: smoke. It was past grilling season and the smell was more campfire than bbq, but it didn’t make sense for anyone to be burning a fire outside while the sun was still shining…

Shocking Sight

When he went outside to check and see where the smell might be coming from, Michael was confronted with a sight that would send a spike of adrenaline through anyone’s system. He saw a thick plume of smoke coming from his neighbors home, with long flames licking at the roof of the building.

Man of Action

Without a moment’s hesitation, Michael leapt into action. He ran to another neighbor’s home and pounded on the door, yelling about the fire and crying for them to call 911. When he got no response, he tried another door, then another but it seemed either no one was home or no one was willing to help…

Urgency

Michael normally would have just called 911 and waited for the firefighters to arrive. Unfortunately, there was an urgent reason for him to act quickly. Michael knew that his neighbors had a dog and it seemed as if they weren’t home.

Can’t Wait For A Hero

With the house empty aside from the dog, there was no way that he could get out of the house. If Michael waited for firemen to arrive on the scene, the dog would almost certainly perish in the flames. Seeing no option, Michael Orchard decided to take heroic action…

Stunt Driving

Michael rushed into his house, grabbed the keys to his BMW, jumped inside the car and turned the key. He put the car in drive, turned the wheel and floored the accelerator, driving the vehicle straight through his neighbor’s fence.

Battering Ram

Michael didn’t even slow down as he aimed the car straight for his neighbor’s sliding glass door. He slammed the car’s brakes as the door’s glass shattered onto the hood of his car. When it came to a stop, he threw open the door and pushed out into the searing heat of the fire…

Brave Rescue

Choking through the smoke, Michael scooped up his neighbor’s big white dog. With the pooch wrapped up in his arms, he ran out of the house and onto the front lawn. Thankfully, both he and his neighbor’s dog were completely unharmed.

Help Has Arrived

Someone must have called 911 because first responders arrived shortly after he got out of the house. When they did, they found Michael standing ‘heroically’ with the dog in his arms but something was off…

Odd Scene

He told the first responders about how he’d smashed his car into the house to rescue the dog from the flames but they noticed something incredibly out of place with his story. Where you would expect to see a plume of smoke, the air was clear. Where you would expect the roof and walls of the home being ravaged by flames, they were untouched. In short, there was no fire.

Only One Problem

There were only police — no firefighters or ambulances — among the first responders because someone had called 911 because of the commotion Michael Orchard had caused, first by knocking on doors, screaming about a fire, then by his vehicular misadventure…

Why?

When the police tried to get an explanation out of Orchard, he was quite disoriented, to say the least. When they questioned him on how he could have possibly thought his neighbor’s house was on fire, he eventually confessed to police that he was under the influence.

Out Of His Gourd

Earlier in the day, Orchard had mixed LSD with cough medicine and taken a dose, enough in fact to hallucinate a house fire. The only emergency had been cooked up in Orchard’s drug-addled mind…

Cooperative

Police described Orchard as being “very cooperative,” which made sense considering he had believed himself to be a hero. But despite his good intentions, the facts were that he’d driven his car into his neighbor’s house and stolen their dog.

No Criminal Genius

“Well, he’s not a cat burglar,” said State Trooper Mark Cepiel. Nevertheless, for the mayhem he’d caused, police arrested Orchard. He was charged with third degree criminal mischief for smashing the fence and the glass door and second degree burglary for ‘swiping’ the dog…

Loopholes

Strangely enough, there were no possession or DUI charges despite the fact that he’d confessed to being intoxicated and driving a car. According to Trooper Cepiel, that was because, strictly speaking, he hadn’t broken those laws.

Letter of the Law

“He drove over yards and through the fence,” said Trooper Cepiel. “At no point was he on the roadway,” hence no DUI change,  and “no illegal substances were found in his possession,” so there were no drug charges either…

Guilty

Still, the 2 charges he was facing were both felonies. After pleading guilty to the charges, Michael Orchard was released on $15,000 bail. He would be facing serious jail time, depending on how the sentencing went.

No Harm Done… Almost

As for the neighbors whose house had been damaged, they came home that day to quite the surprise, with quite the story to explain it. Thankfully, their dog was safe and there was no damage to their home besides the door and the fence. Troopers also ordered the family a new door.

Police Apprehend Neighbor After ‘Heroic’ Rescue Attempt is an article from: LifeDaily

They say time heals all wounds, but for parents who have lost a child, the pain and loss never goes away no matter how much time has passed.

So when 1 Florida mom read an article about a 4-year-old’s mysterious death, the thought that something similar could happen to her daughter absolutely terrified her. 1 year later, however, it ended up being the thing that saved her daughter’s life…

An Unexpected Call

On Monday, April 16, 2018, Florida mom Lacey Grace sent her 4-year-old daughter to preschool like she did every other Monday morning. She didn’t expect to see her daughter until the school day was finished, however, in the middle of the day she got a call from the preschool requesting that she come pick Elianna up.

The Fever

According to the preschool, Elianna had a fever and needed to be taken home. The staff also explained to Lacey that Elianna would have to stay home for at least 24 hours as part of a policy to try and keep illnesses from spreading to the other children…

A Day Of Rest

Lacey took Elianna home and let her rest. The next day, Elianna seemed better, but because she couldn’t go back to school that day, Lacey brought Elianna to work with her at the family’s business. According to Lacey, her 4-year-old spent the day quietly coloring and playing in a corner at the office.

The Fever Returns

On Wednesday morning, Elianna was feeling fine so Lacey dropped her off at preschool. However, just a few hours later, Lacey got a call from the preschool staff. They explained that Elianna’s fever was back and that she needed to be picked up again and brought home…

Developing Immune Systems

Normally, Lacey wouldn’t have been too concerned. As a parent to a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old, she knows that kids get sick and often, the only thing to do is let them rest as their immune systems fight whatever bacteria or virus is in their system.

‘A Worried Parent’

“There are so many times I have taken my kid to the doctor, saying I’m being a worried parent, and they say it’s a viral thing, give it a few days,” Lacey explained. However, when she picked Elianna up from preschool with a fever for the 2nd time in a week, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was seriously wrong…

A Healthy Child

Elianna had been sick before like any other child, but she was normally a healthy child and never had any serious health concerns in the past. However, after picking the 4-year-old up from preschool, Lacey couldn’t stop thinking about an article that she read in the news about a year prior.

The Aricle

The previous summer, a 4-year-old boy named Frankie Delgado Jr. tragically died days after inhaling a large amount of water while splashing at the Texas City Dike. According to his family, Frankie started showing symptoms of ‘dry drowning’ or ‘secondary drowning’ days after the incident…

Rare Forms Of Drowning

Both complications occur when water gets trapped in the respiratory system. In dry drowning, inhaled water makes the airway spasms without ever reaching the lungs. In secondary drowning, water is inhaled into the lungs, which can lead to pulmonary edema. It can become difficult to breathe and get enough oxygen into the body, which can lead to death even days after inhaling water.

Missing The Symptoms

Unfortunately for Frankie and his family, no one knew what dry or secondary drowning was or what symptoms to look out for when he suddenly stopped breathing a few days later. After passing away, however, doctors suggested Frankie might have been killed by a bacterial infection…

The Red Flags

While Frankie’s cause of death wasn’t clear, his parents explained that they might have been able to save him if only they had known the signs that he was struggling to get enough oxygen. After reading the heartbreaking story, Lacey made sure to familiarize herself with the symptoms, including vomiting, coughing, blue or gray skin, and lethargy.

1 Year Later

A year later, Lacey suddenly remembered Frankie’s story while sitting in the car with her 4-year-old, who had experienced a similar incident to Frankie the weekend before while she was at her grandparents’ home in Bradenton, Florida…

Visiting The Grandparents

According to Lacey, Elianna had spent the afternoon of April 14th at her grandparents home playing in their pool. While playing, she blew water at a family member through a pool noodle. 1 of her relatives playfully splashed her back, but she had her mouth open and was in the middle of inhaling.

Crisis Averted

Elianna started coughing and vomited up water over the next few minutes. About 30 minutes later, however, Eliana seemed fine and was back playing in the pool just like before. The next day, she seemed perfectly normal, so Lacey didn’t think anything was wrong…

A Life-Saving Article

The following Wednesday afternoon, however, Lacey felt something was wrong and couldn’t stop thinking about what happened to Frankie. “I never would have correlated that fever to the pool incident if I hadn’t of read that story about Frankie,” Lacey said. “I was like, this is not going to happen to Elianna.”

A Trip To Urgent Care

Instead of going home and letting Elianna rest, she drove straight to an Urgent Care. During the car ride, Lacey noticed her daughter was shivering even though she had a fever. When the doctors performed an X-ray, her skin started turning purple…

Urgent Intructions

“The doctor came out and said ‘You have to find the nearest emergency room,'” Lacey explained. “‘You need to pick the closest one. Just go.’” Lacey rushed Elianna to the hospital, where doctors were able to determine she had a severe bacterial infection in her lungs. According to the team of doctors, the infection in her lungs, which started when she inhaled the pool water, was making it hard for Elianna to breathe. Unfortunately, all they could do was fight the infection and inflammation but they would have to wait for the water in her lungs to clear on its own.

The Right Place At The Right Time

Sometime early Thursday morning, Elianna’s oxygen levels plummeted, but because she was in the hospital, doctors and nurses were able to save her from suffocating. “’This is why she’s here. Thank God you brought her in,’” Lacey said about what doctors told her that night. “‘This is why you’re here. Nothing’s going to happen to her with all these resources here…’”

2 Days Later…

After 2 days and a round of strong antibiotics, Elianna was finally able to breathe on her own and stopped wheezing. While Elianna’s case wasn’t a normal secondary drowning case, Lacey knows she wouldn’t be alive today if it wasn’t for the article about Frankie.

Making A Difference

Lacey later reached out to Frankie’s family to thank them for coming forward with their experience. If they hadn’t, Elianna wouldn’t be alive today. “Something with your story is making us cry. We miss Frankie every day. We do everything we can to get his story out there to prevent this from happening. We’re glad to see it’s making a difference,” Frankie’s sister told Lacey.

Mom Prevents Similar Tragedy One Year After Reading About Boy’s Mysterious Passing is an article from: LifeDaily

It takes years of dedication, sacrifice, and persistence to achieve your dream life, and once you have it, the challenge is making it last.

For decades, one Wyoming man has dedicated his life to becoming a leader of his wholesome community. However, when the secrets of his scandalous double life threatened to destroy everything he worked so long for, he couldn’t sit back and let it just happen…

The 911 Call

While 911 dispatchers spent their days answering countless emergency calls about any number of emergencies, tragedies, and disturbances, 1 dispatcher from Wyoming County in Upstate New York received a call on March 7, 2018, that left him speechless.

A Familiar Voice

When the call came in that Wednesday evening at 5:42 p.m., the dispatcher expected it to be like all the other 911 calls. However, when the 911 operator answered the phone, they were shocked to realize that they recognized the voice on the other end of the line…

Blindsided By The Caller

After hearing the man making the 911 call say that someone had been shot and that he needed the police to come to his home, the dispatcher realized the voice belonged to 60-year-old Joseph Mlyniec, someone he never expected to get an emergency call from.

A Staple In The Community

Joseph was a staple in the community. As a child, he was raised in Wyoming County on a local dairy farm that his father ran. When he grew up, he dedicated his life to his home and the community when he became a police officer with the Wyoming County Sheriff’s Office….

Decades Of Service

For more than 2 decades, Joseph worked as a patrol deputy for the sheriff’s office. As a result of his dedication to his community, he was eventually promoted to sergeant. But his service to his home didn’t stop there. In his free time, Joseph was a volunteer firefighter at the local fire department.

Time For Retirement

After years working to protect the community, Joseph stepped down as a sergeant and retired from the force in 2008. However, retirement couldn’t keep Joseph away from doing what he loved. Not long after leaving the force, Joseph returned to work part-time at the sheriff’s office for a few more years…

A Respected Leader

When it was time to end the part-time work with the department, Joseph decided to serve on the town board in 2014. After a lifetime of service to the people of Wyoming County, Joseph, also a member of the rotary club, was a highly esteemed leader of the community.

A Shocking Admission

So when the 911 operator heard his familiar voice on the line, it came as a huge shock when Joseph said that he was the 1 who shot the victim. When the dispatcher asked if Joseph was sure the man was dead, he calmly replied, “Yup, Shot him in the head…”

The Arrest

Officers arrived at Joseph’s property, which is the dairy farm he grew up on, shortly after the unexpected 911 call was made. After pulling into the driveway, the officers found Joseph kneeling on the ground with his hands behind his head. Several feet behind him was the victim’s body just as he described to the 911 operator.

The Victim

The body belonged to 32-year-old Robert Irvine III, who was a mechanic that lived nearby. According to his girlfriend, Robert and Joseph had been friends. She explained that Robert would often spend time on Joseph’s farm since Joseph would let him work on his car on the property…

Out Of Character

So when Joseph allegedly shot Robert 4 times with his .45-caliber handgun, the police couldn’t understand what the upstanding citizen’s motive was. “It’s way, way out of character for Joe,” Perry Town Supervisor James Brick said.

The Investigation Begins

“It’s just a shock to most everybody in town here. He was well-respected in town,” Brick added. However, once Joseph was in custody, the investigation revealed Joseph had been living a double life for years, and that the connection between Robert and the 60-year-old wasn’t as friendly as people had believed…

Uncovering A Double Life

According to the Wyoming County District Attorney’s Office, Joseph maintained the persona of an upstanding citizen and a married family man. But in reality, Joseph had been leading a dark double life, which he had carefully hid from everyone for years.

The Sexual Predator

“On one hand he was portrayed as a heterosexual married man,” the district attorney’s office said in their motion. But in reality, he was a sexual predator. “Joseph Mlyniec would lure troubled young men to his farm, then groom them for sexual favors and in return provide them money, food, or both…”

Allegations Of Abuse

For years, Mlyniec managed to hide his scandalous secrets and maintain his squeaky-clean persona. However, in October 2017, an allegation of sexual abuse against the ex-deputy was made. According to the accuser, the abuse had been going on from 2003 to 2010.

The Accuser Recants

Police investigated the accusations, and as part of the investigation, they interviewed Mlyniec about what he was being accused of. After the investigation was complete, there wasn’t enough evidence to arrest and charge Mlyniec, and the accuser recanted his statement…

The Threat

Mlyniec managed to keep his good name, but he knew it wouldn’t be long until the same person or another victim came forward with proof of his double life, and he was right. On March 6, 2018, Robert told Mlyniec to turn himself in or kill himself. If not, he would go to the police.

The Boiling Point

Mlyniec wasn’t going to sit by and let his good name and everything he worked for get destroyed. That very next day, he shot Robert in the head, neck, chest and leg. “Do you know what this is about?” Mlyniec allegedly said to a deputy when he was being arrested. “Someone accused me of sex abuse and turned me in, and he is a part of it — whatever. I don’t care anymore. My life is done…”

The Charges

Police charged Mlyniec with second-degree murder, but that wasn’t his only crime. “The investigation has also revealed that the victim, in this case, was a potential witness in a sex abuse investigation involving Joseph Mlyniec and many other men during the past many years,” the district attorney’s office said.

Awaiting Trial

As a result, Mlyniec was also charged with first-degree intimidating a victim or witness. So far, the 60-year-old has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He is currently being held without bond at the Wyoming County Jail. “It is not a whodunit case,” Mlyniec’s attorney, Norman P. Effman, said. “It’s not going to be a trial as to whether Joe was the individual involved. The issue is the second count of the indictment and how that affected him. There are lots of issues of intent or lack of intent and levels of culpability that could impact this.”

After Years Living Double Life, Ex-Deputy’s Secrets Come To Tragic Boiling Point is an article from: LifeDaily

When people sign up to the police force, they are usually proud to embrace the standing of their position as they learn how to fight crime. New recruits learn new skill sets, ones that will ultimately save the lives of the officer as well as the lives of innocent people.

But when a police officer become a cop and uses their position of authority to exploit or extort, that officer needs to be stopped; Before it’s too late…

Solid Background

Joseph always had a keen interest in the military, borne out by the fact that he was stationed in Vietnam during the war. He worked on a boat there with the American Navy, responsible for damage control and other technical duties. He was a quiet chap who kept himself to himself, although he did sometimes talk to himself.

Becoming Police

After the Vietnam War ended, Joseph returned to his parents’ home in Auburn, Calif where he worked menial jobs for the most part. Joseph was strong, well trained and was excellent with his hands. He was a master at rope tying and knots; A fact that will become a lot more relevant later in our story. For now, Joseph decided to join his local police force and to serve for the good of his local community…

Average Joe

According to Joseph’s colleagues, he was just your average guy. When he got married to his wife, Joseph proudly gave his partner and other officers the grand tour of his newly-bought marital home. According to one officer who was present at that tour, “He was just an average person, an average Joe.”

You’re Fired!

No sooner had Joseph come out of training and began working the beat as a local police officer, when he found himself in hot water with his bosses. You see, Joseph was a strange sort of character and one night decided to steal some dog repellant and a hammer from a drugstore for reasons to this day known only to him. As Mr Willick, the then-Auburn police chief said, “I fired him,” adding “He violated the law.”

Last Encounter

According to Willick, that was the last time he saw Joseph until his name resurfaced many years later for other reasons. For the next 27 years, Joseph worked at a Save Mart grocery distribution center. He was neither friends nor enemies with the people he worked with, just indifferent. Prior to his retirement in 2017, the company said that Joseph was just an average worker, “None of his actions in the workplace would have led us to suspect any connection to crimes.”

Sierra College

Rewind a few years and, to when Joseph was 24 and he got engaged to the love of his life, Bonnie. The two had attended the Sierra College, a community college in Northern California. Although, for reasons still mysterious, the pair never married. Instead, in 1973, Joseph met Sharon Huddle, a girl aged 20 at the time. Sharon, a lawyer, became Joseph’s wife and the couple raised three daughters together. They separated at some point but always remained in contact…

Terror In Citrus Heights

It was in the late 70s when the Sacramento suburb was rocked by a spate of rapes and murders, leaving 12 people dead and at least 45 sexually abused. At the same time, 120 homes were burglarized, and folks suspected that it was all the work of one, very determined man. But what possible connection could that have to Joseph?

Many Names

Whoever was carrying out these murders and rapes had a bunch of nicknames attributed to him, in lieu of a real name: The Golden State Killer, the East Area Rapist, the Diamond Knot Killer and the Original Night Stalker, all of these names described a man who struck terror into the hearts of a whole town, while law enforcement were treading water looking for the killer…

Careful Planning

The killer had managed to avoid being picked up by police as he meticulously covered his tracks and made sure he couldn’t be caught. The man only struck under the cover of darkness, at night. He would study his victim’s schedules and would break into homes to prepare ahead of time. He usually used his own shoelaces to bind his victims, and was a master with knots leading authorities to conclude that he must be either ex-police or ex-military.

Hiding In the Closet

In one horrific attack, the killer waited in a couple’s bedroom closet, having broken into their home. He would then wait for them to fall asleep before announcing himself with a bright flashlight. When the man in bed reached for his gun, the killer showed him the bullets he was holding which he had already removed from the weapon…

Killer Caught

When investigators finally got a break, they were stunned to learn that their suspect was none other than Joseph James DeAngelo, an ex-police officer and a navy man. DeAngelo carried out almost all his attacks in the local area where he lived. He lived all that time with his adult daughters, who had no idea what daddy was up to in his spare time.

Sacramento Murders

At least 15 attacks were carried out by DeAngelo in the Sacramento area until 1978; After that, DeAngelo branched out further afield and committed an additional 30 attacks, including rapes, robberies and murders. According to neighbors, the man was meticulous and often mowed his manicured front lawn with exacting detail…

DNA Match

Thanks to advances in DNA technology, a Contra Costa County Criminalist was able to connect two murders with DNA, leading to the arrest of Joseph DeAngelo. As soon as suspicions about the man were raised, cops followed DeAngelo in a sting operation, and picked up two items he had discarded in order to collect his DNA.

Chief Embarrassed

The Auburn police chief, Chief Willick, told reporters that he was personally embarrassed that DeAngelo had eluded him and his team for so long. “Anytime, my goodness, you know, the person was a police officer, it’s an embarrassment to law enforcement — not just an embarrassment to me,” he said…

No Indications

According to Willick, he had zero indication whatsoever that DeAngelo was the serial murdered who had terrorized a town for decades, “anything that would say that this person was a vicious murderer, a serial rapist? No, nothing whatsoever, no indications, and that’s probably why the joint task force has worked 40-some-odd years to solve this case.” He said.

40th Anniversary

Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, said recently that she was motivated to reopen the cold case as it approached its 40th years. She said she wanted to achieve closure for the families’ victims. “The answer has always been in Sacramento,” she said. “We all knew as part of this team that we were looking for a needle in a haystack, but we knew the needle was there.”…

175 Crimes

Amazingly, it seems that DeAngelo’s crime spree extended even further than originally assumed. In cases like these, investigators go by the information they have, and often reveal a bunch more crimes once the suspect is in custody; And that’s exactly what happened with DeAngelo, who, it turns out, committed more than 175 crimes over a period of 20 years.

Formally Arraigned

Following what was described as a “perfectly executed arrest” on DeAngelo, he was questioned before being taken before a judge. When in court, he was formally arraigned but only on two murder charges dating back to 1978. Investigators now need to prove beyond a doubt that he was the man also responsible for another 11 murders and 51 rapes between 1976-1986…

Suicide Watch

Due to the seriousness of the crimes alleged against him, DeAngelo was put on suicide watch ahead of his trial. He did employ a lawyer to represent him but did not enter a plea and has already been denied bail. If convicted, in line with California state law, Joseph James DeAngelo will be facing the death penalty.

Justice Served

There’s no doubt that once prosecutors have their case ready there will be additional charges bought against Joseph DeAngelo. Until then, police have their wok cut out for them trying to prove conclusively that DeAngelo was connected to all the murders and rapes. It is hoped that following his court appearance on May 14 this man will be put away for a very very long time, in the hope that some of the victims families can have the closure they so badly need.

Ex-Cop’s Dark Secrets Revealed Decades Later is an article from: LifeDaily

It’s hard to trust people. Even in this day and age, the time of transparency and social sharing. Yet not so long ago, most of us were forced to rely on our instincts in order to weed out those in our lives who were either untrustworthy, or dangerous.

Perhaps because of the assumed transparency of the digital age, the skills that people once needed to use in order to take other people with a grain of salt have become somewhat weakened. Then of course, there are those who just never had that instinct to begin with…

Side of the Road

They found the girl on the side of the road. A passerby had seen something strange off the highway and had pulled over to investigate it before calling the police. It appeared as though someone had killed her, stashed her body in a remote location, and burnt her so badly that at first, police officers didn’t even have a way to identify who she was.

Her Conditions

What they did know from the onset was that Jane Doe was mentally challenged, was far from home, and seemed to have fought back against her attacker in some way. She had bruises consistent with defensive wounds, bites on her tongue, food, and an anti-inflammatory pill still sat in her stomach. Whoever she was, this girl had struggled greatly before she died…

The Friendly Sort

As to who she struggled against, that remained a mystery. Dental records soon identified the deceased as 39-year-old Cherry Walker, a mentally disabled, though very independent babysitter. Those who knew her described her as outgoing, pleasant to be around, and good at what she did. She made friends easily and had no enemies.

Out for a Drive

If Cherry Walker had one fault, it would have been that she was far more trusting, some might say gullible, than your average person. Having found her body so far from home, police believe that she may have been taken out there in an automobile. It wasn’t until much later that they realized the car didn’t belong to any trustworthy-looking stranger, but someone that Cherry had known and trusted for a long time…

Testify

Cherry had worked for Kimberly Cargill, a 45-year-old Whitehouse woman and single mother whose son needed a babysitter. But Ms. Cargill was not, by any metric, a nice person. In fact, the reason that she even had Cherry in her car on that fateful night, was that she had injured one of her children and poor Cherry had been called to testify against her.

Not a Liar

Cherry had been upset that she’d even received the subpoena, but knew that she had to tell the truth: just as everyone had always taught her. It was no secret that Cargill didn’t want Cherry to testify against her and once she’d heard that Cherry had already explained to a friend she wouldn’t lie for her, she knew what she had to do…

Hide Her

And so Kim Cargill called Cherry Walker and told her told her that she would come and get her and hide her. That way she wouldn’t be compelled to testify because of the subpoena. Cherry trusted Ms. Cargill, so she accepted the offer. They went out to eat then drove along a country road and that’s when things get a bit murky.

Seizing Up

According to Ms. Cargill, Cherry suddenly had a seizure whilst they were driving and she died from that fit. After finding out that she was unable to revive her, Cargill then decided to get rid of the body. Obviously suspicion would have settled on her as the main culprit, so she didn’t have any choice…or did she?

Disposal

After that, Cargill drove Cherry to a county road, doused her with lighter fluid and set her clothes on fire. While it was perfectly plausible that Cherry could have died from a seizure at the time, future forensic tests would reveal that she didn’t. Thankfully, they also revealed she wasn’t breathing at all when she was set on fire.

Thrown Out

As for her Cherry’s belongings? Cargill threw those away, even her former babysitter’s beloved coin purse. She threw it out just as unceremoniously as she did Cherry herself. Afterwards, she got cash out of an ATM at a local Exxon. Not long after Cherry’s body was found, police tracked down and picked up Kimberly Cargill…

Panicked

Cargill stuck to her story all through the ensuing court case, but the more she told it, the less it seemed to make any sense at all. Even if Cherry had conveniently died of a seizure a few days before her testimon, it didn’t explain why she’d gone through such extreme lengths to dispose of the body.

Unreasonable Doubt

Meanwhile, her defense attorney, Brett Harrison, argued that if Kim Cargill was indeed as smart and manipulative at the prosecution was making her sound, then she wouldn’t have made it so obvious that she was going to kill Cherry. Prior to the fatal drive, Cargill made a number of rather insistent calls to her and to the DAs office hours before the alleged murder…

Obstruction and Retaliation

The charges brought against her were considered to be a combination of “obstruction and retaliation.” Eventually though, they removed obstruction, since it was implied and would only serve to confuse a jury. What she was actually guilty of was murder.

Threat to Society

Her attorney went on to inform the jurors that there were two questions they needed to answer as far as her punishment was concerned. First, they had to decide whether Ms. Cargill presents a continuing threat to society. The second question was whether or not the mitigating circumstances surrounding Cherry’s death would have caused her to commit the crime…

Life in Prison

Brett Harrison argued that his client receive life without the possibility of parole. He suggested that she would do well in a structured correctional environment and that she had a mental disorder that was not usually violent. Indeed, since she’d been jailed for the trial, she hadn’t had any violent outbursts: not for two years in custody.

Other Crimes

Not being violent wasn’t enough, however. You see, while Cargill was in jail, she called a male friend and asked him to remove an orange bicycle from her property. That bicycle would eventually be used in the CPS case against her. She wanted it to disappear, just as she’d wanted to do the same with Cherry Walker…

Death Sentence

The prosecutor, on the other hand, took a hard line on Cargill’s crime. “She chose to do this,” he said to the jury. “If you could do that choking and hitting your children, who wouldn’t you hurt?” They believed him and in the end, after nine hours of deliberation, the jury sentenced Kimberly Cargill to death by lethal injection.

Salt in the Wounds

After the death sentence was handed down, Cherry Walker’s stepmother, Rueon, came forward to address the court and her daughter’s convicted killer. “Ms. Cargill, Cherry loved you and she loved your son. She didn’t deserve the horrible thing you did. You took her away from people that loved her…”

Tearing Up

Oddly enough, even though Cargill showed no reaction at all when the punishment was read out, it was Mrs. Walker’s victim impact statement that really hit her. “When I saw my baby in the morgue,” continued Rueon Walkers, “Her eyebrows singed…You took away my memories of her. I couldn’t give her a beautiful pink dress. All I had was a black body bag.”

Justice and Jesus

As if that weren’t enough, she finished with a rather impactful sentiment. “We don’t hate you,” she told Ms. Cargill. “We only have love, pity and compassion for you. Jesus loves you, and he will forgive you.” She added that though there are no winners, there is justice, and that’s what really matters.

Ex-Babysitter Found On The Side Of The Road, Police Uncover Child Abuse Conspiracy is an article from: LifeDaily

Friends come in the most unlikely of places sometimes. Whether it’s commiserating in the line at the DMV, cheering at a ballgame, or striking it up with a new coworker, human beings, by and large, are pretty darn good at forming relationships.

Sometimes, the people in these relationships are so radically different, that their existing friends and family seem to think it odd that they even like each other. This is a story about the rewards of an unusual friendship and the struggle to prove it’s lucrative legitimacy…

New Jersey Strip

If you walked into Atlantic City’s Taj Mahal Casino in 2014, you’d see several things. You’d see a haze of smoke above a glittering, clanging, sea of slot machines. You’d see a who’s who of the east coast’s elderly retirees, gambling their fixed incomes for a chance at riches. And if you walked into Score strip club, you’d see Veronica.

Wealthy Stranger

Veronica was a bodacious and beautiful bottle blonde with a body to match that alliterative description. She was the highlight of the club, the type of young woman who would draw your eye even amidst the other scantily-clad performers. On one July night in 2014, she drew the attention of a very wealthy stranger…

Friendship Blossoms

Former HBO executive, Micky Liu, had come in Scores for…roughly the same thing most gentlemen came into the strip club for…entertainment. What he found in Veronica, was more than simply eye candy, but a friend. Some might even consider it an everlasting friendship.

Longtime Relationship

Amazingly, their relationship, such as it was, outlasted that night at the strip club. They became longtime correspondents: the 50-year-old executive and the 34-year-old stripper. Less than a year later, however, after losing touch for a few weeks, Veronica got some rather shocking news…

Tragic Passing

Micky Liu was found dead in his Manhattan apartment. He was only 50 years old. As an obese man with heart disease and diabetes, Liu’s tragic passing was not exactly unexpected, but it was no less impactful for his family and his friends. Veronica too was upset that she hadn’t gotten back to him in time to even say goodbye.

Beneficiary

Luckily for Veronica though, Mr. Liu hadn’t forgotten his friend at the end. In even the brief time they had known one another, the space of a year essentially, Liu had taken quite a shine to the friendly dancer. It resulted in him naming the bodacious Ms. Beckham to be the main beneficiary of his retirement accounts and a life-insurance policy…

How Much?

Those two accounts, the life-insurance and retirement, were worth a combined $223,000…that’s a lot of singles. Needless to say, a six-figure inheritance from someone only just more than a stranger, was the tip of a lifetime for any exotic dancer. It was the type of money that would change her life for the better.

A Stranger Inherits

Liu’s family, on the other hand, was a bit blindsided by the news. Not only had the family patriarch been forging a relationship with a former Atlantic City stripper, he’d also left her a veritable fortune. As far as they were concerned, Veronica Beckham was a stranger, an interloper…

Unhappy Relatives

Indeed not all of Mr. Liu’s relatives were happy with his leaving his inheritance to a former exotic dancer. Some of them even had some wild theories about him having been coerced by a true professional. Micky’s sister, May Liu, suggested that Ms. Beckham was manipulating her very sensitive brother.

Challenge It

May Liu decided that she was going to do something about it all and challenged the inheritance in a Manhattan court. Now, as an outsider in this situation, it’s not for me to judge a situation like this without knowing all the facts. That being said, it’s pretty darn clear that the deceased had wishes and the courts should adhere to them. Shouldn’t they?

Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems

For whatever reason, Ms. Beckham had inherited an absurd amount of money and with it, a host of problems that she never could have predicted. May Liu was out for blood. She wanted to squeeze her dry of all the money she only just inherited, and if that weren’t bad enough, she was slandering her too.

Preyed Upon

Standing in the Manhattan Surrogate’s Courtroom, May Lui claimed that Veronica Beckham “preyed upon Micky Liu’s vulnerability by exerting influence over him in the form of moral coercion.” Veronica couldn’t believe it, she would never have done any of that. If anything, she felt guilty that she wasn’t a better friend…

Distant Pair

Despite the fact that Liu had financially helped Veronica on more than one occasion in their year of knowing one another, the two still spoke to each other fairy often. By the time the moment of his untimely death came along though, it seemed their friendship had waned a bit. They were from two different worlds, after all.

Drifting

A month or so before his death, it looked like the two fast friends were drifting apart. “I miss you,” he wrote her in an email. “Why is it taking you so long to get your phone replaced? Money? Need some? I’m not used to not being able to contact you.” It sounded obsessive, and it was worrying evidence to say the least…

Not Physical

According to Ms. Beckham, however, this miscommunication was just a blip in what was their everlasting friendship. She added that the friendship was strictly platonic, and that no sexual intercourse ever happened nor even existed between the pair over the course of the time they knew each other.

Entitled

Despite the questionable nature of their relationship and May’s persistent attempts to block Veronica from inheriting her brother’s inheritance, the courts had no choice but to rule in Ms. Beckham’s favor. She had won the right to the bequest, but with one very peculiar caveat: a caveat that was born of what some would call a similar situation…

Strange Caveat

You see, Justice Rita Mella, the presiding judge, said that the bequest was ironclad, except for one tiny thing. Apparently, any prior beneficiaries, in this case Mickey Liu’s former girlfriend, could sue for the funds. Not just one of them either, indeed any of his former long term girlfriends could have sued for the money.

Fashion Career

In another lucky break, none of Liu’s exes came forward to sue for the money and Veronica, now out of the stripping business, had big plans for it. She has since moved and used the money to start a new career as a fashion designer and stylist to the stars. As for May Liu and the rest of the family…

Keep Fighting

May Liu’s lawyer, Stephen Holihan, has told the press that the family is not ready to throw in the towel just yet. Despite losing the case, they are reviewing the decision and deciding if it’s worth it to appeal. If they do, they might have to face a much more informed Veronica Beckham.

Slander

Beckham has vehemently denied that she was the gold digger they said she was. “None of the stuff about me enticing him into naming me as a beneficiary is true. I was very hurt by the lurid and untrue allegations,” she explained. If they keep up the case, it’s possible she might sue for slander, and the fight will only continue.

Unexpected And Extremely Lucky Friendship Arises In One Of America’s Shiftiest Cities is an article from: LifeDaily

As any new parent would know, traveling with an infant is not an easy task. Add a toddler to the equation and you can basically guarantee a temper tantrum.

A mom from Arkansas knows this all too well, except her experience turned out quite differently than most do. When she desperately needed help, a complete stranger came to her rescue. It all happened on an American Airlines flight…

Traveling With Two Young Kids

Jessica, 34, was flying with her two young children, Caroline, 3, and Alexander, 4 months from Missouri to North Carolina. They were headed to visit her mother and as usual, Jessica planned ahead.

Unable To Nurse Her Son

But due to unexpected events, Jessica was unable to nurse her 4-month-old before boarding the plane. That’s when Caroline began kicking and screaming, “I want to get off the plane.” She said.

Jessica Thought They’d Get Kicked Off The Plane

As Caroline continued her tantrum, saying that she doesn’t want to go to North Carolina, Jessica knew it’d be any moment before they got kicked off the plane. She tried desperately to calm her children and that’s when a man sitting nearby reached for the baby.

Hesitant But Desperately Needed Help

Hesitant to hand over her newborn to a complete stranger, at that moment, all Jessica could think about was stopping Caroline from crying. She handed Alexander over to the man and tended to Caroline…

Caroline Was Calming Down

After forcing a seatbelt on her daughter and starting a movie on her tablet, she finally stopped crying. Caroline seemed settled and relatively calm, and the man continued to distract her so that Jessica could feed Alexander.

New Friends

However, the kindness that this man displayed didn’t end there. During the flight, he colored with Caroline and watched the movie with her. He even engaged her in conversation, showing her all of the things outside through the plane’s window. As the plane was about to land, Jessica even caught a glimpse of Caroline sneaking a kiss on the man’s shoulder…

Sneaking A Kiss

Although she’s not sure if the man saw it, the plane was about to land and he even helped the family get off of the plane! He took out their luggage from the overhead bin and walked hand in hand with Caroline to the next gate, where they learned that they shared the same connecting flight.

Todd’s Work Route

The flight was from Charlotte to Wilmington and the man named Todd told Jessica that he frequently travels there for work. If what he did already wasn’t enough, Todd went one step further before boarding the next plane…

Switching Seats

Todd took it upon himself to ask to have his seat changed for the next flight so that he could sit next to the family. It was the kindness that Jessica didn’t see coming, but in a moment that she desperately needed the help, she welcomed it with open arms.

Jessica Couldn’t Stop Thinking About Todd

Soon the flight came to an end, and Jessica didn’t exchange any contact information with Todd. She left the airport and drove with her children to her mother’s house in Myrtle Beach, S.C., but she couldn’t stop thinking about the kind man that helped her on the plane…

Sharing Their Story On Social Media

Jessica decided to use her social media to extend her thanks to Todd, in the hopes that he would see it. She wrote, “I am blown away by God’s hand in this because we could have been placed next to anyone, but we were seated next to one of the nicest men I have ever met in my life.”

Asking For Help

“I’d like to find him,” she continued. “His name is Todd…He has a son at the University of Arkansas and he lives in Lenexa, KS…If you could help share this post so that I can find him, I’d really appreciate your help!” Jessica also included social media posts, complete with Todd and Caroline to try and find him…

Sharing The Post

By May 2, the Facebook post had been shared over 8,000 times and had 30,000 reactions and around 2,000 comments. This meant that Jessica’s chance of finding him were pretty high.

Update

A short while later, Jessica posted an update on the original April 14, 2018 post. She wrote, “I’ve been connected with his wife and hoping we can get together soon!” Then, after that, the news coverage of the story was massive…

Massive Outreach

Major news outlets like ABC News, Fox News, and CBS News all shared Jessica Rudeen’s story. They wrote how this man “saved the day,” and mom’s everywhere were praising him for his “life-saving efforts,” in a situation that many moms have to experience on their own.

Todd’s Reasoning

Both Jessica and Todd were interviewed (separately in their hometowns) to discuss that day on their American Airlines flight and they both shared their sides of what they felt during the flight. Todd Walker, 52, explained why he did what he did…

Paying It Forward

When Todd’s wife was traveling on a flight years ago, she had a similar experience when their boys were young. And just like Todd, a stranger had shown her the same kindness, making Todd eager to pay it forward. The help he offered truly came from his heart.

A New Best Friend

Todd said that he couldn’t have imagined changing his seat. He described having an amazing time with Caroline, saying, “We had a blast…When we colored, she let me color…She was like, ‘Ok, it’s your turn.’” Todd made a new best friend and within a couple of minutes, both of the children were fine before the plane even took off…

At A Loss For Words

They had no idea that while they headed off the plane that they were both going to get the same connecting flight. Jessica said, “I could have been placed next to anybody but the fact that I was with someone who was so selfless and so giving and so generous with his time…I have no words for it really.”

Reunion

Jessica and Todd are hoping to meet up again and she wishes it were sooner rather than later. Todd says that what he did wasn’t that big of a deal and he’s just glad that she accepted his help.

Stranger Restores New Mom’s Faith After American Airlines Flight Could Have Gone Terribly Wrong is an article from: LifeDaily

The famous poem “No Man Is An Island” essentially says that no matter what we may believe, no one is entirely self-sufficient. Especially in modern society, we all depend on various specialists to do things for us. The most obvious and necessary example is our doctors.

With your doctor, you’re literally trusting them with your life. Naturally, it’s a good idea to be a little bit picky when choosing a physician. When the truth came out about one particular ‘doctor,’ a lot of people wished they had done a bit more research…

Youth…

One of the first things people take into account when they’re considering a doctor is age. There are advantages to having a younger doctor. They tend to have less of the “I’ve seen it all” mentality,” which makes them less likely to jump to conclusions. They’re also a bit more likely to go the extra mile for their patients.

…Versus Experience

That being said, many people prefer older doctors exactly because they’ve seen it all. It is a lot more reassuring being someone’s 1,000th patient rather than their 1st. When you consider that most folks would rather have an older doctor, it seems like experience goes a long way…

Dr. Love

But the patients of one particular Florida doctor definitely didn’t have that preference. If they did, they’d go running from the office the moment they saw ‘Dr. Love.’ In addition to having a name like a cheesy radio DJ, Dr. Love-Robinson was a baby-face to say the least.

Starting Early

There was a good reason for Dr. Love’s cherubic features. According to the website of his practice, the New Life New Birth Medical Center in West Palm Beach, he was just 25 years old. At an age where most doctors are just starting their residency, he had already started his career in earnest…

Unconventional

Dr. Love’s biography described him as a “well rounded professional” who utilized “physiological, psychological, and mechanical methods” to treat his patients. Aside from conventional medical techniques, he also used air therapy, water therapy, phototherapy and other kinds of “nature’s remedies.”

Competent

He seemed to be a fairly competent doctor, with a number of regular patients. And like most doctors with a private practice, he was making excellent money, far more than most 25-year-olds. But while it seemed that he was in an enviable position, not all of Dr. Love’s patients were satisfied…

House Call

One such patient was an 86-year-old woman who’d brought Dr. Love into her home for a house call after she’d been suffering from sharp stomach pains. After an examination, the young doctor diagnosed the elderly woman with arthritis and sold her some natural vitamins as treatment. He would return to her home for 4 more checkups before she realized something was wrong.

Where’d They Go?

The 86-year-old noticed that a number of her personal checks had gone missing and, after narrowing down the possibilities, she believed Dr. Love was responsible. She went to the local Sheriff’s Office and they began to investigate Love-Robinson for pilfering over $34,500 from her…

Real Age

In the course of investigating the youthful professional police discovered not everything about him was as it seemed. The first of 2 major bombshells was that Malachi Love-Robinson wasn’t 25 years old as it said on his website. Shockingly, he was just 18 years old.

False Credentials

Second and even more outrageous, the ‘doctor’ wasn’t a medical doctor at all. Love-Robinson had gotten his doctorate in divinity from the online Universal Life Church Seminary for the low, low price of $29.95…

Sham

It had all been a sham. The would-be “Doogie Howser” had been masquerading as a medical professional, performing exams — including gynecological exams — and providing advice and “treatments” with no more medical expertise than you would pick up in a high school biology class.

Undercover

In order to catch him in the act, one member of the Sheriff’s Department went undercover to Love-Robinson’s office, posing as a person in need of a medical exam. As soon as he performed the charade of a check up, the Sheriff clapped him in irons…

Implication Only

But for all the medical advice Love-Robinson had given and for all the things he’d done to suggest he was a medical doctor, he never explicitly claimed to be one. Nowhere on his website or in his office was there any reference to his attending medical school or having any medical credentials.

You’ve Got It Wrong

“This was not about me trying to hurt people, this was not about me trying to say I’m a medical doctor,” Love-Robinson said. “Because, honestly, people have misconstrued my name, they misconstrued my age, they’ve misconstrued where I’m from, they’ve misconstrued everything about me.”…

Fraud

But for all of his talk of things being “misconstrued,” the truth of the matter was Love-Robinson had donned a lab coat and stethoscope and acted as a doctor, misleading all of his “patients” and taking their money to do so.

Don’t Blame the Victims

Those people he’d fooled weren’t necessarily to blame. “A lot of people don’t know the difference when someone says ‘doctor,’ whether it’s between a doctor of divinity and a doctor of medicine,” said Marshall Kapp, director of Florida State University’s Center for Innovative Collaboration in Medicine & Law. They didn’t know the DD, for doctor of divinity, after his name was significantly different from MD, for medical doctor…

National Database

And while Love-Robinson was careful not to indicate he was a medical doctor on his website or in his office, he had applied for a National Provider Identifier, or NPI number, that would allow him to bill insurance companies and in that process, claimed to be an MD. A number of websites that list doctors pull their information from the NPI database, meaning he was listed as an MD all over the internet.

Facing Hard Time

Love-Robinson was arrested and charged with practising medicine without a license and a number of related charges, as well as for stealing the 86-year-old woman’s money and identity. For all of the crimes he’d committed, he was facing a potential 90 years in prison…

Quit While You’re Behind

The teenager who was smart enough to masquerade as a doctor was also smart enough to give up the lie when he was caught. Love-Robinson’s lawyer worked out a plea deal where, in exchange for a guilty plea, he would serve just 3-and-a-half years in prison and pay back over $80,000 of money he’d stolen and conned people out of.

Take Care

While what Malachi Love-Robinson did is far from the norm, it serves as a powerful warning. Rather than blindly trusting the various specialists we depend on — mechanics, tech support guys, doctors and others–  it’s always a good idea to do a little checking into their background.

Authorities Uncover Truth About Young ‘Doctor’ While Investigating Complaint Into Practice is an article from: LifeDaily

Most of us will go to the end of the earth for our loved ones. We’ll do almost anything to see them smile, but most importantly, to make sure they are healthy.

One Utah man knows this all too well, as when his wife got sick, he did everything he could to help her. However, despite knowing that the matter was out of his hands, he resorted to something else to help his wife. His story made headlines everywhere…

Walking For His Wife

Every day, this 74-year-old man wakes up and puts on a sandwich board advertisement and walks for miles near his Farr West, Utah home. Except, the fact that he’s on the older side means that Wayne doesn’t walk as fast as he used to.

Diagnosis

The reason that Wayne gets up and walks every day is to help his wife whose health is in jeopardy. Wayne was at a loss at how to help when he learned his wife was diagnosed with stage 5 kidney failure. The diagnosis came out of nowhere and really shook the entire family…

Deanne Winter

The couple, who had been together for 26 years, learned of Deanne’s diagnosis two years ago. Wayne Winter was aware of the statistics, that according to the National Kidney Foundation, 3,000 new patients are added to the kidney donor waiting list each month and 13 people die every day while waiting for their kidney.

Determined To Save His Wife’s Life

Wayne was unable to allow that to happen to his wife, “I didn’t know what to do…I felt like I needed to do something,” Wayne said. Determined to take matters into his own hands, Wayne picked up a sandwich board and began his most important quest…

“Need Kidney 4 Wife”

“Need Kidney 4 Wife,” his sign read. Winter’s phone number and his wife’s blood type (A-) were also included on the board. While wearing the sign, Wayne walked miles every day near his home in Utah and rush hour was his favorite time.

Getting Drivers’ Attention

“They can look at my sign, they can’t go home in a hurry,” he said. On his first day, a driver stopped to tell him he would get tested to see if he was a match. Wayne quickly called his wife and said, “I think we have a good chance of getting you a kidney.”

The Calls Were Coming In

Then, the calls began pouring in. Wayne was receiving 700-800 calls daily and he was so overwhelmed he didn’t know what to think. During this chaotic time, the one call they had been waiting for came in from the hospital after an organ donor passed away.

Finally Found A Donor

Wayne prayed and prayed that Deanne would find a donor and even if she could have a good five years left to live that it would be awesome and they could have their life back. However, there was something they didn’t know about a donor who had died…

Kidney Transplant

According to the University of Iowa Hospitals, even though a transplanted kidney from someone who has died has a shorter lifespan than one from a living person, on average it still lasts 10-12 years. This means that Wayne and Deanne could get more time than they were hoping for.

Walking For All Kidney Failure Patients

But even though Deanne found her kidney, Wayne doesn’t want to give up on his walks. He wants to continue them, advocating for all kidney failure patients. He says, “Think about it…We could start a kidney revolution, and that would be so great.” As far as where Wayne got the idea from to walk for his wife’s kidney…

Where Wayne Got The Idea

Wayne got the idea of using a sandwich board after seeing a story online about another man who did the same thing and got national attention for his search. That man was Larry Swilling. Larry, from Anderson County, South Carolina, explained that his wife was born with one kidney and ran into some complications after having their third child.

Jimmy Sue

Unfortunately, the couple’s children weren’t a match, so they needed to find someone who would match her O positive blood type. His wife, Jimmy Sue Swilling was put on a waiting list for a new kidney, but Larry had to take matters into his own hands and get something done sooner…

A Husband’s Love

Like Wayne, he knew it would take a long time for a donor match to be found, and they didn’t have that kind of time. On Larry’s days off from work, he hit the streets with a sign, “Need kidney 4 wife.”

Many Went Through Testing

During his search, he met hundreds of good people who wanted to help. Then, after his story gained massive media attention, thousands of people called to offer their kidneys. More than 100 people wound up going through the testing to see if they were a match and one of them was…

Found Their Match

After a full year of searching, Larry met his miracle. Her name was Kelly Weaverling, and she’s a 41-year-old retired Navy lieutenant commander. Kelly said, “Have you ever just had a feeling that was just a strong gut feeling that you just went with your instinct because you knew it was right?” Kelly said.

One Request

“That’s exactly what happened…I could do something to give this family hope.” The donor had one request though before the transfer. She wanted the surgery to take place on September 11, to honor the men and women who sacrificed their lives for their country on that fateful day years ago…

Kelly Weaverling

The donor’s wish was granted. Larry said they only met the donor the day before surgery, but they couldn’t have been more grateful for her. “It’s pretty hard for someone who don’t know you to something like that…She’s a hero…Being in the service for 21 years, she is a true American and she’s what America is built on, heart and soul,” Larry said.

Heard About Jimmy Sue From A Yahoo Article

The donor had heard about the couple from news reports and she contacted the Medical University of South Carolina. After a successful transplant, Kelly was up and walking just hours after the procedure…

Successful Surgery

While Kelly and Jimmy Sue went through with their surgeries, Larry hugged all of their doctors. Jimmy Sue lived for another four years after her transplant, but she sadly passed away in 2017 as a result of complications related to Parkinson’s Disease.

Jimmy Sue’s Passing

However, the kidney and her husband’s love were both going strong until the end. Larry knows that his wife could have died long before she did if it wasn’t for the donation. The family is happy that she enjoyed her last few years with them.

Elderly Man On A Mission To Save His Wife Touches Hearts All Over The World is an article from: LifeDaily

Rescuers at animal shelters want to save as many animals as possible, but sometimes a dog or cat has been so abused or neglected that it seems their only option is to put the poor creature out of its misery.

In early April 2016, rescuers from a Michigan animal shelter found a tiny puppy that had been cruelly abused. At first, they thought she would never be able to recover from her injuries. Thankfully, however, they didn’t give up on her. About a year later, she even managed to save a 3-year-old from a similar fate…

The Stray Puppy

On April 6, 2016, volunteers from the Delta Animal Shelter in Escanaba, Michigan found a stray puppy on one of the city streets. It was clear the 4-month-old puppy had been abused and was starving, but the rescuers had no idea how much she was actually suffering.

Back At The Shelter

The team brought the puppy named Cocoa back to the shelter and got to work figuring out what exactly had happened to her. They immediately ran tests and performed several scans, the results of which left the entire team horrified…

A Sickening Diagnosis

The 4-month-old puppy, who the team renamed Petunia, had a broken front leg, a broken back leg near her hip joint, and several broken ribs. But that wasn’t even the worst part. The scans taken revealed that her tiny belly was actually full of carpet.

A Long Road Ahead

The team wanted to save the puppy, but at first, they weren’t sure if Petunia had the strength necessary to make a full mental and physical recovery. Thankfully, however, they didn’t give up on the suffering animal. Instead, they got to work treating all her broken bones and injuries…

3 Months Later…

“I have been receiving wonderful care at the shelter with all the compassionate volunteers spoiling me. I am now ready, 3 months later…ready to find a safe loving home to grow up in,” the team at the Delta Animal Shelter wrote in a post to Facebook announcing that she was ready to be adopted.

The Social Media Post

“I do have some permanent damage. I will always limp,” the shelter warned in the post. “ I may need medical care as I get older. The shelter is taking adoption applications to help me. I need to grow up feeling love. I know how lucky I am. I know I can grow up to be a good dog, a best friend, a loyal companion. I need you to help me. No puppy deserves this start in life…”

A Forever Home

The post circulated online, and before long a couple reached out to the animal shelter saying they were interested in adopting Petunia. The couple came into the shelter and immediately fell in love with the sweet survivor. After signing the adoption papers, the couple brought Petunia, who they renamed Peanut, back to her new forever home.

Building Trust

At first, Peanut was extremely shy and hesitant around her new owners. But they were patient with her, and as time went by, she started to trust her new family as they showered her with love, made sure she always had food in her belly, and gave her plenty of toys to play with…

A Beloved Pet

Soon enough Peanut settled into her new home and became a beloved member of the family. The staff at the shelter had told Peanut’s owners what had happened to her and what she endured, and they were amazed at how far the mixed-breed dog had come.

A Typical Friday Morning

So when Peanut started barking aggressively and running frantically around the house 1 Friday morning about a year after she was rescued from the streets, her owners couldn’t understand what was going on. In all the months they had spent with Peanut, they had never seen her act like that… 

Shocking Behavior

“About 11 a.m. this morning, Peanut started going crazy at our house. She was running up and down the stairs, barking and yelping. She then went and got my husband, who was in the garage working on some projects, and alerted him that she wanted to go outside,” Peanut’s owner explained.

Running Away

Peanut’s owners couldn’t figure out what she was so worked up over, but it appeared she really wanted to go outside so he let her out through the back door. “He let her outside where she went barreling into the field behind our house at full speed,” the woman said…

A Shocking Realization

Peanut’s owner ran out the door after her and couldn’t understand why she suddenly stopped in front of a ditch and looked back at him. The man took hold of Peanut’s collar and started to turn to bring her back inside when he suddenly realized why Peanut had brought him there.

A Naked 3-Year-Old

“My husband followed her and to his surprise, he found a naked, shivering, 3-year-old girl curled up in a ball,” the man’s wife said. In the freezing temperatures, the little girl was shaking uncontrollably, so Peanut’s owner picked her up and quickly wrapped her in a sweatshirt…

The 911 Call

The man rushed back inside the home to warm the 3-year-old up and immediately called 911 to report what Peanut had found. “By the time the ambulance and police arrived, the little girl could only say one thing – ‘doggie,’” the woman explained.

The Investigation Begins

When first responders arrived, they determined the little girl was uninjured but took her to the hospital just to be sure she wasn’t sick or hurt. Meanwhile, cops went door to door looking for the girl’s family or anyone who knew where her family might be…

Living In Squalor

Eventually, the officers managed to track down the little girl’s parents at a home not too far away from where she was found in the ditch. “Further investigation unveiled unsafe and unsanitary living conditions at the residence,” the sheriff’s office reported.

Saved From A Life Of Abuse

“Child Protective Services was contacted and the found girl along with another young female were eventually removed from the residence,” the sheriff’s office explained. When Peanut’s owners found out what happened, they were amazed that Peanut managed to save the little girl’s life as well as save her from a life of abuse and neglect…

A Sixth Sense

“She has truly been a blessing to our family and we love having her around. As you know, her background was so heartbreaking and we are so happy that we were able to take her into our home and give her the love and the family she deserves. However, I think she still has some “sixth sense” about her past life that she has carried with her,” the woman wrote in a letter to the animal shelter to tell them what Peanut did.

An Undeniable Blessing

“Thanks to Peanut, a little girl’s life was saved today. She has been such a blessing to us, and now to others. Words cannot express how grateful we are that we have Peanut in our lives and how amazing she is. She is a part of our family now and thanks to wonderful people like you at the shelter, she is alive. Without her, not only would she have been gone from this world, but the life of this little girl might have been taken as well.”

Abused Dog Saves 3-Year-Old From A Lifetime Of Disgraceful Neglect is an article from: LifeDaily

After months of patiently waiting, Robin Pownall and her fiancé, Michael DeMasi, couldn’t wait until the day they welcomed their twin baby boys to the world. On October 14, 2017, at 33 weeks pregnant, that day finally happened for the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania parents.

7 Weeks Premature

While the boys were born prematurely at 33 weeks, it’s extremely common for twins or pregnancies with multiples to be born before coming to full term. Robin and her fiancé, who are parents to 9-year-old and 4-year-old sons, expected that they wouldn’t get to go home straight after the birth…

Admitted To The NICU

As the parents expected, the twins named Santino ‘Sonny’ and Giovanni ‘Gio’ needed to stay at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia so that they could both be monitored as well as give them time to develop and gain their strength before being sent home.

A Rare Finding

However, shortly after being born, doctors noticed something concerning about the twin baby boys. They performed more tests on them both to be sure they knew what was going on. Once Gio’s and Sonny’s tests both came back positive, it was time to break the news to their parents…

Chronic Granulomatous Disease

According to the team of doctors treating the newborns, Sonny and Gio had been born with Chronic Granulomatous Disease or CGD. CGD is a rare inherited disease where the immune system does not function properly and is unable to fight infections as well as a healthy immune system.

1 In A Million

According to the doctors, simple germs and infections that an immune system should be strong enough to fight can become deadly if they are not treated quickly and properly. While hearing the doctors talk about the disease, which occurs every 1 in a 1,000,000 births worldwide, Robin’s heart sank…

A Familiar Feeling

However, Robin’s heart didn’t sink because she was overwhelmed by all the scary statistics and information that was being thrown at her. Robin and her fiancé’s heart sank because they had already heard everything about CGD once before.

The First Born

Robin’s oldest son, 9-year-old Dominick, had also been born with CGD and was diagnosed a few weeks after his birth. When she discovered what the disease was, she was terrified for her fragile newborn and how it would affect the rest of his life…

The Cure

Since no 1 in the family was a match, Dominick was placed on a transplant list. When he was finally matched with a donor, he was given the cells from the donor’s umbilical cord, which cured him of CGD. However, since CGD was a genetically inherited disease, Robin knew that this would likely not be the last time she encountered the disease if she chose to have more children.

Beating The Odds

A few years later, however, Robin became pregnant and gave birth to another baby boy, Michael. The new parents expected doctors to tell them that he had inherited CGD, so they were overjoyed when doctors told them they had given birth to a healthy baby boy with a healthy immune system…

Hoping For The Best

So when Robin became pregnant again with 2 twin boys a few years later, she was thrilled and had more hope during the pregnancy that neither of them would inherit CGD and that her family would never have to deal with the terrifying disease again. Sadly, that didn’t happen.

The Options

Like Dominick’s case, neither parent was a match for either Gio or Sonny, who needed a bone marrow transplant to cure the disease and give them normally functioning immune systems. The parents worried that there only option would be to put the boys on the transplant list, which could take months to find a donor…

A Tough Decision

Not only would it be dangerous for the twins to wait months for a donor, but it would also be extremely expensive for them to keep the twins in the hospital until they could undergo the bone marrow transplants. But before they resorted to waiting on the transplant list, the family experienced a miracle.

The Match

Test results came back that found the twin’s 4-year-old brother was a perfect match. Not only did this mean they wouldn’t have to wait months to find a donor, but doctor’s explained that bone marrow from a family member was less likely to be rejected…

Risks And Complications

Robin and her fiancé spoke to the doctors more to find out what were the risks and complications of donating bone marrow and going under anesthesia. While they would do nearly anything to save Gio and Sonny, they wouldn’t put their other son in danger to do it.

Breaking The News

Once they knew all the information, they sat down with Michael, who knew his brothers were sick and knew that he had been tested to see if his bone marrow was a match. “We were in no way, shape or form going to push anything,” Robin said…

No Sugar-Coating It

“I’m the match? I’m the match,” Michael said excitedly when his parents told him the news. “We were straight up,” Robin said. “‘It’s going to be a big needle going into your back, bud.’ We asked him, ‘Do you want to do this? If you’re scared, you don’t have to.’”

A Selfless Choice

Even after being told that the procedure would entail having a large needle pushed into a bone near his hip, Michael was still happy to do it. “Part of me was like, ‘Well, he’s 4. Maybe he doesn’t know what’s going on.’ But he did, and he was all for it,” Robin said. The worried parents agreed they would put the twins on the bone marrow registry if Michael was ever reluctant, but that never happened even when doctors sat him down to make sure he understood what he was agreeing to…

A Proud Older Brother

“He was all for it and we had a good feeling about it. It’s amazing — he’s so proud. Such a brave little guy.” On March 8, 2018, Michael went into the hospital and bravely underwent his procedure. Afterward, he was up and playing and jumping around like nothing happened. He even got to watch as doctors gave his brothers the stem-cell infusion. “I saved you guys. It’s time to go home,” Michael said proudly.

Home At Last

“Giovanni received the bone marrow cells around 2:30 pm & then Sonny received the bone marrow cells around 5:30 pm. Both babies are doing well and sleeping. Now is time for their bodies to heal, with the new bone marrow cells to build up a healthy immune system,” a family member wrote on a GoFundMe account. Thankfully, the procedure cured the twins of CGD and on May 1, 2018, they were finally released from the hospital.

4-Year-Old Saves Newborn Twin Brothers From Lethal One In A Million Disease is an article from: LifeDaily