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Heroic Uncle Pays Ultimate Price For Saving Drowning Nephew

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Victor Mozqueda Story

The old saying that “blood is thicker than water” alludes to the fact that when it comes to family, for many people, nothing is more important in life than that close unit.

Victor was only 22 himself but he was extremely close with his brother’s son, Vincent. That close connection went way beyond the fact that these family members’ first names began with a V. Ultimately, Victor would prove to be a complete hero…

Great Brother

Victor Mozqueda Story
  www.everipedia.org

Victor was a hard worker, and while he wasn’t what you’d call wealthy, he was a responsible person, and also a great brother as well as an interactive uncle. Meanwhile, his sister-in-law Anita was so busy in life she barely had time to think.

Time Off

Victor Mozqueda Story
  www.getfitonthego.com

Victor himself worked most of the hours that God gives, but on weekends he would often go to visit his brother and spend time with Vincent. He was aware of how busy Anita was and wanted to give her a well-deserved break as well as some time off…

Saturday Stroll

Victor Mozqueda Story
  www.cnn.com

It was a normal enough Saturday, or so everyone assumed when Victor decided it was the perfect California day for a walk by the river. On this day, Carmen and her husband came along for the walk but Victor and Vincent walked up ahead as they usually did.

Sequoia National Park

Victor Mozqueda Story
  www.gamewarden.org

The Sequoia National Park is a national park in Sierra Nevada, California. Established back in 1895, the park spans a whopping 404,064 acres and is most famous for its indigenous giant sequoia trees, including the General Sherman tree, the largest tree on Earth.

Kaweah River

Victor Mozqueda Story
  en.tripadvisor.com.hk

The weather was fine as Victor strolled with Vincent alongside the Kaweah River inside the national park. Uncle and nephew chatted and laughed together as they strolled and the time passed by.

One Moment

Victor Mozqueda Story
  abcnews.go.com

As any parent will tell you, it only takes one moment of distraction; a text message or even just getting lost in thought can mean the difference between life and death where young kids are involved. Tragically, Victor and Vincent were about to share one such tragic moment…

He Slipped

Victor Mozqueda Story
  Daniel Mayer / Wikimedia

It wasn’t Victor’s fault, the two were walking on a narrow part of the riverside. Vincent lost his footing and fell straight into the Kaweah River. But there was one problem: Victor never learned to swim.

Heroic Actions

Victor Mozqueda Story
  www.gofundme.com/victormyhero

Victor didn’t even consider his own safety for a moment; not even a split second. As soon as saw his nephew thrashing about in the river, he jumped in, knowing he was putting his own life at risk by doing so…

Totally Selfless

Victor Mozqueda Story
  www.gofundme.com/victormyhero

Victor Gonzalez’s actions that day can only be described as heroic. With no regard for his own life, Victor went under the water, pushing his nephew above the surface so that at least one of them could have air to breathe.

Saving Vincent

Victor Mozqueda Story
  www.news-medical.net

By this stage, Victor had been underwater for a while but in his bravery, he had kept little Vincent above water for the most part. Vincent’s father and the fishermen administered CPR on him and were able to get him breathing again in time for the medics to arrive…

Never Let Go

Victor Mozqueda Story
  www.tripadvisor.com

Victor, according to his sister, never let go of her son for a moment, “He never let go of Vincent even when they went down under the [currents] a few times,” she said. Even though Victor had never learned to swim as a kid, and had a fear of water, he wasn’t about to let his nephew perish…

All Hands On Deck

Victor Mozqueda Story
  www.inticweb.com

Everyone was trying to save little Vincent from drowning. His parents also jumped into the river when they realized what was going on. Three fishermen who were fishing nearby also came into the fray to try and help.

Life Flight

Victor Mozqueda Story
  www.ratehospitals.com

In order to save the little boy’s life, he needed to be airlifted by a Life Force helicopter to the Kaweah Delta Medical Center in Visalia for further treatment and observation. While things were rocky for a time, thankfully, the boy started to recover and ultimately made a full recovery in a short time.

Tragic Outcome

Victor Mozqueda Story
  www.gofundme.com/victormyhero

While it’s nothing short of a miracle that Vincent’s life was saved, and only just, unfortunately, Victor lost his life after he drowned in the river. Anita said in a statement, “Words cannot express how thankful I am to have my son back because of the selfless act he did for my son.”

Second In Two Weeks

Victor Mozqueda Story
  www.cincinnati.com

As it turns out, that particular location inside the Sequoia National Park is a treacherous one. Just two weeks earlier and another fatally occurred there due to the slippery rocks. Sequoia District Ranger Dave Fox said, “The rocks are super slick on the river’s edge, and people should avoid getting close to the water.”

A Kind Soul

Victor Mozqueda Story
  www.everipedia.org

Following his tragic and untimely death, family members spoke about Victor, and in the most Stirling terms. His brother-in-law, Ivan Gonzalez said of him, “He would always do things for others. That’s just the way he was raised.”

More Tributes

Victor Mozqueda Story
  www.ktla.com

Victor was also very close with his sister Maria. She spoke about her brother, as she tried to hold back her tears of grief, “Victor was a happy person, humble caring, loving, respectful, laid back and friendly. He loved going outdoors and being next to nature,” she said, adding, “He loved playing his guitar, singing, soccer and hiking.”

GoFundMe

Victor Mozqueda Story
  www.gofundme.com/victormyhero

As another tribute, as well as to raise money for Victor’s funeral expenses, his family launched a GoFundMe page. So far, that page has been a roaring success, having already raised in excess of $44,000.

Totally Crushed

Victor Mozqueda Story
  www.gofundme.com/victormyhero

For her part, Maria, Victor’s sister, was totally devastated by the sudden and tragic loss of her brother. Speaking to reporters, she said, “He didn’t deserve to do die like that…He didn’t.” The loss was felt deeply by all of Victor’s family, and the way he lost his life made it even worse.

Giving Hope

Victor Mozqueda Story
  www.everipedia.org

As tragic as this story is, it does highlight the bravery of one dedicated uncle to his nephew. It’s uncanny to think that a person could pay the ultimate price and sacrifice their own life to save that of another.

Heroic Uncle Pays Ultimate Price For Saving Drowning Nephew is an article from: LifeDaily


The British Divers Who Found The Trapped Thai Team Are No Strangers To Precarious Rescues

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British Divers Thai Cave Rescue Story

The world was on the edge of their seats when they learned that 12 young boys and their soccer coach went missing underground in a narrow cave system in Northern Thailand. Since discovering the boys, the entire world has been invested in their safe return to dry land.

But, what do we know about the British divers? Apparently, the two men who found the boys have qualifications that go back decades. They’ve aided in a number of dangerous rescue missions that took them from France to Mexico…

Exceptional Divers

British Divers Thai Cave Rescue Story
  www.cnn.com

They were the first two people who saw the Thai boys as they entered the cave on July 2, 2018. The voices heard on a video the moment the group was discovered, belong to Rick Stanton and his diving partner, John Volanthen.

Two Of The Greatest Cave Divers On The Planet

British Divers Thai Cave Rescue Story
  www.abc.net.au

They’ve been identified in the British media as the two British divers who first discovered the 12 children and soccer coach trapped in a cave in Thailand. They are among the greatest cave divers on the planet but both have day jobs in the UK…

Day Jobs

British Divers Thai Cave Rescue Story
  www.coventrytelegraph.net

Stanton, 56, has been a firefighter in Coventry and Volanthen is an internet engineer in Bristol. Both men are volunteers with the South and Mid Wales Cave Rescue team. Diving instructor, Martyn Farr, describes the pair as the “A team,” saying that they are “record breakers” and “pioneers.”

A World Record

British Divers Thai Cave Rescue Story
  www.swns.com

In 2011, the pair set a world record for the longest cave dive, which penetrated 9km down a system in Northern Spain using specially developed equipment. Volanthen says he enjoys designing and constructing some of his own diving equipment. He’s even designed a mapping device that collects information while diving…

Volanthen Is Great At The Logistics

British Divers Thai Cave Rescue Story
  www.uniserveducation.com

Being that he took up diving as a Boy Scout and studied electronics at De Montfort University, Leicester, he has a knack for creating things and figuring out puzzles. “I enjoy the logistical challenge, getting us and all our kit to the end of such a long cave,” Volanthen said.

He Is Not An Adrenaline Junkie

British Divers Thai Cave Rescue Story
  www.thethaiger.com

“It’s like that puzzle with the fox, the chicken and the grain. It’s not dangerous if you do it right- there are just a large number of little things that you have to be on top of at all times,” he continued. But Volanthen described himself as the opposite of an adrenaline junkie…

You Must Stay Calm

British Divers Thai Cave Rescue Story
  www.cnn.com

“Panic and adrenaline are great in certain situations but not in cave diving…The last thing you want is any adrenaline whatsoever. You’re in an environment that doesn’t suffer fools gladly,” he said. In fact, it was Volanthen’s calm voice that was heard on a video released by the Thai government, asking the young soccer team, “How many of you? Thirteen? Brilliant.”

Started Diving As A Teen

British Divers Thai Cave Rescue Story
  www.cnn.com

Then there’s Stanton, who began diving at 18 in order to explore caves after being inspired by a television show he watched as a teenager. “After watching it, I just knew cave-diving was for me,” Stanton said. In 2004, he was involved in a high profile rescue of British cavers in Mexico…

Rescuing British Servicemen

British Divers Thai Cave Rescue Story
  www.wetmules.com

Stanton and the other divers reached the British servicemen who had been trapped by flooding inside the Alpazat cavern system in the Central American Jungle. The rescuers found the men trapped and were able to lead them out one by one after equipping them with scuba gear, which took six hours.

Chatter In Mexico

British Divers Thai Cave Rescue Story
  www.swimmersdaily.com

The rescue mission wound up causing a diplomatic incident after one of the leaders of the expedition declined Mexican help and waited for British rescue divers, including Stanton, to arrive. Rumors then spread throughout Mexico that the British cavers had been looking for uranium deposits…

Rescuing Eric Establie

British Divers Thai Cave Rescue Story
  www.geoforum.fr

Besides that rescue, Stanton and Volanthen were part of a team that attempted a cave rescue of Eric Establie, in the Dragonniere Gaud Cave near Labastide-de-Virac in the Ardeche region of France. Establie, who both men knew, had become trapped by a silt avalanche in a dark, water-filled tunnel.

Successful Mission

British Divers Thai Cave Rescue Story
  www.bfmtv.com

Only a handful of rescue divers in the world had the expertise to find him and the duo was flown in on an RAF helicopter for the rescue. Working in visibility of less than a foot, they managed to find the blockage in the tunnel. They got through it and were successfully able to locate the body. Volanthen said, “Eric would have done the same for us, so there was never any question of us not going.”

MBE Award

British Divers Thai Cave Rescue Story
  www.emedals.com

Stanton was awarded a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his rescues, mainly for the one involving Establie. He said, “When I got notification of his on behalf of the Palace I was absolutely astounded. I’m just doing work I enjoy to the best of my ability.”

“Into The Darkness”

British Divers Thai Cave Rescue Story
  forum.scubatoys.com

Stanton couldn’t believe he was being awarded for his diving since it started as a “hobby” and is an entirely “voluntary service.” A documentary called “Into the Darkness” even followed him and Volanthen on expeditions to explore Cogol di Veci, which is a massive flooded cave in Northern Italy…

Volanthen’s Wedding

British Divers Thai Cave Rescue Story
  www.washingtonpost.com

Volanthen’s wife, Annabelle Volanthen, said that on the morning of her wedding day, her husband escaped the chaos by going cave diving. “It wasn’t just an ordinary cave, it was through a sump that has a notoriously unstable boulder choke which has subsequently collapsed but that gives you some indication of John’s character,” Annabelle said.

Rescue Of Polish Cave Diver

British Divers Thai Cave Rescue Story
  www.irishtimes.com

Volanthen adds that his secret to cave diving is to keep a cool head, and Stanton agrees. In 2011, they assisted in yet another high profile rescue, involving the recovery of the body of Polish cave diver Artur Kozlowski from Pollonora cave at Kiltartan, Ireland. That rescue was successfully, but three years later, another mission proved to be too difficult…

Rescuing Finnish Divers

British Divers Thai Cave Rescue Story
  www.yle.fi

In 2014, Norwegian authorities specifically requested both men to assist to recover the bodies of two Finnish divers from Jordbrugrotta. However, after diving down to the site, the men deemed the operation too difficult.

Where They Acquired Their Skills

British Divers Thai Cave Rescue Story
  www.usdct.org

Despite both divers originally starting diving as a hobby, they have become experts by learning to dive off the coast in the UK, where it’s often treacherous and very cold. As they became more experienced, developing their own gear seemed like second nature…

Equipment

British Divers Thai Cave Rescue Story
  www.thaivisa.com

Just like Volanthen, Stanton also develops his own equipment. He made two closed-circuit rebreather units, which is technology that has been instrumental in his achieving cave diving depth records around the world. He also builds prototypes of his designs and tests them in swimming pools before using them in caves.

The Right Guys For The Job

British Divers Thai Cave Rescue Story
  www.divernet.com

With their long list of qualifications, it’s clear that Stanton and Volanthen are the right men for the rescue in Thailand. Friends of theirs say that if anyone can do it, these guys can. Diving instructor, Martyn Farr, has absolutely no doubt that the Thailand soccer team will be rescued safely.

The British Divers Who Found The Trapped Thai Team Are No Strangers To Precarious Rescues is an article from: LifeDaily

Heroic Nanny Saves Child’s Life, But With A Large Cost

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Caroline Maurer Story

When someone hears “hero,” they usually think of large, buff superheroes in shiny capes. But nobody needs superpowers to be a hero. Everyone has the chance of being a hero when life gives them a test that involves their fight or flight response. With enough compassion, faith, and humanity, anyone can be capable of being a hero.

In the captivating story of a couple who wants nothing but the best for their child, a nanny steps up from the crowd and raises the bar to unimaginable levels.

Featured photo credit: www.valuablestories.com

The Start Of A Family

Caroline Maurer Story
  en.newsner.com

A happy couple from California gave birth to a young boy that they loved unconditionally. Their entire world revolved around their child, Fox. They wanted to give him the best life with the best family, the best education, and the best experience. But there’s an issue: they were first time parents, and didn’t know where to start.

Money Is A Priority

Caroline Maurer Story
  Courtney Davis / YouTube

The parents knew that they would need to obtain financial security to give their son a comfortable and healthy lifestyle. In a rough job market and spiraling economy, it had been stressful finding work. Then, they asked themselves an important question: how would we take care of Fox?

Busy Work

Caroline Maurer Story
  www.isao.org

They desperately needed to make money, but also searched for jobs that didn’t demand too much time from their son. They tried to find a way to spend quality time with their son while doing their work. None of these attempts were successful. They dreaded it, but knew the fact that they had to be separated from him in order to give him the life he deserved…

A New Caretaker

Caroline Maurer Story
  www.kidspot.com.au

The parents, after searching desperately through all other possible routes, have decided to hire a nanny. But this role is important; whoever they hire will serve as a third parent, raising Fox whenever his parents can’t. They’re not just going to give this job out for anyone who wants money. It’s a dangerous world out there, and in it, they needed to find a glorious soul that would be bright enough to raise Fox the right way while they’re gone.

Search For The Nanny

Caroline Maurer Story
  www.huffingtonpost.com

Whenever the parents weren’t working, they would either be taking care of Fox or searching for numerous people on pages from various sites, for the perfect nanny. They worked through the countless headaches from keeping their eyes glued to the screen for hours, thoroughly checking each candidate to see if they were fit or not. After the hours of searching, they finally found their nanny.

Did They Strike A Gold Mine?

Caroline Maurer Story
  www.guiltyfix.com

Her name is Caroline Maurer. Her eligibility came from the fact that she was a well-respected student with straight A’s, competitive classes, and a particular eye-opening fact that she started taking care of children when she was merely seven years old. This seemed too good to be true for the parents; regardless, they decided to test out whether or not she was as ideal as her profile suggested…

Encounter

Caroline Maurer Story
  www.bunte.de

It was the first day that the Davis parents and Fox met Caroline. Safe to say, she blew them away. She was astonishingly nice to Fox, even when he misbehaved. She would feed him, and make sure he finished his food down to the last bite. And it was natural to her. Courtney, Fox’s mother, said, “I would always say she’s better than we are. We were first-time parents and we learned so much from her. Truly I felt we lucked out.”

A Beautiful Relationship

Caroline Maurer Story
  www.cbsnews.com

Fox and Caroline have had a lot of time to connect. From Fox being only 4 months old to 2 years old in the present time, Caroline has worked diligently to make sure Fox has the best time possible. Unfortunately, her work was put to a halt when she was forced to make a decision in a life or death situation.

Traversing The Night

Caroline Maurer Story
  www.prevention.com

The incident started one night when Caroline took Fox out for a walk. They wandered the neighborhood, enjoying the large view of the stars scattered across the night sky. They were completely oblivious to the threat that was approaching quickly…

Oncoming Threat

Caroline Maurer Story
  www.quora.com

After cautiously looking at both sides of the street, Caroline traversed the crosswalk with Fox in his stroller. Sadly, this cautiousness that Caroline demonstrated wasn’t enough to prepare her and Fox for the reckless driver that turned the corner, speeding toward them.

Drunk Or Out For Blood?

Caroline Maurer Story
  www.autobytel.com

The sound of the wheels skidding uncontrollably on the road and the growing brightness of the high beams were more than enough of a signal for Caroline and Fox to inform them of the grave danger they were in. At this point, Caroline was the only one in control of the situation. What was she going to do?

The Biggest Decision Of Her Life

Caroline Maurer Story
  www.videoblocks.com

In this moment, thoughts and scenarios ran through Caroline’s mind faster than what she thought was originally possible. She was afraid for her own life, but even more afraid for Fox, since he was buckled and trapped in his stroller. She believed that Fox’s life was a higher priority than her own, which drove her to do something braver than what many others would do…

Was It The Right Choice?

Caroline Maurer Story
  Shutterstock

Caroline used all of the strength she could muster to push Fox’s stroller out of the car’s path and used her vocal cords to their limit to scream at the driver to stop. Although her shrieks pierced the air of the neighborhood, the car wasn’t stopping. She saw her life flash before her eyes, seeing images of her supportive parents, her caring friends, and the many memorable experiences she had with them. She wasn’t ready to let go of all of that yet…

Impact

Caroline Maurer Story
  x.vceinc.com

With one last effort, Caroline tried to save hers and Fox’s lives by putting her hands up and using the rest of her remaining energy to push as hard as she could on the vehicle. Unfortunately, the momentum was too much to bear. While she did stop the car from going any further, the impact launched her a few feet back. The pain she felt from her hands was unbearable; even so, she still had to make sure Fox was okay…

Inflicting Trauma

Caroline Maurer Story
  Courtney Davis / YouTube

She looked up to see Fox in his stroller, miraculously unscathed. Still, when he saw his nanny the way she was at that moment, he lost it. He was sobbing uncontrollably, saying “Caroline I love you!” repeatedly. But he was still stuck buckled in his stroller, and Caroline couldn’t do anything about it with her hands rendered unusable. The fact that she wasn’t able to save him while he was crying out for her shattered her heart. Thankfully, there was help from another source…

The Hero Nanny

Caroline Maurer Story
  www.foxnews.com

The paramedics arrived, along with Fox’s parents, immediately after hearing what happened. When they arrived on the scene, they saw that their son was completely fine, aside from the seemingly endless sobbing from the traumatic experience. Then, they looked to see where Caroline was. They looked inside the ambulance truck to see her scratched, bruised, and bloody, all over her body, especially on her arms and hands. One of the paramedics told Fox’s father that she saved Fox’s life. On that night, Caroline was declared a hero.

How Is Caroline?

Caroline Maurer Story
  Courtney Davis / YouTube

Caroline was found to have fractured bones in her hands, wrists, and arms. Her entire body was also extremely scratched and bruised, and her hands are now completely unusable. They no longer have the grip and strength that they had before the incident. Even so, Caroline doesn’t regret the decision she made. In her mind, her hands were an easy price for the preservation of Fox’s life.

Grateful Parents

Caroline Maurer Story
  Courtney Davis / YouTube

The parents were in tears and overcome with guilt. Even though their son’s life was saved, Caroline was no longer in the condition to be a nanny, nor a learning student. Her work and studies are paused indefinitely, as she isn’t sure if her hands will ever be normal again. Whether or not her hands will ever regain their mobility, Fox’s parents are assisting Caroline as much as they can.

Permanently Injured… Probably

Caroline Maurer Story
  Courtney Davis / YouTube

Caroline is still in physical therapy, but due to the severity of the injuries, she may never have full strength in her hands again. She has also continued to struggle with dizziness and recently underwent an MRI to determine if she sustained head trauma that was overlooked in the initial assessment of her injuries. Caroline is hoping to get at least 80% mobility back into her hands. But as of now, that progress is sadly not even close.

Open For Help

Caroline Maurer Story
  www.youcaring.com/carolinemaurer-963628

If you would like to help this hero get back into her old life, you can donate for her cause.  As of now, she is nearing her goal, having $47k of $50k to cover the medical treatments needed for her to be on the journey of getting her hands’ mobility back. You can donate at https://www.youcaring.com/carolinemaurer-963628.

Heroic Nanny Saves Child’s Life, But With A Large Cost is an article from: LifeDaily

Mother Of Four Battling Cancer Receives Surprise Donations From Strangers

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Cancer is a terrible disease that should never befall anyone. For the unfortunate tens of millions of people each year that have found themselves diagnosed with the disease, it’s tough for families to process and handle it. There are countless stories of people having their own personal battle with cancer, but there are almost as many lesser-known stories where their fight with cancer is heightened by mounting bills for treatment.

It is in these dire moments when donations help the most, and they certainly did alleviate a lot of stress when a family was blessed by hundreds of strangers on one special day.

A Big, Happy Family

Amanda Kofoed Story
  www.gofundme.com/amandakofoed

The Kofoeds are a large, close knit family with four kids and two dogs. United with unbreakable bonds between one another, the Kofoeds create unforgettable memories and experiences. But one day, they find that those experiences are at risk of collapsing and being changed forever…

 

A Diligent Student

Amanda Kofoed Story
  www.idahopress.com

The mother of the family, Amanda, was a hard-working student in her last semester at Northwest Nazarene University, studying to become an elementary school teacher. This gave her a chance to work with more children, along with the four she already took care of at home. Unfortunately, her chances of working in the job she dreamed of grew slimmer after she discovered something life-threatening…

A Strange Lump

Amanda Kofoed Story
  www.lequzhai.com

In early October, Amanda found that she had a lump on her arm. She would join her husband’s healthcare plan in only 3 months time, so she was hesitant about checking what may have caused this lump. After a few checkups, she found her suspicions were correct: that lump had been cancerous…

A Life Crushing Discovery

Amanda Kofoed Story
  www.lls.org

She found that she had been diagnosed with Stage 3 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a form of cancer. Amanda and her family were utterly devastated. Since Amanda is the leading caretaker of the family,  her husband and children weren’t sure what they were going to do without her. They were no longer sure of what the family’s future would hold, as they saw their normal lives completely shattered before their eyes…

Insurance Wasn’t There to Help

Amanda Kofoed Story
  www.gofundme.com/AMANDAKOFOED

Considering the possibility of the cancer spreading, and the urging of Amanda’s doctors to get treatment right away, she knew there was still three months between now and the insurance plan finalizing. She did not want to be a financial burden to her husband, even though her own life was at stake. She turned to her husband for help, hoping that he would have an answer.

Cornered by Death

Amanda Kofoed Story
  Google Maps

Her husband, Clint, works for the Girl Scouts of Silver Sage. While this job does give him health insurance, it wasn’t nearly enough for the monstrous costs needed to treat his wife. Clint said he would figure out a way to provide the financial needs to pay for her treatment for the remaining three months. But, Amanda refused his selfless offer. She felt trapped, and didn’t know what to do…

Would Today Be Her Last?

Amanda Kofoed Story
  www.gofundme.com/AMANDAKOFOED

Amanda and Clint had many sleepless nights after finding out her diagnosis. Every time Clint woke up to his beautiful wife, the thought of not seeing her again gave him a heartache. It could be the last time they would see each other, the last time she would see her kids, and the last time the family could be whole…

Support From Friends

Amanda Kofoed Story
  www.bnd.com

They shared the sad diagnosis with a very close friend, Jessie Horney. Jessie, who had known the family for years, could not bear to sit back and let Amanda’s health deteriorate. She knew she had to figure out a way to help alleviate the stresses of the financial burden on the family. She decided to set up a GoFundMe page to help raise money for Amanda’s treatment. Unbeknownst to the family and Jessie, the compassion shown from others would blow them away.

A Group of PRAYnksters

Amanda Kofoed Story
  www.bnd.com

What many people underestimate is the selfless generosity of strangers. Jesse Fadel, a friend of Clint, is also the co-founder of a large group known as the PRAYnksters. Meant to mimic the trouble making aspect of pranksters, the PRAYnksters surprise people with acts of kindness. And their next target was Amanda’s family.

Ready for Action

Amanda Kofoed Story
  www.bnd.com

Jesse had been conducting stunts with the organization for years, helping grief-stricken families with the financial woes of high medical bills, but when he discovered that the monster disease had affected a friend, it hit close to home. He informed the rest of the group members about Amanda’s unfortunate predicament, and together they agreed they had to take action immediately.

The Video

Amanda Kofoed Story
  www.gofundme.com/AMANDAKOFOED

Amanda and Clint were invited to a coffee shop, told that they were going to film a “thank you” video for those who had donated to their GoFundMe page for their treatment. Little did they know, Jesse was right outside the coffee shop, and he was going to give them the biggest surprise of their life…

Surprise Guests

Amanda Kofoed Story
  www.gofundme.com/AMANDAKOFOED

Amanda and Clint smiled at the camera, answering basic interview questions about their situation. They were completely oblivious to Jesse and his family, who walked into the shop and headed toward them. They interrupted the “interview” and placed $100 on the table. The couple was surprised, but they had yet to see what Jesse’s real surprise was…

Commence the PRAYnk

Amanda Kofoed Story
  www.gofundme.com/AMANDAKOFOED

Immediately after placing the money on Amanda and Clint’s table, Jesse and his family walked off, confusing Amanda and Clint. The couple got even more confused when they realized another group walked up to them and proceeded to do the same thing. Another $100 were placed on the table.

Pile of Hundreds

  www.gofundme.com/AMANDAKOFOED

Another group came. And another one. And another, and another. The coffee shop was soon filled to the brim, with each person carrying $100 to place on Amanda’s table. The line just didn’t stop moving, and the couple was overwhelmed.

Overwhelming Support

Amanda Kofoed Story
  www.gofundme.com/AMANDAKOFOED

Amanda recognized some of them. They were close friends, old friends, family members, and many, many strangers. There was a total of about 200 people, and by the end, the couple received $13,000 to go toward her treatments.

Tears of Joy

Amanda Kofoed Story
  www.gofundme.com/AMANDAKOFOED

Amanda and Clint were in tears, hugging as many people as they could. They felt blessed to be loved in such a large, caring community. They just experienced the charity of the PRAYnksters.

A Miracle Gone Viral

Amanda Kofoed Story
  www.gofundme.com/AMANDAKOFOED

The people who recorded the “interview” kept the camera going, recording the entire event. The video was uploaded to YouTube, becoming a viral sensation and accumulating over 200,000 views! The video is still gaining momentum, circulating in various social media sites, inspiring thousands to commit acts of kindness.

A Hopeful Family

Amanda Kofoed Story
  www.gofundme.com/AMANDAKOFOED

Although Amanda still goes through the stress that comes with cancer, she still cares for her entire family, showing that her diagnosis doesn’t hold her back. Clint is there to help her every step of the way, praying that his wife, as well as his entire family, will be whole again. Thanks to the efforts of the PRAYnksters and the donators for the GoFundMe page, those prayers may be answered.

The Future Will Most Likely Be Safe

Amanda Kofoed Story
  www.idahostatesman.com

Now for the big question: How is Amanda’s treatment going? Well, things are looking up for the most part. Amanda has moments when she feels physically and mentally drained from the effects of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. But, even after many stints at the hospital, Amanda stays hopeful that one day she will beat the monster that has taken over her body. The survival rate of Hodgskins is dramatically higher than other forms of cancer, and due to the early detection of the lump, Amanda and her family are optimistic.

Donations Are Still Open

Amanda Kofoed Story
  www.gofundme.com/AMANDAKOFOED

Since the opening of the GoFundMe page, Amanda and Clint have made $60,000, getting closer to their goal of $75,000. Due to the mounting hospital bills, defaulted mortgage payments, and other costs to ensure Amanda’s survival, the family still needs financial assistance. If you would like to continue the public’s support for this hopeful family, you can donate at https://www.gofundme.com/AMANDAKOFOED.

Mother Of Four Battling Cancer Receives Surprise Donations From Strangers is an article from: LifeDaily

Relaxing Fourth Of July Turns Into Headache For One Woman When She Was Racially Profiled At Community Pool

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Jasmine Edwards Story

The fourth of July is supposed to be a day in which Americans come together and celebrate our independence. Most families spend the day barbequing, throwing a party, or going to see a local fireworks show. While everyone’s traditions are different, for the most part, the 4th is a day centered around harmony.

But in the following story, togetherness was the last thing on neighbors minds’ when there was an altercation at the community pool. It turned into a big ordeal and raised the question of racial profiling…

Glenridge

Jasmine Edwards Story
  www.journalnow.com

This is another case of racial profiling caught on video. It all happened on the fourth of July at a neighborhood swimming pool in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The community called Glenridge is a beautiful development that was once a family farm with many fruit trees and a trickling stream.

Beautiful Development

Jasmine Edwards Story
  www.journalnow.com

Back in the 80s, Glenridge was developed into 259 homes in four distinct sections. Three of the four sections are single-family homes located in Barrington, Glenridge and Huntscroft, each with a distinct personality and architecture. One of the development’s amenities is a pool with an adjoining playground and sand volleyball area with a picnic area…

Unfairly Targeted

Jasmine Edwards Story
  www.wlos.com

The pool and playground are the perfect places to bring young children. This was the idea one woman had and on the fourth of July, she took her baby to the pool. Apparently, her presence there raised some eyebrows and one woman asked a man sitting nearby if he knew who the woman was.

Feeling Uncomfortable In Her Development

Jasmine Edwards Story
  jasmine.edwards.12382 / Facebook

When he said he didn’t, he decided to ask the woman if she was a resident of the community and if she had proper identification to be at the pool. This was an odd question, she thought since you need a key card to gain access to the pool. If she didn’t have one, she wouldn’t have been allowed in…

Bloom Was Acting Like The Pool Police

Jasmine Edwards Story
  www.toptwitter.com

The man identified as Adam Bloom, became angry when the woman, Jasmine Edwards, didn’t have an ID card on her, proving that she and her son lived in the Winston-Salem neighborhood where the pool is located. Edwards got really upset.

Calling The Police

Jasmine Edwards Story
  jasmine.edwards.12382 / Facebook

Bloom then called the police because Edwards didn’t have an ID card on her, yet, why would she have thought to bring identification to a pool? One of the residents by the pool jumped the conversation saying, “It doesn’t say she has to show an ID anywhere.”

Recording The Interaction

Jasmine Edwards Story
  jasmine.edwards.12382 / Facebook

“Where does it say that I have to show an ID to use my pool? My own pool,” Edwards asks on video while speaking to Bloom in front of the responding officers. The cops appeared to be trying their best to reason with Bloom who was with his children.

“Swim ID”

Jasmine Edwards Story
  jasmine.edwards.12382 / Facebook

They explained to him that Edwards doesn’t need an ID to swim with her children, but he insisted on seeing one anyway. Edwards was finally fed up and said, “I feel this is racial profiling. I am the only black person here with my son, and [Bloom] walked all the way to me to ask for my ID.” She continued…

Questioning Edwards

Jasmine Edwards Story
  jasmine.edwards.12382 / Facebook

“He asked for my address [and] I gave it to him, and then he came back and said, ‘Well, I didn’t catch your address correctly. Can you provide an ID to prove the address that you gave to me?’ And I said, ‘Why do I have to show my ID? Is there an ordinance in the neighborhood?’”

Interesting Response

Jasmine Edwards Story
  jasmine.edwards.12382 / Facebook

Bloom’s response was classic. He said that he asks residents “pretty much a couple times a week” to see their IDs. Bloom’s lawyer, John Vermitsky told the New York Post that his client works for the Glenridge Homeowners Association as the pool chairman and board member. His lawyer said that Bloom is required to ask people for IDs on account of his position. But Edwards wasn’t buying it…

Checking Edward’s Credentials

Jasmine Edwards Story
  jasmine.edwards.12382 / Facebook

Bloom claims that he had a pool member come to him and say, ‘this person doesn’t appear to be a pool member’ and asked to check their credentials. Edwards then reportedly became loud and confrontational and Bloom just wanted to make sure the situation was handled properly.

Pressing Charges For Racial Profiling

Jasmine Edwards Story
  jasmine.edwards.12382 / Facebook

Then, one of the officers asks Bloom if residents are required to carry a “swim card,” granting them access to the pool. Edwards responded by saying, “Yes! I have one! That’s how I got in!” She asks the officer, “What can I charge against him for racial profiling?! Because this is ridiculous.”

The Incident Would Have To Be Handled As A Civil Dispute

Jasmine Edwards Story
  jasmine.edwards.12382 / Facebook

The male officer informs her that the incident would have to be handled as a civil dispute and he also admitted that he’s never heard of local residents being required to carry IDs at neighborhood pools. “I’m just here with my baby, swimming,” Edwards said, adding that Bloom was responsible for wasting taxpayers money.

Refusing To Apologize

Jasmine Edwards Story
  jasmine.edwards.12382 / Facebook

Then, just when the incident should have been over, Bloom wouldn’t leave until Edwards proved that her “swim card” worked to get into the pool. To set to rest once and for all that she was a resident there, Edwards used her card to successfully open the gate. But even after validating that her card worked, Bloom refused to give Edwards an apology. He was still skeptical…

Sharing Her Frustration On Social Media

Jasmine Edwards Story
  jasmine.edwards.12382 / Facebook

He arrogantly walked away, ignoring Edwards as if she didn’t even exist. She, in turn, posted the video of the incident she took on her phone to Facebook and wrote, “This is a classic case of racial profiling in my half a million $$ neighborhood pool. This happened to me and my baby today. What a shame!!”

Social Media Backlash

Jasmine Edwards Story
  Google Maps

In response, the video was viewed more than 4 million times and received a lot of backlash on social media. Bloom’s employer, Sonoco, apologized to Edwards on Bloom’s behalf and said that the situation doesn’t reflect company values. Then, the company spokesman, Brian Risinger, confirmed that Edwards was immediately terminated. The company said…

Losing His Job

Jasmine Edwards Story
  Sonoco_products / Twitter

“We are aware of a terrible incident involving the actions of one of our employees outside the workplace…[Bloom] is no longer employed by the company in any respect.” Risinger said the separation was “effective immediately.” Reportedly, Bloom was a business development manager who had been with Sonoco for about five years.

Resigning As The Pool’s Chairman

Jasmine Edwards Story
  www.glenridgecommunity.com

The Glenridge Homeowners Association also spoke out about the incident and said that Bloom resigned as the pool’s chairman and association board member. “We sincerely regret that an incident occurred yesterday at our community pool that left neighbors feeling racially profiled…In confronting and calling the police on one of our neighborhoods, the pool chair escalated a situation in a way that does not reflect the inclusive values Glenridge seeks to uphold as a community.”

Glenridge Homeowners Association Taking Active Measures

Jasmine Edwards Story
  www.wlos.com

The association also re-instituted a sign-in sheet at the pool to make sure no resident feels singled out again. They said that in response to this incident they will take any other additional steps necessary to ensure consistent and equitable application of its pool policies and procedures.

Apologizing To Anyone Hurt By These Actions

Jasmine Edwards Story
  www.washingtontimes.com

“We apologize to our neighbors who were directly hurt by these actions, and we hope that everyone in Glenridge will join us in redoubling our efforts to care for and support all of our neighbors during this difficult time.” The pool’s employees also met with the president of the Glenridge Homeowners Association to further discuss the unfortunate incident. It is uncertain at this time if Edwards will be filing a civil lawsuit against Bloom.

Relaxing Fourth Of July Turns Into Headache For One Woman When She Was Racially Profiled At Community Pool is an article from: LifeDaily

YouTube Stars Suffered Unimaginable Fate After Daredevil Trip Went Terribly Wrong

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High on Life YouTube Story

Social media can provide users with inspiration of all sorts, from fashion to travel to motivation. But the newest wave of inspiration comes from daredevils, or people otherwise risking their lives to get that perfect action shot.

These Instagram and YouTube stars will travel to all parts of the world, visiting dangerous locations, in competition for the most extreme pictures. The following story details how a group of friends did just that on a trip to British Columbia. They proved that going to the ends of the Earth to take iconic photos could have serious consequences…

High On Life

High on Life YouTube Story
  High On Life / YouTube

A popular YouTube channel called High On Life, followed a group of travelers all over the world, as they explored a long list of destinations. Places like India, Thailand, Europe, Cambodia, US, Mexico, Canada, Vietnam, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Nepal, and Indonesia, were just a number of the places the crew traveled to.

Lifelong Friends

High on Life YouTube Story
  sundayfundayz / Facebook

According to their Facebook page, which has over 128,000 followers, the group has been friends since high school and has been making videos ever since. “Though we went to different universities we maintained our friendships throughout and moved in together after graduating, shortly after we began making videos again and started up a YouTube Channel,” they posted.

Quitting Their Jobs

High on Life YouTube Story
  www.newsneednews.com

They explained that their travels started in 2012. “In 2012 we gave up our lease and set out on a big adventure around the world. It lasted 7 months and took us to 14 countries and completely drained our bank accounts.” But, despite their dwindling funds, the group was hooked.

Doing What They Love

High on Life YouTube Story
  highonlife / Instagram

They spent the following few years working hard to make travel and video production their full-time job. Eventually, their hard work paid off with their videos and photos attracting a huge following on social media. Over the years, their Instagram page gained 1.1 million followers and counting…

Shannon Falls, British Columbia

High on Life YouTube Story
  www.seatoskyparks.com

One of their most recent trips followed three of the vloggers, Ryker Gamble, Alexey Lyakh and Megan “Mindy” Scraper on a trip to British Columbia. The crew set to swim at the top of Shannon Falls, which is the third highest waterfall in BC.

A Dangerous Climb

High on Life YouTube Story
  www.straight.com

The park covers an area of about 210 acres and at the highest point, the water falls from a height of 1,099 feet. The area is accessible from the Sea-to-Sky gondola and by hiking trails in Shannon Falls Provincial Park. However, search and rescue officials say it can be dangerous…

Plummeting 100 Feet

High on Life YouTube Story
  sundayfundayz / Facebook

Despite the known warnings, on July 3, 2018, the Vloggers headed out to the waterfall. But during their hiking adventure, Lyakh’s girlfriend, Megan Scraper, got caught in the strong current near the edge and plummeted over. She dropped nearly 100 ft according to witnesses.

One After Another

High on Life YouTube Story
  www.dailymail.co.uk

As Lyakh was trying to keep her from going over the edge, he went over too, and then Gamble took the fatal plunge when he tried to help Lyakh. A witness who watched the incident unfold ran down the mountain to call for help…

Search And Rescue Teams

High on Life YouTube Story
  High on Life / YouTube

After the current took the three friends under, police were forced to call in search and rescue teams and helicopter units in order to recover the bodies. The “extremely difficult” and “very dangerous” terrain combined with a heavy water flow made for a very risky recovery effort.

Recovering The Bodies

High on Life YouTube Story
  www.dailymail.co.uk

Scraper initially slipped and fell and Lyakh and Gamble were swept away in their attempts to save her. Underwater dive teams responded to the scene but sadly, their three deceased bodies were found the next day in one of the lower pools…

Gamble’s Cousin

High on Life YouTube Story
  High on Life / YouTube

Gamble’s cousin spoke out after his death saying, “Even in his final act on this Earth, he was trying to save the life of his very best friend.” Rob Mangelsdorf said that Gamble had known Lyakh his whole life since they were little kids.

Best Friends

High on Life YouTube Story
  www.pedestrian.tv

“They were inseparable, absolutely inseparable their whole lives.” He took to Facebook to pay tribute to his adventurous cousin writing, “There’s a little less light in the world today. I love you Ryker Gamble. You are gone but will not be forgotten.” Friends of Gamble also spoke out on Facebook…

Honoring Gamble’s Memory

High on Life YouTube Story
  www.vancourier.com

Many loyal friends and followers have begun to honor his memory. Kimberly Fraatz, who met Gamble while working in the video industry, described him as “a true gentleman and a hero.” She said, “I’m in absolute disbelief and shock. Ryker Gamble you were an amazing guy. We met when we were both starting our journey in this crazy industry, with a lil company called Gold Standard Entertainment.”

Dangerous Terrain

High on Life YouTube Story
  High on Life / YouTube

Lykah’s girlfriend, Scraper, who goes by “Mindy” on Instagram, also has about 173,000 followers on her account. She often appears on the “High on Life” account as well. What’s unfortunate, is that even before this devastating incident, locals have complained that the area was being visited by people unprepared for the dangerous terrain…

Locals’ Concerns

High on Life YouTube Story
  SquamishRCMP / Twitter

Those concerns also exist in other parts of the province by hikers and wilderness enthusiasts who are seeing these areas invaded by tourists in search of sites they’ve seen on Instagram. The friends were known to post “death-defying” videos on their YouTube channel, including one titled, “Epic Cliff Jumping and Waterfall Slide (EXTREME DANGER).”

Legal Troubles

High on Life YouTube Story
  www.the-journal.com

Just last year, Gamble, Lyakh and another High on Life member, Justis Price Brown, made headlines for leaving a designated trail in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming to film atop the protected Grand Prismatic Spring…

Pleading Guilty

High on Life YouTube Story
  www.outdoor-society.com

All three pleaded guilty to charges including disorderly conduct, commercial photography without a permit and the use of a drone, according to the New York Daily News. Gamble and Lyakh were ordered to pay $5,000 each in fines and both of them served one week in jail.

Explaining Themselves

High on Life YouTube Story
  www.bozemandailychronicle.com

They took to social media to explain themselves and offer an apology. “When standing at the face of such natural wonder, we were drawn to it…In an attempt to get the perfect shot, we acted in a way that doesn’t reflect our respect for the environment we were trying to capture.” But it’s expected that their deaths will likely cast a spotlight on the uneasy relationship between social media and lovers of outdoor adventures…

Heartfelt Tribute To Their Friends

High on Life YouTube Story
  www.gofundme.com/ryker-alexey-amp-megan-memorial-fund

While grieving the loss of their friends, the rest of the High on Life crew set up a GoFundMe memorial fund with a goal of $50,000. They wrote, “There are truly no words that can be said to ease the pain and the devastation that their families are all going through right now. Our gift to them is to use the money raised to cover the costs of the Celebration of Life that will commemorate all three of these beautiful lives.”

Tributes By Devastated Fans

High on Life YouTube Story
  abcnews.go.com

Loyal fans are also paying tribute writing posts about the trio. “These three lived harder and saw more than most see in a lifetime,” one fan wrote on Instagram. “They also inspired so many of us to travel and pursue our dreams. My heart goes out to all of you.”

YouTube Stars Suffered Unimaginable Fate After Daredevil Trip Went Terribly Wrong is an article from: LifeDaily

Thief Returns Stolen Antique Clock To Ford Because He Felt Guilty

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Michigan Central Station Clock Story

Guilt has to be one of the last things one usually associates with thieves. For that matter, guilt is the antithesis of stealing, so when items containing serious sentimental value go missing, they are seldom returned.

However, it may give you some pleasure to know that at least one antique clock thief felt bad enough to return one iconic timepiece to its rightful owners; the good people of the City of Detroit…

Michigan Central Station

Michigan Central Station Clock Story
  www.clickondetroit.com

Michigan Central Station was an icon for the people of Michigan for many decades. Known by some as the Michigan Central Depot, or ‘MCS,’ Michigan’s former main intercity rail depot was originally built for the Michigan Central Railroad. But then, disaster struck.

Shuttered By Fire

Michigan Central Station Clock Story
  www.opacity.us

The iconic building was burned down, for the most part, thanks to a massive fire back in the winter of 1913. Thankfully, it was immediately rebuilt and dedicated in 1914, the station was open to commuters while major renovation works took place. Time and money were invested in the project, but for good reason…

Record Breaker

Michigan Central Station Clock Story
  www.motorcitymuckraker.com

At the time of its reconstruction, the MCS boasted 13 stories, a mezzanine level office tower and was finished to a high specification by any standard. Moreover, the MCS was at the time a proud record-breaker, standing at 230 feet, it was the tallest rail station in the world. It may not have held onto that record for long, but the people of Detroit were always proud of their intimidating train station.

Modern Renovations

Michigan Central Station Clock Story
  woodlandshoppersparadise.blogspot.com

The old, legendary building received a facelift in 2011, although most of the antique items that had been left there were stolen over the years by less-than-scrupulous thieves. Minor structural repairs have been carried out, as well as repairs to the lift. The basement has also been drained of the stagnant water which had built up there over the decades. But then, in May of this year, the building got some new owners…

Proud Owners

Michigan Central Station Clock Story
  www.chicagotribune.com

One may think that the new owners of the building are a little unlikely; however, the Ford Motor Company saw it in their infinite wisdom to purchase the structure, which they intend to redevelop into a mixed-use facility as well as a head office for the company’s new Corktown campus.

Clock Stolen

Michigan Central Station Clock Story
  www.freep.com

When the famous clock face which had adorned the building for decades was stolen, many Detroitians were outraged, and rightfully so. The clock had no other value other than sentimental, but that fact didn’t stop the crooks from stealing. However, some good news lay ahead for the new owners of the building…

The Phone Call

Michigan Central Station Clock Story
  www.inboundcallcenterphilippines.com

The random, anonymous phone call came out of the blue, while nobody was expecting it. When the phone operator at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn received the call on an average Friday afternoon, she immediately connected the caller with the right point of contact. With that, the anonymous caller directed the people at Ford to an abandoned building somewhere in Detroit.

“Go Home”

Michigan Central Station Clock Story
  Google Maps

Whoever had originally stolen the clock clearly felt bad about their actions, saying to the Ford Museum contact that the clock wanted to “go home.” The museum reached out to the Ford Motor Land Development Corp. and The Ford Archives, and their people were en-route to the derelict building where they believed the clock to be within hours…

Text Messages

Michigan Central Station Clock Story
  www.bilisimelcileri.com

The CEO of Ford Land, Dave Dubensky was excited to see the stolen clock and return it to its rightful home. The first text came from the thief: “I only have the clock. No other material. I left it leaning against a burned-out building on Lawton. It is between Warren and Buchanan. The building is between the train tracks and 4470 Lawton. Please send two men and a truck immediately. It has been missing for over 20 years and is ready to go home. Thank you so much.”

Thanks a Bunch

Michigan Central Station Clock Story
  www.crainsdetroit.com

Having received such a polite text message from the thief, Dubensky decided to reply in kind, even if he was no fan of robbers, “Thank you! I will try to send a crew right now.” He wrote back, but the current owner of the clock had further instructions for Ford, suggesting that he did have some sentimental feelings for the clock he had stolen…

Face Up

Michigan Central Station Clock Story
  www.detroitnews.com

The thief clearly didn’t want the antique clock he had stolen to be damaged any further in transit, so he gave Ford specific instructions, “Please have them lay it face up in the truck. The paint is very delicate. You can tell the front from the back by looking at the exposed legs,” he wrote.

Carefully Wrapped

Michigan Central Station Clock Story
  www.freep.com

When Dubensky instructed a crew of his construction workers to pick up the large timepiece in their truck, they were not expecting the sight they were met with when they arrived at the building. The large package was meticulously wrapped in blankets and was leaning against the wall of the building…

Maintaining Anonymity

Michigan Central Station Clock Story
  www.freep.com

For obvious reasons the individual who stole the clock didn’t want to be identified and turned in to the police. “The individual presumably was afraid he or she would be arrested for stealing the clock and would not identify themselves,” Dubensky said. But it did seem strange that the man was so overly-conscientious when it came to returning what he’d stolen; was it simply a case of guilt?

Not Alone

Michigan Central Station Clock Story
  www.freep.com

It may be one of the biggest pieces stolen from the station but the clock is not alone. In fact, literally hundreds of antiques and other decorative items worth money were stolen from the same 18-story structure over the years since it closed. But this thief was different, and Ford even felt some sort of gratitude towards him and vice versa

Thank You!

Michigan Central Station Clock Story
  www.freep.com

This was not your everyday criminal, probably more just an opportunist thief. After the clock was picked up by Ford, the thief sent a text message saying, “Thank you so much. I loved that clock and I loved that station.” After carrying out the appropriate tests to ensure the clock’s authenticity, Ford was proud to confirm that it was the Real McCoy.

A Call To The Public

Michigan Central Station Clock Story
  www.freep.com

Dubensky also reached out to the public, just in case other timeless pieces like the clock are decaying in a derelict building somewhere in downtown Detroit. “This shows just how much emotion is attached to what we’re doing,” he said. “This individual went through all this work to return the clock. We’d like to ask any others who might have a piece of history and want to return it to please call, no questions asked. We’ll come get the pieces anywhere, anytime.”

Just Making Sure

Michigan Central Station Clock Story
  www.freep.com

After the initial tests, the Ford team carried out further tests to the clock, “We did have architects and historians familiar with these pieces,” Dubensky said. “They looked at paint samples and compared the clock to pictures of the building…” That process means that a piece of history has been returned to Detroit, coming from the most unlikely of places.

More Thanks

Michigan Central Station Clock Story
  www.freep.com

The people at Ford were so thrilled to have had the clock returned, they showered even more thanks on the thief who returned it. Dubensky said to reporters, “We are so happy that this individual reached out to us to return the clock. Thank you. We are grateful to have it in our possession.”

Second Life

Michigan Central Station Clock Story
  www.freep.com

According to Jeremy Dimick, manager of collections at the Detroit Historical Society, it’s very encouraging to see a building like this being restored. In his words, it’s amazing that the building was able to, “go from being unused and unwanted for so long come back and find a second life.”

Priceless!

Michigan Central Station Clock Story
  www.autonews.com

Dimick gushed about the return of the clock, as well as its restoration as an iconic piece of Detroit’s history, “This building is priceless,” he said. “It’s fantastic that it survived. And a lot of times, when things disappear, they never resurface. They’re lost, ruined, scrapped. Just the fact that this clock survived is incredible.” He said.

Thief Returns Stolen Antique Clock To Ford Because He Felt Guilty is an article from: LifeDaily

Men Breaking Into Wildlife Reserve With Criminal Intentions Get Instant Karma

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Poachers Eaten by Lions Story

Greed and money can seduce people and make them do unthinkably violent and vile things to other living beings. But those who do wrong eventually find out that karma always catches up with them.

In early July, a group of 3 men seduced by money broke into a popular African game reserve with illegal and immoral intentions. Thankfully, however, the men experienced instant karma after they ran into the king of the jungle…

On Patrol

Poachers Eaten by Lions Story
  www.metro.co.uk

In the morning of Monday, July 2, 2018, a staff member with the anti-poaching unit at the Sibuya Game Reserve, a reserve near Kenton-on-Sea in Eastern Province, South Africa, was on patrol to guard the reserve’s rhinoceroses against any poachers or threats.

 

A Poacher Detector

Poachers Eaten by Lions Story
  www.sibuya.co.za

The guard was accompanied by a special breed of Belgian sheepdog, which worked on the reserve as an anti-poaching dog and had been trained to listen for poachers trespassing on the reserve and warn their handlers if anything was amiss…

 

A Warning

Poachers Eaten by Lions Story
  www.dogbreedslist.info

Most of the night had been quiet and uneventful, however, at about 4:30 in the morning, the Belgian sheepdog started barking at its handler, which it only did to let the handler know that something was wrong in the reserve.

 

A Commotion Among The Lions

Poachers Eaten by Lions Story
  www.sibuya.co.za

The handler started to inspect the warning barks, but then the guard heard what sounded like a ‘loud commotion coming from the lions.’ It sounded as though the lions were hunting or fighting, but that had nothing to do with rhinoceroses…

 

A False Alarm

Poachers Eaten by Lions Story
  www.telegraph.co.uk

Not only did it seem unrelated to the rhinos, but lions often make a bit of noise on the reserve in the early hours of the morning. The handler assumed the warning barks were just a false alarm and went back to his regular duties.

 

Safe And Sound

Poachers Eaten by Lions Story
  www.sibuya.co.za

The next morning, all the rhinos were accounted for and there was no sign that any of them had been attacked, which seemed to confirm the guard’s assumption that the early morning warning was just a false alarm. Later that day, however, the staff at the reserve discovered what really made the anti-poaching dog react…

 

A Disturbing Discovery

Poachers Eaten by Lions Story
  www.sibuya.co.za

On Monday evening, rangers patrolling the Sibuya Game Reserve, the most popular in the Eastern Cape, came across something that stopped them in thier tracks. “One of our guys found what he thought was a soccer ball,” Nick Fox, the owner of the private game reserve, said.

 

A Human Skull

Poachers Eaten by Lions Story
  www.constantinereport.com

Upon closer inspection, the ranger realized what had really happened. “It turned out to be a skull,” Nick explained. The ranger immediately reported what he found and the location within the 30-square-mile to his colleagues and called the police…

 

Too Dangerous To Investigate

Poachers Eaten by Lions Story
  www.tripadvisor.co.za

Unfortunately, by the time the ranger spotted the skull, it was already getting dark and it would be too dangerous to start investigating that night. The police agreed that they would begin searching the ground for more evidence and remains the following morning.

 

The Investigation Begins

Poachers Eaten by Lions Story
  www.sibuya.co.za

“There was nothing we could do before that,” Nick said. “It was getting dark — too unsafe to be on foot. Once lions have taken down a human, you cannot be on the ground with them.” The next morning, the staff tranquilized the lions and let investigators get to work…

 

The Remains

Poachers Eaten by Lions Story
  www.rnews.co.za

Detectives found a few more remains and poaching gear, including a high-powered rifle, a silencer, wire cutters, and an ax, scattered throughout the area where the human skull was found. According to the police, they also found 3 sets of shoes and gloves.

 

The Victims

Poachers Eaten by Lions Story
  www.tapatalk.com

They couldn’t be sure how many people were involved in the incident, but investigators estimated that 3 men had been killed based on the shoes, gloves, and equipment that they recovered from the densely packed thorn bushes…

 

The Investigation Continues

Poachers Eaten by Lions Story
  www.fox5krbk.com

After finding the remains, a helicopter searched the park for any survivors but none were found. The few remains recovered have been sent for forensic testing and the rifle has been sent to a ballistic lab “to establish if it has been used in any other poaching or crimes,” said police spokeswoman Capt. Mali Govender.

 

The Sickening Demand

Poachers Eaten by Lions Story
  www.newscientist.com

According to Nick, the men were carrying tools commonly used by poachers to kill and saw the horns off rhinos. Today, rhino horns, worth about $9,000 per pound, are in high demand in Asia as they are considered a status symbol as well as an ingredient in Chinese traditional medicine…

 

Instant Karma

Poachers Eaten by Lions Story
  danielpeel.wordpress.com

“We’re pretty convinced they are rhino poachers,” Nick explained. It is believed that the 3 men broke into the reserve planning to set up camp and track the rhinos before killing and dehorning them. However, the group of poachers encountered a pride of lions and were eaten alive before they had a chance to kill any rhinos.

 

A Clear Message

Poachers Eaten by Lions Story
  www.strangehistory.net

“They came heavily armed with hunting rifles and axes which we have recovered and enough food to last them for several days so we suspect they were after all of our rhinos here. But the lions are our watchers and guardians and they picked the wrong pride and became a meal,” Nick said. “Whilst we are saddened at any loss of life, the poachers came here to kill our animals and this sends out a very clear message to any other poachers that you will not always be the winner…”

 

Easy Targets

Poachers Eaten by Lions Story
  www.express.co.uk

South Africa is home to more than 80 percent of the world’s 30,000 rhinos, and poaching has skyrocketed in the past few years as the demand for their horns has increased. In previous years, poachers would mostly target Kruger National Park, Africa’s biggest wildlife conservancy. But as anti-poaching efforts have increased, poachers have begun targeting smaller parks that seem like easier targets.

 

Putting Up A Fight

Poachers Eaten by Lions Story
  www.aguanomics.com

In 2016, 2 rhinos from the Sibuya Game Reserve were killed by poachers for their horns and another died after being brutally mutilated. “We’re doing our very best to protect them,” said Nick, who is devastated when any of his rhinos, some of which are hand-reared at the reserve, are targeted. “There are more poachers now, and they are very well equipped,” Nick added…

 

A Private Army

Poachers Eaten by Lions Story
  www.tripadvisor.co.uk

“You literally need to have your own private army now,” said Nick, who spends more than $73,000 every year on guard teams, trained dogs, and homing beacons to protect the rhinos. “This time, there’s a huge sense of relief… We’re thankful they’re all safe at the moment.”

Proud Of The Pride

Poachers Eaten by Lions Story
  www.tripadvisor.com

“I just thank my lions. They saved our rhinos from another onslaught,” said Nick, who added that none of the lions will be put down because of the attack. “They won’t be killed. The status quo will continue,” he said. “Over the last few days game guides and anti-poaching staff have continued to drive game viewing vehicles in the vicinity of this pride to check for any behavioral differences and they have confirmed that to date there have been none.”

Men Breaking Into Wildlife Reserve With Criminal Intentions Get Instant Karma is an article from: LifeDaily


28-year-old Battling Cancer Ambushed By Dogs During Unorthodox Therapy Session

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Courtney Gessford Story

Dogs have long been called man’s best friend, but for those fighting for their lives, dogs are much more than just a best friend.

When a California woman’s life was turned upside down by a terrifying diagnosis, she discovered that her family dog provided something that no other treatment or therapy could. After realizing what 1 Golden Retriever could do for her health, her friend started planning an unorthodox therapy session…

An Animal Lover

Courtney Gessford Story
  www.stbaldricks.org

For as long as 1 California woman can remember, she has always loved all animals. However, of all the animals in the world, her absolute favorite is dogs. “I have always loved dogs and puppies,” the now 28-year-old explained.

 

Dog Obsessed

Courtney Gessford Story
  www.bbc.com

“I love puppies and I’ve always just wanted to be surrounded by like 10 dogs,” the California woman said about her dog obsession. “Since I was a little kid, I’ve loved animals. Everyone knows, ‘Courtney’s such a dog person…’”

 

A Woman’s Best Friend

Courtney Gessford Story
  www.sbb.ch

For years, the young woman thought she couldn’t possibly love her family’s dog, Clyde, any more than she already did. However, when she was 24 years old, her world was turned upside down and Clyde was the only thing that made her feel better.

 

Time To See A Doctor

Courtney Gessford Story
  www.pakobserver.net

While she was in her early 20s, the Sacramento native suffered from painful headaches. At first, she didn’t think anything of it, but as time passed, they only got worse. Headaches turned to debilitating migraines, and she couldn’t help but worry that something was wrong…

 

A Brain Scan

Courtney Gessford Story
  www.lakeforestgroup.com

When Courtney Gessford was 24, she visited a doctor about her migraines as she couldn’t bear them any longer. The doctor sent her to get scans of her brain but figured it would probably come back fine since she was so young and otherwise healthy.

 

A Lemon-Sized Tumor

Courtney Gessford Story
  www.radiopaedia.org

However, when the results came back, the scan revealed “that I had a cancerous tumor the size of a lemon growing in my brain,” Courtney said. That day, Courtney learned she had a grade II astrocytoma, a slow-growing cancer that can be difficult to remove and can sometimes return after treatment…

 

Fighting For Her Life

Courtney Gessford Story
  www.medicalxpress.com

Courtney, who was a typical 24-year-old, was suddenly forced to fight for her life and began treatment in July 2014. Since her diagnosis, Courtney has undergone 3 brain surgeries, radiation, and now 12 months of chemotherapy.

 

A Key To Healing

Courtney Gessford Story
  courtneygnews / Twitter

According to Courtney, she had tried to stay positive, but some days can be more challenging than others. On those days, she has leaned on 8-year-old Clyde for support and comfort. “He’s been a key part of my healing,” Courtney said about Clyde…

 

Unwavering Support

Courtney Gessford Story
  www.thisdogslife.co

“He’s comforting to me when I don’t feel well, when I’m tired. When I was recovering from [brain] surgery, he would just lay with me,” the now 28-year-old said. “I’ve always loved him more than I can express. After the cancer diagnosis, he became that much more important.”

 

A Therapy Dog

Courtney Gessford Story
  www.stbaldricks.org

“He’s very therapeutic to me… He just makes me happy and he helps me relax. He also gives me a sense of purpose,” Courtney added. “He became such a healing presence in my recovery, treatment and coping. Simply being around him made me happier…”

 

A Genius Idea

Courtney Gessford Story
  www.printawallpaper.com

Courtney’s family and friends could see how much Clyde helped her through every twist and turn of her treatment. At one point, Courtney’s childhood friend, Maris Loeffler, had an idea that more dogs could only help Courtney so started sending videos she found online of people being covered with puppies.

 

A Secret Plan

Courtney Gessford Story
  www.claimspi.com

“Someone was in a pool filled with dogs or a room filled with puppies, and things like that,” said Courtney, whose dream was also to be covered with puppies. “I never thought it would happen. I never asked for it,” said Courtney, who had no idea that Maris had secretly started planning a way to make that dream a reality…

 

The Plan Takes Form

Courtney Gessford Story
  www.sacramentocityexpress.com

“I secretly started to manifest and plan my vision for Courtney because she is beyond obsessed with dogs,” said Maris, who started reaching out to breeders, but had no luck. Months later, however, Maris finally got the help she needed after reaching out to Ryan Hinderman, the Front Street Animal Shelter’s social media coordinator.

 

Making Magic

Courtney Gessford Story
  Google Maps

Ryan agreed to help and set a date with Maris to bring Courtney down to the shelter for her surprise. “We’re always looking for ways to make magic through the connection between people and animals,” Ryan said. “Our shelter’s mission is to improve the lives of both people and pets. This was a fantastic opportunity to not only bring joy to a remarkable young woman but also to raise awareness for shelter pets and brain cancer…”

 

The Details

Courtney Gessford Story
  www.tapshoesandtutus.ca

Maris told Courtney not to make any plans on January 7, 2018, but refused to give her any other details. “I asked her what should I wear, and should I eat beforehand, and she said to dress comfortable and that I could eat if I wanted,” Courtney said. “I had no idea what we were doing, but I was super excited.”

 

Cutting Off The Senses

Courtney Gessford Story
  blessedmag2.wordpress.com

On the afternoon of January 7, Maris blindfolded Courtney and put headphones in her ears so she would have no idea where she was. Maris then drove straight to the Front Street Animal Shelter, where Courtney’s friends and family members were waiting with puppies in their arms…

 

The Blindfold Comes Off

Courtney Gessford Story
  www.people.com

“When the car stopped, I could smell animals — not zoo animals or farm animals, but the smell of animals like dogs and cats,” Courtney said. “I thought to myself, a vet clinic? A shelter?” Maris led her inside, sat her down in a kiddie pool filled with pillows, and then finally took the blindfold off and took the headphones out.

 

Overwhelmed With Love

Courtney Gessford Story
  www.people.com

When Courtney opened her eyes and saw everyone she loved holding puppies, she burst into tears as she realized her lifelong dream was finally coming true. “Once I realized what was going on, I was overwhelmed with emotion and gratitude and excitement. I was overwhelmed with the love in that room…”

 

A Dream Come True

Courtney Gessford Story
  www.people.com

Then everyone placed the puppies all over Courtney. “It was the best! I was ecstatic. You can see in the video [that] I’m shocked, I’m overwhelmed and I start crying. I’m so ecstatic because it’s just a dream come true… I never thought I would have an experience like that in my life.”

Raising Awareness

Courtney Gessford Story
  www.people.com

“My prognosis is positive at this point, but I will require routine MRIs for the remainder of my life to keep an eye on my brain cancer,” said Courtney, who still leans on Clyde when things get tough. However, Courtney hopes that by sharing her story, she can raise awareness about both brain tumors and how therapeutic animals can be. “I do believe animals are therapeutic and healing, and I encourage anyone considering a pet to visit your local shelter or SPCA so that you can save a life. See what a shelter pet can do for you,” she said. “We are all fighting different battles and if I can inspire people to keep pushing through their own personal challenges, I have succeeded. Life is hard, for all of us, in different ways at different times. We have to persevere.”

28-year-old Battling Cancer Ambushed By Dogs During Unorthodox Therapy Session is an article from: LifeDaily

Woman’s Sudden Weight Gain Reveals Unexpected Internal Machinations

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Kayla Rahn Story

Despite all the tools available to us, even smartphones that measure blood pressure, heart rate, and other such bodily functions, it’s still difficult to know what’s going on inside our own bodies. If you think about it, it’s not hard to believe, really.

Our bodies are immensely complicated machines with hundreds of thousands of delicate workings. So when one woman began to experience strange changes in her metabolism and unusual pain, she had to go to the experts for help….

Pain Inside

Kayla Rahn Story
  news.com.au

Kayla was thirty years old when the pain began. She was living in Montgomery, Alabama, not far from her mom, and her life was going pretty well. Then, one day, she noticed that she was getting pretty persistent stomach pains. Something inside her felt like it was aching, stretching…she couldn’t clearly describe it.

 

A Ton of Weight

Kayla Rahn Story
  www.14news.com

Weeks passed and the stomach pains increased and then decreased again, but despite short periods of abatement, the discomfort seemed fairly consistent. Not only that, but Kayla also began to gain quite a large amount of weight. Despite her best efforts, she was packing on pounds and seemed unable to lose any of it…

Mysterious Pregnancy

Kayla Rahn Story
  www.14news.com

Kayla gained so much weight, in fact, that people were beginning to jokingly ask if she had become pregnant, perhaps even with twins? They’d even offer to help her load groceries into her car. You know, because a woman in her “condition” shouldn’t have to do that sort of thing on their own.

Awkward Replies

Kayla Rahn Story
  www.14news.com

“When are you due?” they’d tease, not knowing that whatever was happening with her metabolism was far from a joking matter. Still, she took it in her stride, “I used to tell them I was going to name it Taco Bell,” joked the jovial 30-year-old. Still, she couldn’t help but notice that the sometimes fleeting pains were becoming more consistent…

Out of Breath

Kayla Rahn Story
  www.sciencenordic.com

Not only were the pains getting worse, but before long Kayla was having trouble breathing as well. She was so short of breath that she couldn’t even walk to her car without losing her breath. She thought it might be simply due to the weight gain, but she decided to check it out either way. Her doctor told her that if she lost weight, the breathlessness would abate.

 

Try, Try Again

Kayla Rahn Story
  www.livelighter.org

She tried, just as she had been since the pain began, to lose the mysterious weight, but to no avail. The impossible weight was proving impossible to lose and her body was fighting back against it. The pain was back now and it was more-or-less-constant. Kayla Rahn was beginning to get to the end of her rope…

Hospital Trip

Kayla Rahn Story
  www.jackson.org

Finally, the pain became too much to bear and one day her mother decided it was time to call 911. She was rushed to the Jackson Hospital emergency room in Montgomery and once there, underwent a battery of tests. Despite the shocking revelation of their findings, Kayla was glad to finally have answers.

Something Wrong

Kayla Rahn Story
  www.baptistfirst.org

The doctors went into the exam room and told her what they’d found. Oddly enough, Kayla didn’t seem that surprised by their diagnosis. Dr. Gregory Jones, an obstetrician-gynecologist at the hospital noted that she didn’t seem shocked or awed by the revelation, but relief. Yet what was it that was causing Kayla so much pain?

Giant Cyst

Kayla Rahn Story
  Twitter

Gynecological tests revealed the source of her discomfort and of her massive weight gain was a giant ovarian cyst. The technical name for the condition was mucinous cystadenoma, a cystic tumor. The thing of it was, even knowing it was there didn’t reveal whether or not the tumor was cancerous or benign.

 

Further Tests

Kayla Rahn Story
  www.healthtap.com

Luckily for Kayla, the mass inside her was a benign cystic tumor. That meant that if they got rid of it, she wouldn’t have to worry about chemo or any sort of oncological treatment as a follow-up. Cysts like this were not uncommon, which was why Kayla wasn’t too surprised at first. Then again, there was one unusual factor concerning Kayla’s cyst…

Serious Complications

Kayla Rahn Story
  www.expressdigest.com

The cyst was enormous, so big in fact that it had caused her to gain a visible amount of weight. Also, while it may have been benign, ovarian cysts of this size can cause serious complications when it comes to the rest of the internal organs. The pain she had been feeling was the growing cyst pressing on her other organs.

Blood Flow

Kayla Rahn Story
  www.medium.com

Kayla had developed abdominal compartment syndrome, a condition which means that pressure from the cyst is so intense that it affects blood flow to the lower extremities. This can cause swelling to the legs and feet, obstruct urine flow, cause bowel obstruction, and create difficulty breathing due to pressure on the diaphragm. She had to have surgery…

Worse Through Time

Kayla Rahn Story
  www.metro.co.uk

Most of these types of cysts will resolve on their own given time, but Kayla’s cyst had grown to such proportions that it necessitated surgery as soon as possible. Many of them can grow and fill with fluid until they’re the size of an orange, but Kayla’s was much, much bigger and far more dangerous in the long run.

 

Necessary Operation

Kayla Rahn Story
  www.jamanetwork.com

Now willing to risk potential kidney failure, Kayla Rahn was rushed into surgery. She had already experienced enough painful swelling to be getting on with and she wanted that cyst out of her body as soon as possible. She was prepped and went into the operating theater, but it was only once the doctors opened her up that they knew exactly what they were dealing with…

How Big?

Kayla Rahn Story
  www.news.com.au

They didn’t just have to remove the cyst, the doctors had to remove her whole ovary as well. That is because it had been stretched beyond belief by the 50-pound cyst that had taken root inside it. Her surgeon. Dr. Gregory Jones, explained that in all his years on the job, Kayla’s was the largest he’d seen.

Never that Large

Kayla Rahn Story
  www.metro.co.uk

“Absolutely I’ve seen the condition but I’ve never seen one this large,” said Dr. Gregory Jones “It was the largest that I’ve ever seen or operated on…” Once the surgery was complete, Kayla was rushed to intensive care and was kept under observation while her organs, pressed to the limits by the cyst, slowly moved back into place…

Road to Recovery

Kayla Rahn Story
  www.puentelibre.mx

Kayla Rahn’s body had been so decompressed that it was possible the recovery could present with blood pressure or renal problems. Oddly enough, despite the remarkable size of the offending tumor, Kayla did extremely well on her recovery and was released in only a few days.

 

Refitted

Kayla Rahn Story
  www.slanking-og-ned-i-vekt.com

After months of uncertainty and pain, Kayla Rahn is expected to return completely to normal. Since the tumor was removed, she lost 75 pounds and can fit into clothes she hadn’t been able to wear for months before her condition. A literal weight had been lifted and she was free to be herself…

Awesome Feeling

Kayla Rahn Story
  Kayla Rahn / Facebook

“As soon as I got home and was able to move a little, I tried on every shirt I had on and it was awesome,” explained Kayla. She was thrilled to be free of the cyst but was now even more mindful of her health than she had been previously. She sees her OBGYN regularly in case she feels another cyst coming on.

Second Opinions

Kayla Rahn Story
  Kayla Rahn / Facebook

As for Dr. Jones, the man who removed the massive cyst, he took the opportunity afforded by the story’s publicity to inform people about minding their own health. He explained that this is a fine example of when you should ask for a second opinion from your doctor and not just take their first assumption for granted.

Woman’s Sudden Weight Gain Reveals Unexpected Internal Machinations is an article from: LifeDaily

Christmas Party Turns To Tragedy When Mother Loses Sight For Only A Second

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Melissa Brannen Story

We’d like to imagine that our neighbors and friends are trustworthy. Yet though we share potlucks, parties, and other such get-togethers, one never knows what happens behind closed doors.

It began on a cold December night in Lorton, Virginia. The Woodside Apartment complex was having its annual Christmas party and everyone was having a great time. But a shadow was lurking somewhere at the party and fell upon one of its most innocent partygoers…

Christmas Party

Melissa Brannen Story
  www.absolutelyconnected.com

It was December third, rather early for a Christmas party, but the only time that the whole of the Woodside Apartment complex could get together for their annual party. It was a big get-together and more than 80 people showed up to spread the holiday cheer before they all went off to do their own thing.

 

Single Mom

Melissa Brannen Story
  www.absolutelyconnected.com

Tammy was a single mom who lived with her five-year-old daughter Melissa in the complex. Things weren’t easy for them, but they got by and the annual Christmas party was a time where the normally lonely pair could find camaraderie amongst their fellow tenants. Little did they know what awaited them that night…

Handful of Chips

Melissa Brannen Story
  www.findagrave.com

It was getting late and Tammy decided that it was time for the two of them to leave. Melissa was still young after all, and it was way past her bedtime. Just as they were about to leave, Melissa told her mom that she wanted to grab a handful of potato chips before they went up to the apartment, so she headed back into the party.

Never Return

Melissa Brannen Story
  www.findagrave.com

After a few minutes had passed, Tammy went back into the party to look for her now missing daughter. She thought maybe she’d gotten caught up in a discussion with a friend or neighbor and had simply lost track of time. Unfortunately, that was not the case, and the revelation as to what really happened would be something much worse…

Search is On

Melissa Brannen Story
  www.absolutelyconnected.com

Everyone at the party stopped what they were doing to find Melissa, but they never found her. When the police arrived, they believed that the little girl’s disappearance was the result of foul play. A huge search of the area took place later that day and over 300 people volunteered to help find the missing five-year-old.

Cold and Disappointed

Melissa Brannen Story
  www.traverseticker.com

By the time the 300 people returned, cold and forlorn from their massive search, things looked rather bleak. There had been no sign of the missing girl. The investigators did find out something about the party that seemed particularly interesting. It all had to do with the groundskeeper of the apartment complex and the crude way he had been behaving all night…

Crude Dude

Melissa Brannen Story
  www.absolutelyconnected.com

Groundskeeper Caleb Hughes, by virtue of the rude and crude sexual propositions he made during the party, quickly became the prime suspect in the case. There were multiple women at the party who witnessed the married groundskeeper’s boorish behavior and that wasn’t even the most suspicious thing.

Special Attention

Melissa Brannen Story
  www.absolutelyconnected.com

What was even more telling was the fact that several people had witnessed Hughes giving unusual levels of attention towards the children at the party. Normally, this would just be a friendly neighbor reaching out to be nice to the kids and make sure they were having a good time, but that was evidently not the case: especially when one of those kids was Melissa…

Spousal Assistance

Melissa Brannen Story
  www.dailyrecord.co.uk

That night, the police visited Hughes’ apartment. Hughes’ wife was home at the time but he wasn’t. Considering what they were accusing him of, she seemed more than willing to cooperate with them in “nailing” her husband. They asked her why she thought he was guilty and she pointed to the evidence by her washing machine.

 

Cleanly Washed

Melissa Brannen Story
  www.absolutelyconnected.com

Caleb Hughes’ entire outfit, all the clothes he had been wearing at the time of Michelle’s disappearance, were in the washer. This included his shoes, which had the sides of the soles cut off, and his belt: which had a sheath on it for a huge knife. What had Hughes been up to that night?

Deliberate

Melissa Brannen Story
  www.absolutelyconnected.com

It seemed that no sooner had he arrived home than he’d immediately thrown those articles of clothing into the wash and only those. Police quickly booked the clothes into evidence, as well as the red Honda Civic saloon car he owned. In the car, they found even more evidence of some sort of wrongdoing on Hughes’ behalf.

Lie-Detection

Melissa Brannen Story
  www.bbc.com

The problem was, they didn’t know exactly what wrongdoing Hughes had gotten into or indeed if it had involved the missing Melissa Brennan. They took him into custody and questioned him with the assistance of a polygraph. He was found to be lying when asked about Melissa’s disappearance, meaning he knew something. They just didn’t know what…

The Key

Melissa Brannen Story
  Wikipedia

Carol Hughes, Caleb’s wife, was now an integral part of the investigation. Police decided to ask her more about what had happened the night of the party. Carol noted that he had arrived home not only several hours later than usual, but that there seemed to be extra mileage on the Honda’s odometer.

 

His Explanation

Melissa Brannen Story
  www.absolutelyconnected.com

Hughes seemed to have an explanation for this, though. He explained that the mileage was up because he took a trip to purchase a 6-pack of beer after the party and took a longer route home. Yet, he couldn’t explain why he’d chosen to take that route on that terrible night of all nights. It was not looking good for his innocence…

The Rub

Melissa Brannen Story
  www.square-the-circle.com

As if that weren’t enough, his improbable story also saw him claim to have gotten home around 12:30 am the night of the disappearance. That would prove to be patently false because liquor stores in Virginia are prohibited from selling alcohol past midnight per state regulations. He was lying again and had been caught once again.

Particular Fibers

Melissa Brannen Story
  www.interplas.com

CSI techs tested the front seat of the vehicle and found fibers that matched a Big Bird dress Michelle had been wearing from J.C. Penney. Investigators then obtained an identical dress, and compared the fibers to those found in Hughes’ car. They matched perfectly, and there was even more evidence in the Honda as well…

Rare Match

Melissa Brannen Story
  www.findagrave.com

The car also contained some hairs from a rare rabbit fur coat worn by Tammy at the party. It appeared as though Michelle had been sitting in the passenger seat of the car at some point during the evening. As to why she would have been in Hughes car, he could offer no credible explanation.

 

Sure of It

Melissa Brannen Story
  www.livesaymyers.com

There was a problem though, despite their certainty that Hughes was the one who killed Melissa and disposed of her body, there was no way for the prosecutors to determine the location of the murder: something which is required by Virginia law…

Abducted

Melissa Brannen Story
  www.bridgemi.com

Regardless of this lack of evidence, the matching fibers and Caleb Hughes’ unbelievable account were enough to charge him with kidnapping with intent to defile. Hughes was convicted in March of 1991 and sentenced to 50 years in prison. He will not serve his whole term, however, and he is due to be released in August of 2019.

Red Fabric

Melissa Brannen Story
  www.missingkids.com

In 1995, four years after the disappearance, a search of a nearby lake was made. A power company worker found some red cloth in the lake and they believed it to be where Hughes had dumped her remains. Unfortunately, this evidence went nowhere. We may never know what really happened that night, but all signs point to a culprit that is now behind bars.

Christmas Party Turns To Tragedy When Mother Loses Sight For Only A Second is an article from: LifeDaily

9-Year-Old With Disabilities Recognized For Life-Saving Heroism

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Lexie Comeau Drisdelle Story

If you ask people with various disabilities what one of the most annoying things they face in day-to-day life is, a lot of them will tell you it’s the low expectations of others. So often, people will assume that they are totally incapable in every way, simply because of a single disability in one area.

It’s obvious, when you take the time to think about it, that a disability in one area doesn’t stop a person from being just as capable as everyone else in other areas. One little girl would prove that fact in one of the direst situations imaginable…

Different Challenges

Lexie Comeau Drisdelle Story
  www.inspiremore.com

From when she was very young, Lexie’s parents knew that the life that lay ahead of her would be very different from most people’s. That’s because she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, a lifelong disorder that currently doesn’t have a cure.

Developmental Disorder

Lexie Comeau Drisdelle Story
  www.medicaltreatmentguidance.net

Cerebral palsy is a disorder of movement, muscle tone, or posture that’s caused by damage that happens during the development of the brain. The symptoms can vary a lot from person to person but for Lexie, it meant that she was unable to walk or speak…

Parenting Differences

Lexie Comeau Drisdelle Story
  www.newsfromwomen.com

Of course, her condition didn’t mean her parents loved her any less. It just meant the parents from Halifax, Nova Scotia would have to do things a bit differently with Lexie than they had with her older brother. She would need to use a wheelchair to get around and, because she couldn’t vocalize, they would have to learn to communicate in other ways.

Bright Girl

Lexie Comeau Drisdelle Story
  news.givebutter.com

Despite the assumptions people might make based on her outward appearance, her mother Kelly would describe her as a bright and happy girl. She grew up in a home full of love and, by the time she was approaching her 9th birthday, there was nothing Lexie loved more than her 1-year-old brother Leeland…

Wobbling Around

Lexie Comeau Drisdelle Story
  www.globalnews.ca

At just 18 months old, Leeland had only been walking for a few months, using his newfound mobility to explore his world with the infinite curiosity that defines that time of a person’s life. Lexie loved to play with the toddler and watch him as he walked around the house.

Party Time!

Lexie Comeau Drisdelle Story
  www.huffingtonpost.com

That’s exactly what she was doing on the Saturday morning of her 9th birthday as her family was making preparations for her party that afternoon. Her father was out picking up her older brother, her mother was upstairs getting changed, and Lexie and Leeland were downstairs with their grandmother Nancy…

Newfound Ability

Lexie Comeau Drisdelle Story
  www.kake.com

As Leeland was tottering around the room, Nancy left the two of them in the living room for a moment to see to something in the kitchen. That’s when Leeland did something he’d never done before. While standing by the living room’s sliding door, he managed to pull it open and step outside.

Oh No

Lexie Comeau Drisdelle Story
  www.wesh.com

When Lexie saw her brother going outside, her heart rate began to rise. As he waddled toward the edge of the family’s swimming pool, she began to panic. When the toddler slipped into the pool she began to scream like she never had before…

What Happened!?

Lexie Comeau Drisdelle Story
  www.jnjelitecarpentry.com

At the sound of her daughter’s cries, adrenaline shot through Kelly’s system. “I panicked and immediately thought ‘Oh no, she must have fallen off her chair,’ “ she said. Kelly rushed down the stairs as fast as she could to get to her daughter, now yelling to her own mother, Lexie’s grandmother.

Living Nightmare

Lexie Comeau Drisdelle Story
  www.globalnews.ca

“You know when you’re having a nightmare and you feel like you’re screaming and nothing is coming out?” Kelly said. “I was screaming so loud and I just felt like there was nothing I could do. I knew I couldn’t get down the stairs in time so I’m praying that my mom’s hearing me yell while I’m running down the stairs.”…

Out There!

Lexie Comeau Drisdelle Story
  www.photospng.com

At the same time, Nancy was rushing from the kitchen to the living room. Getting to Lexie first, she found the girl in her wheelchair, eyes wide. “She’s yelling and she’s pointing at the door and I realize Leeland’s not with her.” Following her granddaughter’s frantic pointing, Nancy rushed outside.

Gut-Wrenching Sight

Lexie Comeau Drisdelle Story
  www.globalnews.ca

“I look outside, and I’m not seeing him,” Nancy said. “We had just refilled the pool, it was freezing cold, we had the tarp on top, and I ran. We didn’t have this gate. I ran, he’s right by the edge.” Nancy saw the top of her grandson’s head floating in the pool, the rest of him under the water.

Please Be Ok

Lexie Comeau Drisdelle Story
  www.wtvr.com

“I died at that moment,” Nancy said. With the icy grip of fear clenched tight on her heart, the panicked grandmother immediately scooped Leeland out of the pool. “You know you’re praying, ‘Oh please, please be okay,’ “ she said. But when the toddler moved, some of that fear went away.

Coughing Water

Lexie Comeau Drisdelle Story
  www.everydayhealth.com

“I opened his mouth and water came out,” Nancy said. After a few moments of Leeland coughing up pool water, his breathing seemed to return to normal. After bringing him inside, they called an emergency hotline to determine what the next steps should be and, following their advice, they brought him to the hospital after stabilizing his condition…

A Million Hugs

Lexie Comeau Drisdelle Story
  www.inspiremore.com

“At that moment it was so scary,” Kelly said. “We hugged him a million times. In two seconds, a life can change and we are just thankful that Lexie was so quick to alert us.” Despite the physical challenges that she faced, the 9-year-old girl had acted quickly and heroically, saving her brother’s life.

Bright Girl

Lexie Comeau Drisdelle Story
  www.globalnews.ca

For Kelly, her daughter’s heroism was an amazing gift but she wasn’t at all surprised that Lexie recognized the danger of the situation and acted quickly. “Some people think [of people with cerebral palsy] that because they have a disability, they are not able to do things, but if she could walk, she would have grabbed him and he would have never gone out there. Her disability is all physical. She is a very bright girl,” she said…

Public Recognition

Lexie Comeau Drisdelle Story
  www.globalnews.ca

As news of the ordeal spread, Lexie’s heroism was recognized by the Halifax Regional Council and honored by the city’s police department for her actions. Mayor Mike Savage tweeted “Heroes come in all sizes” and Councillor Tony Mancini met with the family.

Good Stories

Lexie Comeau Drisdelle Story
  www.globalnews.ca

“It’s such a good story and it could have been different altogether,” Mancini said. “The fact that she’s in a wheelchair and non-verbal and she was able to communicate enough to make it crystal clear that something was wrong and meet her and she’s beautiful, she’s so bright, she’s so happy. These are the stories we need to share.”…

One Mistake

Lexie Comeau Drisdelle Story
  www.cnn.com

The danger had happened in the first place because Leeland’s family had underestimated the toddler’s abilities and mistakenly had left the sliding door unlocked. “He had never opened that patio door before,” Nancy said.

Stay Safe

Lexie Comeau Drisdelle Story
  www.globalnews.ca

Since that day, the family has been more careful about keeping the door locked and also had a protective gate installed around the pool. While it is important to take away from this story that the capabilities of people with disabilities should not be overlooked, it’s perhaps equally important to remember that you should always take appropriate precautions to safeguard your young ones.

9-Year-Old With Disabilities Recognized For Life-Saving Heroism is an article from: LifeDaily

English Teacher Touches Hearts In China By Saving Lives In Special Way

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Phillip Hancock Story

China boasts a population of something in the region of 1.4 Billion people, making it the most populated country in the world. The population in China has swelled so much that there are even laws limiting the number of children couples can have there.

When Phillip went to teach in China, leaving his comfortable life in Australia behind, he took an immediate shine to the Chinese people, and that worked both ways. When he ended up saving lives Philip became a hero…

Chinese Medicine

Phillip Hancock Story
  www.sohoacupuncturecenter.com

Chinese medicine couldn’t be more different from what we are used to in the West. The very prospect of taking a small white pill made from chemicals to deal with a headache is something totally foreign to most Chinese people, and there are many of them.

No Chemicals

Phillip Hancock Story
  www.sacredhealingtree.com

The Chinese are superstitious in general but one thing they all agree on is that patented chemicals are not good for human beings. In China, when someone has pain or some other ailment, they head straight for the Chinese Pharmacist, to buy a tincture that is specially made to deal with their problem. Tinctures contain only natural and usually organic ingredients…

Natural Remedies

Phillip Hancock Story
  www.naturalife.org

We’ll talk about acupuncture for headaches soon, but for now, a Chinese Pharmacist will usually make a concoction using anything from wheat, to peaches, to artichokes, as well as a range of herbs and roots believed to cure pain. While the Chinese have few clinical trials to go on when it comes to their remedies, they believe wholeheartedly in them as they are ancient concoctions steeped in tradition.

Ancient Acupuncture

Phillip Hancock Story
  www.musculardystrophynews.com

When a person in China has a headache, they will often be given small needles, inserted in and around the sinuses and head by a professional in order to release tension points in the skull. Acupressure is similar, but instead of needles, pressure is applied to those areas with fingers or small tools…

Teaching English

Phillip Hancock Story
  www.shanghaiist.com

Having understood a little more about Chinese medicine, we turn our attention back to Philip, who had been teaching English in China for a few years. Phillip was only 27 when his health took a turn for the worst. No one was expecting it that soon, even though it had been on the cards for some time.

Type 1 Diabetes

Phillip Hancock Story
  www.ecns.cn

Phillip had suffered from Type 1 Diabetes for many years due to his genes. He controlled his condition for the most part, until one day, in May of this year, he succumbed to it, dying before he was 30 in the city of Chongqing where he taught English to poor Chinese kids…

Last Wishes

Phillip Hancock Story
  www.chinadaily.com.cn

Phillip knew that apart from his diabetes he was healthy and that most of his organs were in good working order. His last wish was that his body parts be donated to whoever needed them, but this made Phillip a hero in China, and for good reason.

Making History

Phillip Hancock Story
  au.pressfrom.com

While the city of Chongqing has a population of more than 30 million people, Phillip made history when he became the first foreigner ever to donate his organs in the city, and only the seventh in the nation’s recorded history…

Helping Many

Phillip Hancock Story
  www.chinaplus.cri.cn

While organ donors sometimes have the honor of saving a person’s life with their liver or lungs, Phillip ended up helping 5 different people, three of which needed life-saving operations. From his liver to his eyes, Phillip had a remarkable impact on the lives of others during his own lifetime, and beyond.

Life Saver

Phillip Hancock Story
  www.tum.de

One of the people that Phillip saved was a man who desperately needed a new liver. Another two people were saved by receiving a new kidney each from Phillip. Amazingly, all three of those people were able to go on and live their lives to the full for many happy years thanks to Phillip. But there was more…

Seeing Again

Phillip Hancock Story
  www.rewordit.org

On top of the life-saving organ donation, Phillip Hancock’s corneas also helped two people to see again. For all of this, Phillip was lauded as a hero, while some Chinese people called him an “angel.” This foreigner had lived and died in China, and people loved him for that.

Online Tributes

Phillip Hancock Story
  au.pressfrom.com

Phillip got a bunch of online tributes from people who posted on Chinese forums. One wrote, “You saved three lives and helped two others see. You’ll always be remembered.” While another posted, “You’ll live on through those you saved.” His family was stoked when they read messages such as these…

Family Devastated

Phillip Hancock Story
  www.techcrunch.com

While Phillip had been in China for 4 years when he fell ill from his diabetes, his family flew from Australia to be with him in the hospital, but when they arrived he was in a coma and his heart had temporarily stopped beating. They prepared themselves for the worst.

 

Brain Dead

Phillip Hancock Story
  www.vosizneias.com

The doctors in China felt terrible about the situation but they had to do their job and were left with little choice. When they showed Phillip’s family categoric proof that he was totally brain dead, they knew there was no way back…

We Already Knew

Phillip Hancock Story
  www.chinadaily.com.cn

Phillip’s death, unfortunately, came as no shock to his family. As his father, Peter told reporters, “There was nothing to be done. We knew he was gone, even though he was still warm to the touch and his heart was beating.”

Life Support

Phillip Hancock Story
  www.baynotes.com

When the doctors told Peter and his wife that keeping their son on life support would only mean that his organs deteriorated further, they were understandably devastated. “It was very hard, we had to make that decision [to switch off life support] sooner rather than later,” Peter Hancock said…

Truly Righteous

Phillip Hancock Story
  haanji.com.au

The whole reason Phillip gave up his job and comfortable life back in Australia was because he always loved helping people. That’s the main reason why he went to teach English, in order to help and to educate perfect strangers. He most certainly fulfilled his mission through the work he did while in China.

Wanted To Help

Phillip Hancock Story
  au.news.yahoo.com

“He had always thought that if he was ever in that situation, he would like his organs donated – whatever they could take – so he could help out in some way,” said Peter, “He always wanted to help people in whatever way possible. That’s why he wanted to be a teacher.”

Rare Donations

Phillip Hancock Story
  www.religiondispatches.org

As a nation, the Chinese don’t traditionally believe in organ donation. “The idea that one’s body as a whole – including its outermost skin and hair, given by one’s parents, is not to be harmed – must be at the back of everyone’s mind,” said Associate Prof Yi Zheng, from the University of New South Wales.

Easing The Pain

Phillip Hancock Story
  au.pressfrom.com

Peter spoke about the horrible loss he and his family have felt after losing their son so tragically. But there have been ongoing messages of hope which, according to the family, have helped to ease the pain and grief a little. As Phillip’s father concluded, “Some people have said to us: ‘Try and not to be too sad because part of Phil is still living on in these people.” adding, “But as a parent, it’s not much consolation. While we’re glad he’s helped these people, deep down, we just want him back.”

English Teacher Touches Hearts In China By Saving Lives In Special Way is an article from: LifeDaily

Dog Owner Writes Emotional Letter To Airline On How Flight Attendant Saved Her Pup’s Life

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Darcy French Bulldog Story

It’s not hard to get lost in negative news and forget that there are good people in the world who are displaying kindness on a daily basis. Even if the majority of the news is negative, there are still positive stories out there that give us hope. This is one of them.

The following story depicts what one couple experienced on a JetBlue flight from Florida to Massachusetts. When a flight attendant noticed their dog was in distress, it was his quick-thinking that may have saved the dog’s life…

JetBlue Flight 330

Darcy French Bulldog Story
  pointmetotheplane.boardingarea.com

A couple from Massachusetts were on a JetBlue flight headed to Worcester with their three dogs. They live in Boston and were returning home after spending some time at their summer home in Florida.

Traveling With Their Dogs For Many Years

Darcy French Bulldog Story
  www.shortmugsrescuesquad.org

Being that they travel back and forth so much, their dogs know the drill when it comes to airplanes. The husband and wife explained in a Facebook post that they have been traveling for twelve years with their pets…

Always Excited To Travel

Darcy French Bulldog Story
  abcnews.go.com

Michele Burt said, “The pups are great and know the drill and get excited to travel.” But on this particular flight, one of their dogs appeared to be in distress. Burt explained that on the flight back home, their 3-year-old French Bulldog Darcy started pushing her head against the mesh part of her carrier.

Something Was Wrong

Darcy French Bulldog Story
  www.globalnews.ca

Her husband told Darcy to lay down, as she’s very obedient and would normally just lay her head down upon reassurance. But, she continued, so Michele assumed something else was wrong and maybe Darcy was warm. In response, she loosened the zipper on her carry-on so she could poke her face out. Unfortunately, that didn’t work either…

Her Tongue Was Turning Blue

Darcy French Bulldog Story
  www.inquisitr.com

“I noticed that her tongue was blue and I am aware that is a sign of insufficient oxygen (Hypoxia), so I pulled her out from under the seat and placed her on my lap to cool down and help her relax as she was panicking and breathing frantically,” Michele said in the post.

Politely Explained The Airline Rules

Darcy French Bulldog Story
  www.thevalleydispatch.com

One of the flight attendants noticed and went to Michele and politely told her that regulation is that the pet was to remain under the seat in her carrier. So Michele apologized and explained that her dog appeared to be in medical distress (blue tongue and gums). She gave Darcy some water and just let her sit on her lap hoping she would be okay…

Panting Heavily

Darcy French Bulldog Story
  www.today.com

Except, Darcy wasn’t ok. Despite two crew members, Renaud Fenster and Diane Asher bringing ice in bags for her, Darcy was still breathing too fast. She continued to pant heavily and Renau said he had a better idea. Fenster called the captain and said, “I think we need to use some oxygen,” and he responded, “Go ahead.”

Oxygen Tank For Darcy

Darcy French Bulldog Story
  www.foxnews.com

Fenster brought a small oxygen tank with a mask attached and offered it to Michele for Darcy. He said, “Maybe this will help.” Fenster described the moment that he realized he had to make a quick decision…

Darcy Nearly Passed Out

Darcy French Bulldog Story
  www.travelerstoday.com

“I was passing through the cabin to check up on a passenger, and I noticed [another] passenger, who had the dog out of her crate and the dog had an indication that it wasn’t looking too well… And I believe the dog passed out.” He said. 

Dire Situation

Darcy French Bulldog Story
  www.stylisticat.com

He explains how he knew how serious the situation was because he is also a French Bulldog owner to his dog Penelope. “The dog started panting very rapidly and uncontrollably, and so as a French bulldog owner myself, I knew the dog was overheating and needed some ice. I brought the dog some ice, and that didn’t do anything.” It was at that point that he considered using oxygen to support the animal…

Finally Breathing Normally

Darcy French Bulldog Story
  www.nbc4i.com

Michele placed the mask over Darcy’s face and within a few minutes, she became alert and after a short time, she didn’t want the mask. Fenster noticed that the oxygen had revived the dog like nothing else had. But before he knew the oxygen would wind up helping, he was very scared.

His First Time Giving Oxygen To A Pet

Darcy French Bulldog Story
  www.rd.com

“I have never seen anything like this in my 15 years working for an airline,” Fenster said. It was after a total stranger helped save her dog’s life that inspired Michele to share what happened on Facebook. She continued saying that besides the flight attendants, the family seated behind them also offered to help…

A Kind Family Offering Help

Darcy French Bulldog Story
  www.waff.com

They offered Michele and her husband baby wipes for Darcy, and their young son said, “I am glad they helped her get better.” She raved on Facebook about how incredible their efforts were, and said, “It may have been only a “dog” to some, not a major disaster certainly, but a family member to us.”

They Saved A Life

Darcy French Bulldog Story
  www.travelagentcentral.com

The flight attendant’s responsiveness in this situation may have saved Darcy’s life. “I believe Renaud and Diane saved a life, some may reduce the value of the life because Darcy is a canine, I do not…Goodness and kindness along with the ability to access a medical crisis, albeit a canine in crisis saved the day.” As far as how Darcy has been since the flight…

Darcy Is Doing Great

Darcy French Bulldog Story
  www.inspiremore.com

Darcy is now home safe and sound and the Burts will check with a veterinarian before taking her on another flight. “She’s home, happy and chasing squirrels. She’s doing great,” Michele said. The Burts are also sharing their story as a warning for dog owners to err on the side of caution when traveling with their French Bulldog.

A Breed Known For Respiratory Issues

Darcy French Bulldog Story
  www.frenchbulldogclub.org

French Bulldogs are classified as short-nosed dogs, which makes them more vulnerable to respiratory problems. Some airlines don’t allow them to travel in cargo holds because there is a greater risk for breathing issues…

Brachycephalic Syndrome

Darcy French Bulldog Story
  www.allstarfrenchbulldogs.com

The respiratory tracts of French Bulldogs are ill-equipped for the free flow of air into and out of the lungs, which is a disease referred to as brachycephalic syndrome. This makes breathing while on an airplane much more difficult for Frenchies than for other breeds.

Less Free-Flowing Air

Darcy French Bulldog Story
  www.florestafarm.com

There’s a much shorter supply of free-flowing air while you’re on a plane and anytime you fly you’re putting your health at a slight risk. Everyone is affected by cabin pressure and oxygen fluctuations, and that includes animals. That’s why you often feel terrible after flying on an airplane…

Negative Symptoms

Darcy French Bulldog Story
  www.foxnews.com

While you may think you’re imaging feeling tired, agitated and dehydrated after flying, you’re most certainly not. Each time you fly, you’re exposing yourself to a different environment than your body is used to. For some people, this new environment, which has lower oxygen levels than the ground, and little humidity, can result in a bunch of negative symptoms.

Less Oxygen On Airplanes

Darcy French Bulldog Story
  www.savvystews.com

Despite the amount of air being pumped inside the plane, it doesn’t result in the same amount of oxygen that you’d normally breathe at sea level. Also, the air drawn into the plane to pressurize it comes from dry, high-altitude regions, making the plane itself drying than a desert. It’s no wonder little Darcy was having a tough time, but we’re so glad she’s recovered.

Dog Owner Writes Emotional Letter To Airline On How Flight Attendant Saved Her Pup’s Life is an article from: LifeDaily

Hitman Targets Wrong Man In Tragic Case Of Mistaken Identity

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While there is no excuse for taking a life, people who are driven to murder usually have some reason they believe justifies the sickening violence.

So when police began an investigation into a murder, they started looking for someone who might have a reason to want the victim dead. Strangely, they found no suspects and no possible motive for the kind, law-abiding citizen. It wasn’t until 6 months later, however, that they realized they were dealing with a tragic case of mistaken identity…

Packing Up

Daniel Ott Story
  KW Geauga Group / YouTube

On an early morning in May 2006, an Ohio-native living in Burton Township, Ohio with his girlfriend was preparing for a move together to Grand Rapids, Michigan. The man worked in horticulture and decided to make the move after he was offered a new job.

 

The New Job

Daniel Ott Story
  www.nationalvanlines.com

“He moved his furniture up there already,” the man’s father explained. “He was going to run a greenhouse for another company.” Unfortunately, however, the couple would never be able to make the move from Ohio to Michigan as they planned…

 

The Armed Intruder

Daniel Ott Story
  www.fashionbeans.com

While the couple was getting ready to start their day, an armed man wearing a ski mask and camouflage clothing broke into their home. With a shotgun in hand, the intruder shouted at the couple to be quiet and instructed the young woman to lay down on the ground.

 

The Struggle

Daniel Ott Story
  www.reshareworthy.com

After she got down on the floor, the intruder used duct tape to bind the young man’s hands together, however, he managed to break free and attacked the intruder. The 2 men fought for a few minutes before the intruder managed to grab his shotgun and shot his victim in the chest…

 

A Deadly Shot

Daniel Ott Story
  www.westminsterarms.net

After the intruder fled the scene, the woman called 911 right away and her boyfriend, 31-year-old Daniel Ott, was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. Unfortunately, the doctors were unable to save him and the 31-year-old passed away at the hospital that morning.

 

The Investigation Begins

  www.nbcnews.com

The news rocked the area, which was normally extremely safe and hadn’t had a homicide in 6 years. Police immediately opened an investigation to figure out who the armed intruder was, but the more they dug, the less the case made sense…

 

Confusing Evidence

Daniel Ott Story
  www.nbcnews.com

According to the police, they followed their usual procedures for investigating a homicide. However, the armed intruder didn’t try to rob the couple and never took anything. There was no sign of forced entry, which signaled to police that the man had been hired to kill Daniel.

 

Retracing Daniel’s Steps

Daniel Ott Story
  www.nbcnews.com

Investigators retraced Daniel’s steps and looked at his activities and the people he associated with to try and find a possible suspect and a possible motive for someone to want Daniel dead. However, police failed to find anything…

 

The Victim

Daniel Ott Story
  www.washingtonpost.com

The thing that didn’t make any sense to police was that there were no shady characters in Daniel’s life and he was a kind, law-abiding citizen. According to police, Daniel worked at a greenhouse nursery and lived a quiet life with his girlfriend.

 

6 Months Later

Daniel Ott Story
  www.firstround.com

For months, the police worked tirelessly to solve the case, but time passed with no new information or leads. It wasn’t until about 6 months after the investigation began that detectives realized the real reason Daniel had been the target that morning…

 

A Mistaken Identity

Daniel Ott Story
  Blinder Films / YouTube

The only reason the 31-year-old was killed was because of his name. According to police, a hitman had been hired that morning to kill Daniel Ott, however, the killer got the wrong man. The hitman was really meant to kill another man by the same name.

 

The Other Daniel Ott

Daniel Ott Story
  www.peakofohio.com

The other Daniel Ott had helped police bring down Joseph Rosebrook (pictured above), the leader of a stolen car ‘chop shop’ operation as well as an organized crime group that specialized in witness intimidation. Police believed the hitman had really been hired to kill him but got mixed up and killed an innocent man with the same name…

 

Proving The Theory

Daniel Ott Story
  www.nbcnews.com

However, now police had to prove their theory, which was harder and more time-consuming than it had been to figure out the mistaken identity mixup. For the next 8 year, detectives refused to give up solving the case and building a case against those responsible.

 

‘They Will Kill Me’

Daniel Ott Story
  www.middlefieldpost.com

The main reason it took so long was because anyone who knew anything about Rosebrook refused to tell the police anything out of fear that they would be killed. “Many people we would approach and engage in conversation said, ‘I know what you want; they will kill me,’” Geauga County Sheriff Daniel C. McClelland explained…

 

Sheer Determination

Daniel Ott Story
  Geauga Maple Leaf / YouTube

“They were very intimidated,” Sheriff McClelland said. Yet the investigators never gave up on the case. “Detectives have worked tirelessly on the case since 2006,” Geauga County Prosecutor Jim Flaiz said. “It was never a closed case. They pursued suspects throughout Ohio and the United States.”

 

The Real Target

Daniel Ott Story
  www.geaugamapleleaf.com

8 years later, police learned that the Daniel Ott who was the real target of the hit had originally been hired by Rosebrook to kill an associate he feared was going to testify against him. However, Ott went to the police and helped them send the organized crime leader to jail…

 

The Plan

Daniel Ott Story
  www.geaugamapleleaf.com

Rosebrook was sentenced to 10 years in prison, and during that time he hired another man, Chad South, who he met in prison to kill Ott for turning on him. After South was released from prison, Rosebrook’s brother, Carl Rosebrook, handled the payments to South to carry out the hit.

 

The Arrests

Daniel Ott Story
  www.newsone.com

Detectives performed wiretaps, dozens of interviews, got the help of state investigators and got countless search warrants to finally build their case and prove their theory. 9 long years later, the police arrested the 3 men and charged them for the murder of 31-year-old Daniel Ott…

 

The Trial

Daniel Ott Story
  www.syracuse.com

“It was the reckless vendetta of the defendant who caused all of this, who caused the death of an innocent man,” Geauga County Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Driscoll said during the trial. In 2016, Joseph Rosebrook, Carl Rosebrook, and Chad South were all found guilty and sentenced to prison for a variety of conviction including aggravated murder, kidnapping and conspiracy to commit aggravated murder.

Justice Is Finally Served

Daniel Ott Story
  www.clevescene.com

“He was a son, a brother, a caring and compassionate friend who was taken too soon from his family and friends. It has been a long 9 years of waiting and hoping for some resolution to this horrific crime and our patience has paid off,” Leroy and Linda Ott, Daniel’s parents, said after the trial. “We’re so happy with this verdict,” Leroy added. “People in this community — the detectives, the courts, everybody — worked so damn hard and this family was shown a lot of love and support from this community. They went above and beyond. What more can you say? It’s not going to bring Dan back. We won’t ever have closure; I think about him every day. But we got justice and Dan would be happy.”

Hitman Targets Wrong Man In Tragic Case Of Mistaken Identity is an article from: LifeDaily


Da Vinci’s Earliest Painting Discovered After Six Centuries In Italy

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Ernesto Solari Story

An incredible trait that everyone desires to have is passion. With enough passion, someone can reach places people previously thought were impossible. Humanity has advanced through people who have had the passion and integrity to reach as far as they can.

Humanity has gotten closer to the truth when a researcher full of passion found evidence of what seems to be the earliest work of the most popular artist in all of history.

Devotion

Ernesto Solari Story
  ERNESTO SOLARI / YouTube

An extremely dedicated art historian, named Ernesto, has done research on Leonardo da Vinci for many years now, spending countless days on finding the beautiful paintings and fascinating discoveries that the famous artist left in his tracks in the distant past. Little did Ernesto know, he would find an artifact that possibly would have set da Vinci on the tracks to become the world’s most renowned artist of all time…

A Childhood Fan

Ernesto Solari Story
  www.bio.com

Ernesto has been inspired by the works of da Vinci ever since he was in his childhood, to the point that the renaissance genius became a large part of his career. He wanted to explore the past of Leonardo da Vinci and find the effects he had on the world that weren’t already exposed to the public. There’s a good chance that this dream came true…

Family Treasure

Ernesto Solari Story
  www.ozone-cleaners.com

It all started when an unsuspecting family in Italy decided to clean out their house. This wasn’t just any family; they’re descendants of the aristocratic Fenice family, one of Italy’s most noble clans at the time. The descendant family found quite a few great paintings, but there was one that stuck out to them, even behind the dust…

Captivating Painting

Ernesto Solari Story
  ErikMMusic / YouTube

When one of the family members dusted the painting off, they immediately knew this piece was from a prestigious artist. The strokes, the shadows, the form, and the balance were all very striking elements to them. The first thing that popped up in their minds was, “Ernesto needs to see this.”

Special Visitors

Ernesto Solari Story
  www.wealthfollowsworth.com

Ernesto was busy doing research in his art studio when he heard a knock on his door. This was strange to him, as he usually didn’t get visitors. Hoping it would be related to da Vinci’s past, the historian stood from his chair and approached the door. When he turned the handle, he would find that his hopes were answered…

Valuable Item

Ernesto Solari Story
  ErnestoSolari / Twitter

The family, with wide smiles of thrill painted on all of their faces, greeted Ernesto and asked if they could speak with him. He saw one of the members carrying something delicately under a rich paper cover. Excited to see what was packed so neatly and professionally inside, the historian invited them in.

Historical Artifact

Ernesto Solari Story
  www.cas.sk

The family immediately got down to business and started talking about the item in their possession. They said they were positive that they found one of da Vinci’s oldest items. The historian could barely contain his excitement and told them he was willing to study the piece. He hoped that the family would let him borrow the precious item, and awaited their answer…

Attainment

Ernesto Solari Story
  www.1zoom.me

To his glee, the family accepted his deal. Nothing could describe how excited he was in this moment. The family gave Ernesto the painting and left the art studio. As soon as the door closed, Ernesto was jumping and cheering all over the place, ready to unveil the art…

Beautiful Art

Ernesto Solari Story
  www.leonardodavincimuseo.com

Ernesto was immediately stricken by a self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci, pictured as the Archangel Gabriel, one of the seven Archangels of God in the Bible. Aside from the beautiful art, the thing that baffled Ernesto the most was the extremely tiny signature and date written on the jawline: Da Vinci Leonardo, 1471.

End Of His Teenage Years?

Ernesto Solari Story
  www.splicetoday.com

Since da Vinci was born in 1452, this astonished Ernesto. If this item really was painted by the legendary artist, then this would be his earliest known work, painted when da Vinci was only 18 years old!

Real Or Fake?

Ernesto Solari Story
  www.repubblica.it

Before getting too excited, Ernesto needed to make sure this painting was the real deal and not a fake by someone who wanted money or attention. He would need to use the power of science, graphology, and enigmatology to find out whether or not this is da Vinci’s earliest work.

Scientific Experiment

Ernesto Solari Story
  Wikipedia

Using a time consuming and complicated process based on radiation called “thermoluminescence dating,” Ernesto was able to conclude that the year 1471 was accurate to the birth year of the painting. The odds were in Ernesto’s favor, but to verify the painting more he needed to see if the handwriting in the signature was accurate to the signatures in da Vinci’s other works…

Signature

Ernesto Solari Story
  www.thetimes.co.uk

The study of handwriting, known as graphology, was not an area that Ernesto was comfortable with, so he needed help from an expert in the field named Ivana. The graphologist studied the shape of the letters, direction, size, and many other elements that have a factor in the appearance of a signature. After many studies and comparisons, Ivana came to a conclusion…

Hopes Are High

Ernesto Solari Story
  www.artemagazine.it

Ivana found that the handwriting is very close to da Vinci’s signatures in his other paintings, and to his writings in general. At this point, Ernesto and Ivana grew more and more anxious as they closed in on their suspicions; but before they could make any official conclusions, they needed to see if da Vinci’s creativity was in this work.

Puzzle Solvers

Ernesto Solari Story
  www.videezy.com

Leonardo often liked to put hidden puzzles and messages in his works, and it was up to Ernesto and Ivana to see if da Vinci applied his hobby to this one. Together, they analyzed and looked closely at every single detail the painting had to offer, spending countless days and nights in the process. Even when their stress and headaches reached high levels, they couldn’t give up when they were so close.

Hidden Message

Ernesto Solari Story
  www.dailymail.co.uk

Then, a light opened up. The two noticed that the piece had several engravings: a chain of numbers and da Vinci’s signature, in a mirrored style, that made up a coded message. The message likely says: ‘I, Leonardo da Vinci, born in 1452, represented myself as the Archangel Gabriel in 1471.’ They had no doubt in their minds that they hit the jackpot.

Debut

Ernesto Solari Story
  www.cas.sk

With all of this scientific evidence gathered after three exhausting years, Ernesto Solari and Ivana Bonfantin were ready to make their claim. At a press conference in Rome, they were going to present to the world what they believed was the most famous artist’s earliest work.

Press Conference

Ernesto Solari Story
  www.georgia-characters.com

“We have done everything humanly possible to verify its provenance. Science has provided us with concrete evidence that this work is by Leonardo da Vinci. We have plenty of works produced by Leonardo in his later years, such as the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, but this provides an insight into the artist as a very young man,” argued Ernesto during the meeting. What were other people going to say about his extraordinary discovery?

Mixed Reviews

Ernesto Solari Story
  AshmoleanMuseum / Twitter

The duo has received many mixed reviews, ranging from very low to very high. One of the boldest criticisms was from Martin Kemp, a leading scholar at the University of Oxford. He described that “The handling of the hair is spectacularly unconvincing—it looks like vermicelli. The chance of its being by Leonardo [is] less than zero. The silly season for Leonardo never closes.” This response, along with many other responses, has caused many to doubt Ernesto and Ivana’s credibility. However, they stood still and remained absolutely sure of their findings.

Large Debate

Ernesto Solari Story
  www.thetimes.co.uk

Ernesto and Ivana’s findings have sparked an enormous debate in the public, especially in art communities. Both sides are piled high, and until new evidence is found, there is no way to tell for sure if the Archangel Gabriel self-portrait is really Leonardo da Vinci’s first artwork. As of now, the Archangel Gabriel portrait is just a possibility that nobody knows how long it will remain unsolved for.

Da Vinci’s Earliest Painting Discovered After Six Centuries In Italy is an article from: LifeDaily

Kids Find Treasure Holocaust Survivor’s Parents Kept Locked Away For Decades

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André Beurs Story

As children, the rules our parents make often seem arbitrary and pointless. Yet once we become adults, we finally see the reasons for those rules.

As children, 3 Dutch siblings could never understand why their parents told them they could never touch or open an old suitcase. At the time, it seemed like a ridiculous rule. But once they finally saw what was inside the old piece of luggage, they finally understood why their parents kept it locked away for decades…

The Suitcase

André Beurs Story
  beyondmypicketfence.blogspot.com

For as long as 3 Dutch siblings can remember, their parents had a suitcase, which they kept locked and out of sight. According to the siblings, their parents told them about the suitcase and warned them that they were not allowed to open it.

 

Natural Curiosity

André Beurs Story
  www.freeimages.com

When they were young, the children wondered what was inside the old suitcase, but knew better than to break a rule set by their parents, especially 1 that was so serious. However, as the kids got older, their curiosity about the off-limits luggage started to grow…

 

Respecting Their Wishes

André Beurs Story
  www.videoblocks.com

While they were desperate to know what was inside the suitcase, they didn’t dare go against their parents’ wishes and never touched the suitcase or pestered their mother or father with questions about the mysterious contents of the suitcase.

 

A Seemingly Silly Rule

André Beurs Story
  www.expertise.com

“As children, we knew that there was a suitcase that we wouldn’t touch. We weren’t allowed to,” the couple’s son explained. However, when his father passed away in 1979, he decided to ask his mother seriously for the first time about the suitcase…

 

A Decades-Old Secret

André Beurs Story
  www.videoblocks.com

When André Boers approached his elderly mother, Mimi Dwinger, after his father, Barend Boers, passed away, he asked her permission to open the suitcase. He couldn’t understand what could possibly be inside that needed to be kept a secret for decades.

 

Permission Denied

André Beurs Story
  battlefordreamisland.wikia.com

Unfortunately, she refused to give her permission and insisted it wasn’t important. “No, no need, there’s no time,” Boers said about what his mother told him that day. “I eventually understood, of course, that it was hard for her to deal with what was in the suitcase…”

 

The Family’s History

André Beurs Story
  www.srsl.in

According to Boers, his parents met as children as their families were both in the textile business and were friendly with one another. At 14, Barend became an apprentice under Mimi’s father. When he was 28, he asked Mimi, who was 21 years old, to be his wife.

 

1 Year Of Marital Bliss

André Beurs Story
  www.niw.nl

The couple got married in 1939 in Mimi’s hometown of Leeuwarden at the local synagogue. After that, they settled down in Amsterdam. Just 1 year later, the Nazis invaded the Netherlands and, according to Boers, his parents both miraculously survived the Holocaust…

 

A Miraculous Escape

André Beurs Story
  www.ushmm.org

The Nazis arrested and imprisoned Mimi, and normally, she would have been sent to her death at a concentration camp. However, Barend managed to save his wife. “He may have been assisted by the Dutch underground. He may have paid money to have her freed. I don’t know,” Boers said.

 

A Refugee Camp

André Beurs Story
  www.haaretz.com

After that, the couple fled through Belgium, France, and Spain. Eventually, they made it to Jamaica where there was a camp for Dutch Jewish refugees. Sometime after that, Barend left for Canada to fight with a Dutch battalion. After being trained, he was sent to England and fought in the war…

 

Returning To Holland

André Beurs Story
  www.playle.com

When Barend returned to the Netherlands, he discovered his brothers had been murdered but his mother, who had hidden in a closet for 3 years, was still alive. On May 5, 1945, Barend sent a telegram to his wife, who moved to England a year after arriving in Jamaica. “Holland is liberated. You can return,” Barend wrote.

 

Starting Over Alone

André Beurs Story
  blogs.ancestry.com

Barend and Mimi resettled in Amsterdam, where Barend reopened the family textile factory and started his own family. Sadly, however, their 3 children would never meet most of their family members and friends, as they were tragically murdered during the Holocaust…

 

A Painful Past

André Beurs Story
  jennrocksyourworld.wordpress.com

Mimi and Barend never spoke to their children about the war and the horrific way their loved ones were taken from them. It wasn’t until after Mimi passed away in 2007 just before her 91st birthday, that Boers and his siblings realized how much it still weighed on them.

 

Opening The Suitcase

André Beurs Story
  waddac2 / YouTube

Together with his sisters, Boers finally opened his parents’ suitcase after they had both passed away and found peace. As the siblings carefully looked through the contents of the suitcase, they realized why their parents had kept it locked away for decades…

 

The Family’s Treasures

André Beurs Story
  www.haaretz.com

Inside, the suitcase held letters, documents, and even war medals that their father earned for fighting in the war and participating in the invasion of Normandy. At the bottom of the suitcase, however, the brother and sisters found the real treasure.

 

The Wedding Film

André Beurs Story
  www.theatlantic.com

“On the bottom of the suitcase, I found little boxes that had the name Kodak written on them,” Boers explained. The 8 mm film was his parents’ wedding video from April 18, 1939, and the siblings immediately watched it…

 

The Faces Of Strangers

André Beurs Story
  FriesFilmArchief / YouTube

As the film played, Boers and his sisters watched his parents get married at city hall and then in the synagogue. After that, the film showed the newlyweds celebrating their nuptials with all their closest friends and family. To the siblings, however, the film was full of strangers.

A Sad Realization

André Beurs Story
  FriesFilmArchief / YouTube

As the siblings watched, they were struck by the fact that they barely knew anyone in the film because they sadly never got the chance to meet them. “I saw so many people in it that I didn’t know, aunts and uncles that I couldn’t identify,” said Boers, who finally realized that his parents would have found it too painful to see the faces of all the people torn from them…

An Archival Treasure

André Beurs Story
  FriesFilmArchief / YouTube

“Most of the people that you see in this wedding movie were not alive a few years later,” said Boers. “All of them were murdered in the camps. I never met them.” After watching the wedding film, however, it occurred to Boers how rare and priceless the footage was and wanted to share it with the world. Yet he struggled knowing his parents never wanted the film to see the light of day. “My parents never spoke about the war and didn’t want to deal with what happened.”

Sharing The Film With The World

André Beurs Story
  www.reasonat.com

Boers, who immigrated to Israel and is now the chairman of the Center for Research of Dutch Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, decided the archival treasure needed to be shared. Boers shared the footage on YouTube as well as with the staff at the film archive of the province of Friesland. “They fell off their chairs. They had been looking for years for documentation of the life of the local Jewish community and had reconciled themselves to the fact that it didn’t exist,” Boers said.

Kids Find Treasure Holocaust Survivor’s Parents Kept Locked Away For Decades is an article from: LifeDaily

Decades’ Old Disappearance May Be Linked To Jaycee Dugard Kidnapping

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Michaela Garecht Story

We live in dangerous times. No one in this world in this world no matter how innocent or delightful is immune to the wiles of predators, especially children.

The oldest of four children, Michaela was the apple of her mother’s eye. As a child, she was always effervescent and cheerful, she loved to sing and draw, and was a delight to all those around her. But none of that could prevent the fate that would befall the joyful nine-year-old on one fateful Saturday morning…

Saturday Morning

Michaela Garecht Story
  Yogi Bear / YouTube

For everyone else in America, it was a normal Saturday morning. For Michaela, it was a big day. It was November and she was excited because her parents had consented to let her go down to the store by herself, as long as her best friend Trina came with her of course. Michaela pulled on a pair of blue jeans, her black shoes, and her white “Metro” t-shirt, and sat down to breakfast.

 

Rainbow Market

Michaela Garecht Story
  www.eastbaytimes.com

Michaela’s friend, Trina Rodriguez, had asked her to meet her at her house so they could go over to Rainbow Market, a few blocks away from there. Michaela’s dad drove her to Trina’s, then gave the girls a few bucks for candy and soda and told them to be careful. They set off on their scooters for the market…

Friends Together

Michaela Garecht Story
  www.morbidology.com

At nine years old, Michaela and Trina were excited to have so much autonomy. It made them feel like they were real grown-ups. Using their pocket money, they purchased two Mountain Dews, two sticks of beef jerky, and two pieces of cherry taffy. They left the market and started to walk home with their haul, only in the excitement, they’d forgotten their scooters outside the store.

The Scooters

Michaela Garecht Story
  www.cocosvariety.com

The girls had left their scooters leaning up right outside the door to Rainbow Market and had gotten halfway home before they realized their mistake. They ran back but were surprised to find only one of the scooters by the door. Looking around, they discovered the second scooter leaning against a car in the parking lot…

Bait

Michaela Garecht Story
  www.reddit.com

Michaela went into the lot to grab the scooter, but the second she tried to lift it, a man with long blonde hair came from inside the car and grabbed hold of her. He put her under his arm and shoved her into the car. She screamed for help but Trina was too far away to do anything before the car drove off.

 

Call for Help

Michaela Garecht Story
  www.stonesphones.com

Trina, having witnessed the whole ordeal, rushed back into the store to get help. Rona, the cashier who had rung the girls up, called the police who arrived within minutes, but still too late to give chase. The neighborhood was soon abuzz with information about Michaela’s abduction and before long, even Rob Garecht, Michaela’s father, had heard what happened…

Fingerprints

Michaela Garecht Story
  www.texashillcountry.com

The first thing investigators did when they arrived at the scene was to take Michaela’s scooter to be examined for fingerprints. If the man had set the scooter as bait, he would have had to have touched it. Unfortunately, the Hayward police were unable to discover any fingerprints, only palm prints: which are untraceable.

Suspicious

Michaela Garecht Story
  Tere Angelica / YouTube

Rona Ronolon, the cashier at Rainbow Market, explained to police that she’d seen the man Trina described acting suspiciously earlier that day. She was under the impression that he might have wanted to rob the store and was casing it. It was only once she’d learned that Michaela was taken that she realized he wasn’t watching the store, he was watching the girls…

Sketch

Michaela Garecht Story
  www.nbcbayarea.com

Trina gave a complete description to a police sketch artist, who rendered a composite sketch of the abductor. She described the man as being between 18 and 25 years old with dirty blonde hair down to his shoulders. She said he was thin, wearing a white T-shirt and she recognized that he had very bad acne. He was driving a four-door older-model car, that could have been tan or burgundy.

 

More Witnesses

Michaela Garecht Story
  Shutterstock

After word of the abduction spread, several of Michaela’s neighbors came forward to tell police that they’d also noticed a strange man resembling the sketch, riding around the neighborhood in recent days. In fact, just days before Michaela was taken, he’d tried to lure a little girl into his pickup truck. Whoever this man was, he’d been on the hunt for some time…

Sex Offenders

Michaela Garecht Story
  www.galacticconnection.com

The next day, the FBI was brought in to join the investigation. They were on the clock and 24 hours had elapsed rather quickly with no sign of the missing child. First and foremost, they searched the sex offender registry for anyone in the area who matched the description. None of them seemed to be the man who’d taken Michaela.

Rallied

Michaela Garecht Story
  missingadultskids.com

Michaela’s friends and neighbors rallied around her family. The entire area was soon blanketed in posters of her face. The parents of Amber Swartz-Garcia and Kevin Collins, two other kidnapping victims from the Bay area, also came around to offer the Garechts their support. Soon, the FBI decided that Michaela’s mother Sharon should try and reach out to the kidnapper…

Pray for Her

Michaela Garecht Story
  HLN / YouTube

Sharon Garecht appeared on television begging the kidnapper to release her daughter. She asked him to drop her off on a street corner near their home, anonymously, so that she could find her way home. Through tears, she told Michaela she loved her and she wouldn’t stop looking for her.

 

No Sign

Michaela Garecht Story
  www.mercurynews.com

The police didn’t know much about the kidnapper other than that he must have lived in the local area. Soon though, the search was expanded to cover more of California. A helicopter fitted with an infrared camera was dispatched to search the California hills. Yet even with the help of horses, hounds, and thousands of volunteers, no evidence was found…

All Across America

Michaela Garecht Story
  www.eastbaytimes.com

Weeks passed and there was no sign of Michaela. The Hayward police sent out 40,000 fliers statewide. Yet even then, with the whole state of California involved, there were no new leads. A flood of tips came in as a result, but not one of them seemed to lead to Michaela Garecht. All they knew about the kidnapper they’d pieced together from behavioral analysis.

The Culprit

Michaela Garecht Story
  www.klaaskids.org

It was assumed that whoever the kidnapper was, he probably worked or lived in the area and was socially awkward. He might even have had serious issues communicating with women his own age and had likely been triggered by some rejection before the abduction. For years, Michaela remained missing, until some suspects came down the line…

Golden Gate Park

Michaela Garecht Story
  www.tripsavvy.com

One person of interest was 35-year-old Kyle Allen Ramer, a registered sex offender who lived in the area. He had been charged with attempting to kidnap a 10-year-old girl in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park and molesting a 6-year-old girl at a nudist camp. Unfortunately, he had been in jail at the time of the abduction.

 

Randy Man

Michaela Garecht Story
  www.dearmichaela.com

In 2005, another convicted sex offender named Rex “Randy” Crowell was brought up as a person of interest. He lived only 471 feet from where Michaela was abducted and was arrested a few years after Michaela’s abduction. Despite their best efforts, police could not tie him to Michaela’s disappearance either. Then there was another couple of possible kidnappers with a bit of notoriety in the area…

Jaycee Dugard

Michaela Garecht Story
  www.nbcbayarea.com

There was a belief that Michaela might have been abducted by Phillip and Nancy Garrido, the couple who abducted Jaycee Lee Dugard, as they lived just an hour away from the Garechts. The fact that they might have been involved gave hope to Sharon, who hoped that the passing decades would see her daughter returned safely.

Dead Ends

Michaela Garecht Story
  www.missingkids.com

Ultimately, despite all these leads, Michaela was never found. A $100,000 reward was offered to anybody who could lead police to Michaela and/or her abductor, but no one cashed it in. Still, if Jaycee Dugard could be returned after 18 years, maybe Michaela is out there somewhere, just waiting for her chance to escape. We can always hope.

Decades’ Old Disappearance May Be Linked To Jaycee Dugard Kidnapping is an article from: LifeDaily

Elderly Mother Enacts Vengeance On Elderly Son Over Moving Dispute

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Thomas Blessing Story

A common idea in this world is that when one contains a large amount of anger it eventually gets released in a big burst, causing nothing but irreparable damage.

In this case, the damage is a human life, and the anger that was built up came from a good cause. A 92-year-old mother has proven that anger can arise from anything, positive or negative.

Life After College

Thomas Blessing Story
  www.imperativeconcierge.com

Anna has finally finished college, overcoming all of the obstacles it set up for her. The years of growth and an equal amount of stress have finally come to an end. At this point, she could devote all of her attention to her husband and child, who had yet to be born. Her life was finally set in place… or so she thought.

Mother And Son

Thomas Blessing Story
  www.coreaspect.org

After giving birth to her child, Thomas, Anna’s primary goal was to thrive in a happy family, like most parents. That goal was cut short when her husband tragically died. After his death, Anna and Thomas grew much more dependent on each other, reforging their already strong bonds with one another. Unfortunately, those bonds would be broken forever on a disastrous day.

Aged Caretaker

Thomas Blessing Story
  www.redfin.com

Anna, 92, has been taken care of by Thomas, who was 72 at the time, living in his girlfriend’s condo. Her son, who was already frail and tired from old age, found that as time went on, Anna had grown increasingly more difficult to take care of. The time when he couldn’t take care of her any longer was approaching quickly…

Life Is More Difficult

Thomas Blessing Story
  Shutterstock

His task of taking care of his mother became more and more impossible for him to do at his age. Strength slipped from his arms, and energy slowly crept away from him, causing his everyday tasks became much harder…

Energy Slipping Away

Thomas Blessing Story
  www.disabled-world.com

He was getting too exhausted to give his mother a bath. Then, he was getting too exhausted to make food for her. Then, he was getting too exhausted to support her and himself financially. And then, he was getting too exhausted to move her around in her wheelchair. He was no longer able to take complete care of his own mother…

Senile Mother

Thomas Blessing Story
  www.mchemist.com

Old age quickly displayed its capabilities when it had major effects on Anna. She became easily agitated, and at times attempted to be physical by pushing Thomas away whenever he tried to give her her meds. He quickly found that his mother would need to be taken care of by a new pair of hands.

Move Out

Thomas Blessing Story
  www.whitelakeassistedliving.com

Thomas decided that the best course of action would be to move her into an assisted living facility, where she would be in a better and safer environment. This way, he could also be able to devote more time to his girlfriend. He just needed Anna to consent to the change in housing, which he would find easier said than done.

Negative Reaction

Thomas Blessing Story
  Pinterest

When Thomas informed Anna of his plans, she was infuriated. She took her son’s selfless service as an insult, thinking he wanted to get rid of her because she was a nuisance to him. This made a permanent crack in Anna and Thomas’s relationship, forever breaking what was once a mother’s love for her son.

Broken Relationship

Thomas Blessing Story
  news.softpedia.com

Thomas kept insisting she move into an assisted living facility, and as a result, she distanced herself farther from him every time he mentioned it. Her resentment toward him had built up higher and higher, to the point where she considered him a stranger. Her anger eventually led her to reach into her shelf for a destructive weapon that causes nothing but death.

Violent Response

Thomas Blessing Story
  www.videoblocks.com

One day in Thomas’s girlfriend’s condo, Thomas had a conversation with Anna, along with his girlfriend. Again, Thomas argued with her, explaining to her the reasons for him wanting her to live in a better place. She wasn’t having any of it and decided to take matters into her own hands. She pulled the firearm out from her robe, and aimed it at her own son…

An Ungrateful Mother

Thomas Blessing Story
  www.videoblocks.com

Thomas was speechless. After the decades of support and happiness he gave her, his own mother pointed a gun at him. He asked God why he was being punished by the one he helped for most of his life, and the only answer he got was a bullet straight through his neck.

Impaled By Bullets

Thomas Blessing Story
  Shutterstock

Anna gave him no mercy, as she shot her son again. And again. And again. And again, and again. Through the immense pain from the several holes in his body, Thomas tried to talk to her; to ask why she committed this atrocity to the one who supported her. But all he could let out was a long, dragged out groan as he collapsed on the floor, becoming an island in his own pool of blood…

No Witnesses

Thomas Blessing Story
  Shutterstock

His girlfriend, who was in the room with them, screamed after her boyfriend was relentlessly killed by Anna. The dread slowly came over her as she pieced out what would happen next. She watched as the killer slowly switched aim from Thomas’s corpse to her.

A Fierce Fight

Thomas Blessing Story
  www.publicdomainpictures.net

She couldn’t let the elderly woman get away with this. She wouldn’t. She sprung into action, sprinting towards the killer in the wheelchair. Before the widow could pull the trigger and end the girl’s life, Thomas’s girlfriend wrestled the firearm out of her hands and threw it into a corner of the room. But Anna’s rage didn’t end there; she proceeded to pull a second gun out…

Departure From Bloodshed

Thomas Blessing Story
  Shutterstock

Scared for her life, Thomas’s girlfriend reacted quickly and kicked the second firearm out of the woman’s hands. She didn’t want to stay in the same room as that insane maniac any longer, so she sprinted out, leaving the killer in the room with her dead son.

The End Of Her Normal Life

Thomas Blessing Story
  www.azcentral.com

After the petrified witness ran out of the room, Anna gave herself a moment to process what had happened. She just killed her everything, the one man who kept her going. The killer knew that there was no going back, as the only life that awaited her was in prison. She wanted to commit suicide

Sirens In The Distance

Thomas Blessing Story
  www.wftv.com

Unfortunately for her, both of the guns were out of her reach, and she couldn’t move to get them. She was a sitting duck, and had no choice but to wait for the police to come…

Disturbing Crime Scene

Thomas Blessing Story
  12 News / YouTube

When the police barged in, they immediately saw the crime scene. They were repulsed by the pool of blood, and even more repulsed by the sinister look that Anna had when they entered the room. When they arrested her, she said “You took my life, so I’m taking yours.”

Weapons Of The Past

Thomas Blessing Story
  12 News / YouTube

The police saw the guns, and identified one of them as a pistol that Anna’s late husband gave to her for self-defense. Unfortunately, that gift of protection only caused the death of his own son. Anna purchased the other gun in the late 1970’s, carving her son’s death early on.

Behind Bars

Thomas Blessing Story
  12 News / YouTube

Anna Mae Blessing is now facing charges for the murder of Thomas Blessing with a deadly weapon. She doesn’t seem to have any doubts or regrets over the case, as she said she should be “put to sleep” for what she had done. At this point, the court needs to decide how Thomas will receive the justice he deserves.

Elderly Mother Enacts Vengeance On Elderly Son Over Moving Dispute is an article from: LifeDaily

Lucky Family Finds Attic Treasure Worth $19 Million

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Qing Dynasty Vase Story

The word “treasure” has the connotation of a chest of gold and diamonds buried on a faraway island. However, many don’t keep in mind that treasures may reside within your own home.

A blessed family has shown that luck really does come around when you look hard enough for it, by uncovering one of the 18th century’s most valuable pieces in their own attic…

Abandoned Attic

Qing Dynasty Vase Story
  www.polycount.com

A family in Paris had an attic that they rarely went up to. It’s been decades since anyone roamed the place. Anyone who walked by the attic’s entrance wouldn’t give it a second thought, and keep on walking; until one day when their lives would be changed forever from an old decoration.

Spring Cleaning

Qing Dynasty Vase Story
  www.mentalfloss.com

The family, curious to see what the attic had to offer, decided to explore and clean it up. They were hoping to find old family memories, valuable knick-knacks, and lost items; but they would instead find a family treasure that had been laying above their heads the whole time.

New Territory

Qing Dynasty Vase Story
  www.homefixated.com

As soon as they opened the ceiling stairs, a barrage of dust fell down, eliciting coughs from the family. Then, one at a time, they slowly walked up the creaky stairs, hoping they would still be strong enough to support their weight. When they reached the top of the stairs, they would find that the attic was much more different than what they imagined…

Ancient Room

Qing Dynasty Vase Story
  saintbryantv.blogspot.com

The room was pitch black, plastered with dust bunnies, and loaded with boxes, straight out of a horror movie. It would be a while before they went through all of the contents this attic had to offer…

Thorough Search

Qing Dynasty Vase Story
  www.kitfoster.com

They returned to the attic, prepared with flashlights and cleaning tools. After rummaging through most of the boxes, they started to grow tired, thinking that this search was pointless, as they hadn’t found anything significant. Before they were about to give up, one of the family members opened a shoe box, flinching from the shine that came from inside.

A Decent Vase?

Qing Dynasty Vase Story
  www.sothebys.com

It was a vase; a beautiful one, at that. The piece was left to the grandparents of the family by an uncle that traveled as a hobby, in a will which also included many other works of Chinese porcelain and some Japanese artworks. But in their eyes, the family thought it wasn’t a very special vase. They couldn’t have been more wrong…

Historical Artwork

Qing Dynasty Vase Story
  www.sothebys.com

It portrays birds, deer, and other animals in a forest, and includes gold embroidery around the neck. The vase takes a mark of the Qianlong Emperor who ruled China from 1736 to 1796. They decided to sell it at an auction, and see how much money people would bid for the vase…

Arrival To Auction

Qing Dynasty Vase Story
  www.sothebys.com

Sotheby’s Paris was a popular place for holding auctions and was the destination for this rare vase. When the family brought it inside, the auctioneer opened the box to look at what they were selling. She wasn’t prepared for the reaction she was going to get.

Legendary Artifact

Qing Dynasty Vase Story
  www.scmp.com

She was blown away by the quality of the art. It was miles ahead of the objects she auctions for her job every day. She knew right away that this auction was going to be one of the most extreme she’s ever held…

Underestimating The Price

Qing Dynasty Vase Story
  www.sothebys.com

They set an auction estimate of $590,000 to $825,000, expecting to get a great amount out of it. However, “great” couldn’t even begin to describe how much this vase would sell for…

From Auction To Competition

Qing Dynasty Vase Story
  www.europe1.fr

The family and auctioneer were blown away at the response of the consumers. One bidded $850k, another one bidded $900k, and then the prices started rocketing into the millions.

Bidding War

Qing Dynasty Vase Story
  www.sothebys.com

Whenever they weren’t bidding, they were shouting at each other, trying to argue about who deserved the vase. The family was shocked when they witnessed the price climbing higher and higher

Skyrocketing Price

Qing Dynasty Vase Story
  www.sothebys.com

“$1.25 million!” one of the bidders shouted. “$1.5 million!” screamed another person. “$2 million!” and then “3 million!” yelled another. The family was overwhelmed by the demand that their seemingly standard vase was getting. Then, the bids went even higher, up to eight digits…

Sold For A Monstrous Amount

Qing Dynasty Vase Story
  au.news.yahoo.com

The extended history along with its prestigious standings at the time gave the vase a final bidding value that the family couldn’t believe. Archaeologists and historians have spent decades searching every corner of the world for this type of artifact that ended up being sold for a jaw-dropping $19 million!

Too Good To Be True

Qing Dynasty Vase Story
  www.sothebys.com

At this point, the family marveled at whether or not they were having a dream. They couldn’t believe their eyes as they saw the long string of numbers displayed on the screen. They couldn’t believe that those numbers belonged to them now…

Extensive History

Qing Dynasty Vase Story
  www.sothebys.com

The porcelain vessel was made for an emperor of the Qing Dynasty, which was the last dynasty before it was replaced by the Republic of China. As a vase made during the 18th century, it had a long and top-notch history.

One Of A Kind

Qing Dynasty Vase Story
  www.sothebys.com

Sotheby’s Paris exclaimed that, “The vase is of exceptional rarity: the only known example of its kind. Famille Rose porcelains of the period are extremely rare on the market, with most examples currently housed in the National Palace Museum in Taipei and other museums around the world.”

Record Breaker

Qing Dynasty Vase Story
  www.sothebys.com

The vase ended up breaking the record for a piece sold at Sotheby’s Paris, and the record for a Chinese porcelain sale in France. Also groundbreaking is the fact that the auction lasted over 20 minutes, which is a long time for auctions to last.

Who Bought It?

Qing Dynasty Vase Story
  www.sothebys.com

To this day, the buyer of the vase remains a mystery. They didn’t want their nationality or name to be revealed. The only thing the public knows about this buyer is that he/she is Asian. That is the only known piece of information on the person who paid tens of millions of dollars on a single vase.

A Message From Sotheby’s

Qing Dynasty Vase Story
  www.sothebys.com

Sotheby’s said “Chinese art has been admired and collected across Europe for centuries, but the importance of certain pieces is occasionally lost over time. Given the huge appetite for Chinese art among today’s collectors, now is the moment to scour your homes and attics, and to come to us with anything you might find!”

Lucky Family Finds Attic Treasure Worth $19 Million is an article from: LifeDaily

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