Feel Good story du jour - Page 14

MacDoc · Aug 16th, 2010, 11:03 PM

had to post this one up

	Quote:
	A Eureka moment for a stubborn prospector Shawn Ryan was sure he could find the source of the Klondike gold rush. After many years of digging, he now has a ‘See, I told you so’ moment

A Eureka moment for a stubborn prospector - The Globe and Mail

MacDoc · Sep 7th, 2010, 08:29 AM

Tough old bugger comes to mind

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	Missing hiker, 86, found alive after four days in the wild HADASHVILLE, MAN.—An 86-year-old man who went missing last week after setting off alone on a hike in eastern Manitoba has been found alive. RCMP searchers on all-terrain vehicles located Joseph Kuz on Monday morning in a heavily-wooded swamp within the search area near Hadashville, east of Winnipeg. “He was dehydrated and cold and wet of course from that many nights and days in the bush by himself without shelter, but other than that he reported to be very well,” RCMP Const. Miles Hiebert said. According to Kuz’s nephew, Myron Lamaga, Kuz was dropped off on the Trans-Canada Highway on Thursday and was planning to walk to Lamaga’s cabin. But Lamaga said his uncle was dropped in the wrong place and missed the road. Lamaga says his uncle used to trap and was experienced in the bush, so he decided to head overland to the cabin. “He didn’t hit any of my roads and he just went cross-country, which is rugged and the water was over his knees. He said he fell down about 20 times and then finally just got exhausted and holed up in a little drier spot among the cedars,” Lamaga explained. “He wasn’t far from my cornfields and my road. He was only about a third-of-a-mile. He was right on course. But he just got exhausted.” Lamaga said his uncle was cold. It rained Thursday night. The next night there was a frost, and it was cold Saturday and Sunday nights, too. Kuz could see a helicopter searching for him, but he was too weak to run out into the swampy clearing. Kuz was taken by ambulance to hospital in Ste. Anne, Man., where he’s being kept for observation. “He told the ambulance driver the story of his life on the 45 minute drive. He was very talkative. He was thirsty — understandable, four days with no food or water,” Kuz said. “He figured that he couldn’t last much longer and one more night would’ve done him in.” Kuz is the second Manitoba senior in less than a week to be found alive after spending multiple nights alone in the bush. On Friday morning, searchers found 66-year-old Nadia Monaco, who got separated from friends two days earlier while picking berries and mushrooms near Belair Provincial Forest, northeast of Winnipeg. Monaco was diabetic and searchers admitted their hopes of finding her alive was fading. But Monaco had taken shelter in an abandoned shed, used wires to wrap some paper around herself to keep warm. She also ate the mushrooms she had picked, and drank rain water from the ground. Searchers for Hiebert and Kuz included RCMP, the Manitoba Office of the Fire Commissioner, Department of Natural Resources, and local firefighters and volunteers. Hiebert said the searchers for both missing seniors did an excellent job. “We keep going until we come to some kind of conclusion or until we’ve exhausted every available possibility and avenue, and in this case perseverance appeared to be the key,” Hiebert said. Lamaga said his uncle has always been healthy. At six feet tall and over 200 pounds, he said Kuz has worked in everything from mining in Sudbury, Ont. to construction in southern Ontario. “He was a very strong man. He could do the work of two or three men,” Lamaga said. “He was kind of a bar room brawler, too.” “He ate healthy — lots of vegetables and wholesome food. I guess it worked, cause at 86 and you can stay four nights in the bush, he’s in good shape.”

Missing hiker, 86, found alive after four days in the wild - thestar.com

MacDoc · Oct 29th, 2010, 08:28 AM

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	rescuer's dilemma: Hang on to son or save drowning couple October 29, 2010 Jennifer Yang Dr. Mayer Yacowar, left, and his son Noah, 6, are reunited with Shawn Ghalili. RICHARD LAUTENS/TORONTO STAR As Mayer Yacowar floated in the open sea, the swelling waves crashing over his head, he contemplated his choices. It was late September and the 47-year-old Toronto doctor was snorkeling off the coast of Turks and Caicos when the waters grew suddenly violent. On one side, clinging to his arm, was Yacowar’s 6-year-old son, Noah, wearing a flimsy life vest. On his other side was Shawn and Helen Ghalili, a young couple from Toronto, trying desperately not to drown in the increasingly choppy waters. Yacowar realized he could only help the couple by letting go of his son. It was a difficult decision for any father but Noah made it for him. “He looked at me and said, ‘Dad, go do what you do best. Go save those people,’ ” Yacowar recalls. “And my son let go.” Twenty minutes later, all four swimmers were back on the boat, safe and sound. The two families had never met prior to this chance encounter in the middle of the ocean. The Ghalilis married last September and were celebrating their first anniversary at The Beaches resort, where Yacowar was vacationing with his wife, Sonia Provencher, and their three children. Helen, 28, and Shawn Ghalili, 37, had taken a boat tour to go snorkeling about 20 minutes out into the sea. They had so much fun marvelling at brightly coloured fish and turtles that Shawn didn’t notice his life vest gradually deflating. He also didn’t notice the waves getting bigger, eventually reaching about a metre overhead. “I started getting water in my mask and my pipe,” he recalls. “Every time I would come up for air, the water would beat right in my face. That’s when I started panicking.” Helen noticed her husband flailing and swam over to him, trying to keep the 178-pound man above the water as he gasped for air. Some metres away, Yacowar and Noah were also snorkeling, having come out on the same boat. The boy had held onto his father the entire time and Yacowar began to worry when he noticed the waves had carried them far from the boat. He was about to turn back when he noticed the Ghalilis. “His wife was there trying to hold him up and she looked kind of panicky,” he says. “I swam closer and then I saw him there. You could see it in his eyes, that he was going under.” Yacowar, a former lifeguard, knew he could pull them to safety but also realized the effort would require two free arms. He asked Noah, who has been swimming since the age of 2, if he could handle getting back to the boat on his own. And that’s when his tiny son lifted his fingers from his father’s arm. Yacowar swam to the Ghalilis and instructed Shawn to grab onto his back. He began dragging him back toward the boat with Helen swimming alongside but after about 10 minutes, she grew tired too. “He said, ‘Don’t worry, you can hang on to my other shoulder,’ ” Shawn Ghalili recalls. Keeping his eyes trained on his son, who never swam more than a few metres ahead, Yacowar continued the rest of the journey with both Ghalilis on his back. But the family doctor suffers from heart disease himself and he could feel his chest constricting. Noah stopped periodically to look back at his father and encouraged the trio to keep pressing on. “My dad has you, don’t worry, don’t worry,” he called out. “He was my inspiration,” Yacowar says. “My chest was hurting, I felt it pounding . . . but it didn’t make any difference. I just said, ‘We were going to get to the boat.’ ” When the foursome neared the boat, a lifeguard finally noticed them and helped pull the couple to safety. Yacowar climbed back on board with Noah, too exhausted to speak. It wasn’t until the Ghalilis returned to their hotel room that they were struck by the enormity of what had just happened. “That could have been it,” Shawn Ghalili says. “All of our hopes and dreams, and all the plans we made for our life, could have come to an end.” The Ghalilis spent the rest of their holiday scouring their resort for the Yacowars — they didn’t even know their name. It wasn’t until they got to the airport that they finally ran into them again. They shook Yacowar’s hand and thanked Noah for his bravery. But those professions of gratitude still didn’t seem like enough and when the Ghalilis returned to Toronto, they sat down and wrote a thank-you letter. “If there was one thing we learned from you, it was: “leave no man behind” — as you yourself told us as you hauled us back to the boat,” they wrote. “We also learned that the bravest men can sometimes be as young as 6 years old. Thanks to you both, we are still alive and breathing today.” This isn’t Yacowar’s first rescue at sea. About six years ago in Hawaii, a Japanese tourist had her neck crushed by a wave. He brought her to shore and revived her with CPR.

A rescuer's dilemma: Hang on to son or save drowning couple - thestar.com

I'm a reasonably experienced snorkeler and I've towed my two kids in 1 meter swells and they were both swimming, it was still hard work in the current
....can't imagine having to pull two adults while being concerned about his son who he would keep losing sight of......well done on all fronts.
Kudus to the 6 year old - it' can be scary out there in open water..

MacDoc · Nov 2nd, 2010, 05:37 PM

While in many respects this is a sad story the "feel good" aspect is this young girl shone very brightly in her short life and that deserves

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	Lion King' actress dies from leukemia The Associated Press Date: Tuesday Nov. 2, 2010 12:47 PM ET NEW YORK — Shannon Tavarez, the 11-year-old who starred on Broadway in "The Lion King" and whose battle with leukemia won the hearts of many, including Alicia Keys, Rihanna and 50 Cent, has died. Tavarez died Monday afternoon at Cohen Children's Medical Center in New Hyde Park, on Long Island, said Katharina Harf, co-founder of the bone marrow donor centre DKMS. Adriana Douzos, a spokeswoman for the long-running, Tony winning show, also confirmed the death but declined further comment. Tavarez, who played the young lion Nala, had received an umbilical-cord blood transplant in August. The procedure was performed as an alternative to a bone marrow transplant. Her doctor, Dr. Larry Wolfe, said that a perfect bone marrow match for Shannon could not be found. The search for a match was especially daunting because Shannon's mother is African-American and her father is Hispanic, from the Dominican Republic. For bone marrow transplants, minorities and those of mixed ancestry have a more difficult time finding good matches because there aren't as many people from those groups signed up as potential donors. Right now, 83 per cent of African-American patients who need marrow transplants don't find matches after six months of searching, according to the National Marrow Donor Program, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping patients receive transplants. Tavarez was forced to quit the show in April. She beat out hundreds of other hopefuls last year to earn her spot playing Nala, the childhood pal and girlfriend of Simba, hero of "The Lion King." She split the role with another girl, performing four shows a week for six months. Keys, Rihanna and 50 Cent campaigned to help Tavarez find a bone marrow donor, and cast members held bone marrow donor registration drives. Harf said the donor centre registered 10,000 people as potential donors. Keys skyped with Tavarez while she was at the hospital, Harf said, and the singer, Rhihanna and 50 Cent urged their fans to sign up as potential donors. Child performers from "The Lion King" and other shows also sold bracelets and key chains that read, "Shine for Shannon," to raise money to help pay for her medical bills. "It's rare that you meet such a spirited girl at such a young age," Harf said. "She touched so many people to register. She was really, really a special girl." "Shannon's bright smile, amazing talent, and courage will continue to inspire us in our efforts," the New York Blood Center said in a stateme

'Lion King' actress dies from leukemia - CTV News

MacDoc · Nov 4th, 2010, 03:27 AM

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	Couple gives away $11.2m in lottery winnings November 03, 2010 Patricia Brooks Arenburg LOWER TRURO, N.S.—A Nova Scotia couple won $11.2 million from a lottery ticket in July and now every penny is gone. But Allen and Violet Large of Lower Truro didn’t spend any of it on themselves. They say they decided to take care of family, organizations and institutions instead. “What you’ve never had, you never miss,” said Violet, 78. Married since 1974, the couple does not live large. They don’t travel, they don’t gamble and they don’t buy what they don’t need. “We have an old house, but we’re comfortable and we’re happy in it,” Violet said. They spent 30 years in Ontario where Allen was a steel welder and Violet worked for cosmetics and chocolate companies. They retired in 1983 and returned to Nova Scotia. “We were pretty well set, not millionaires, but comfortable,” said Allen, 75. So when they hit it big in Lotto 6-49’s July 14 draw, they decided to give it all away. All that money “was a big headache,” Allen said. Violet said she was concerned about “crooked people” who might try to take advantage of them. But the big win came at a difficult time in their lives: Violet was undergoing treatment for cancer that doctors discovered in the spring. “That money that we won was nothing,” said Allen, choking back tears. “We have each other.” Violet has been through surgery and finished her last chemotherapy treatment a week ago. After the win, the couple took about a week to work out the details before embarking on their $11,255,272 spending spree. They took care of family first and then began delivering donations to the two pages’ worth of groups they had decided on, including the local fire department, churches, cemeteries, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, hospitals in Truro and Halifax, where Violet underwent her cancer treatment, and organizations that fight cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes. The list goes on and on. The couple won’t say how much they gave each group, but they’ve received plenty of phone calls, letters and plaques of gratitude. While they’re thankful for each one, they didn’t do it for the recognition. “It made us feel good,” said Violet. “And there’s so much good being done with that money.” She and her husband said they feel privileged to be able to give back to the community, to help the firefighters, the doctors and nurses and the volunteers who have helped them. “We’re the lucky ones,” Violet said. “I have no complaints.”

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BigDL · Nov 4th, 2010, 06:10 AM

Here is a piece shown on the Local CBC News in Nova Scotia Video here

KC4 · Nov 4th, 2010, 09:31 AM

Out of the mouths of babes...
Stay Calm, Dad - Video

Dr.G. · Nov 4th, 2010, 11:51 AM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by BigDL
	Here is a piece shown on the Local CBC News in Nova Scotia Video here

I heard about this couple this morning. A grand gesture from two true "mensches" in the finest sense of the word.

Dr.G. · Nov 4th, 2010, 11:52 AM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by KC4
	Out of the mouths of babes... Stay Calm, Dad - Video

Wow, that was some five year old. Bless her for being calm, cool and collected.

MacDoc · Nov 12th, 2010, 09:22 PM

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	Missing brothers huddled together for warmth November 12, 2010 Katie Daubs and Wendy Gillis Mason Fildey-Holyj, 5, and Tyson Fildey, 10 at their grandfather's house on Friday after their long night outside. KATIE DAUBS/TORONTO STAR Tyson Fildey heard the coyotes howling but he wasn’t scared. Only “so-so,” the 10-year-old said Friday after he and his little brother were reunited with their family. Tyson and Mason Fildey-Holyj, 5, had spent the night in the pitch-black countryside of Springwater Township near Barrie after a long walk took them at least three kilometres from their home. The boys had been playing at the end of their grandfather’s driveway on Rainbow Valley Rd. just before dinnertime when they decided to walk diagonally for several kilometres through harvested fields. It soon became too dark to see. “I knew where home was,” Tyson said. “It was just dark.” At home, their grandfather, Bruce Fildey, called 911. An Amber Alert was issued and 60 police officers rushed down Rainbow Valley Rd. Because the canine unit was brought, the frantic family had to stay indoors so the dogs would not be thrown off the scent. Meanwhile, Tyson decided it would be best to bed down for the night. He knew he would get lost trying to get home in the dark. He found a flat patch of ground near a ditch on nearby Atkinson Sideroad. He hugged his little brother to keep him warm and used his coat as a blanket for them both. Tyson didn’t have a watch but through the night, he heard helicopters, the coyotes and, as the sun began to rise, a truck rumbling by. “He was still sleeping,” Tyson said of his brother, who was happily playing with toy cars Friday morning. “I was half awake.” Mason chimed in: “I heard it, then I woked up.” Township employees found the boys and they were soon on their way to hospital in Collingwood. Mason had a big chunk of grass stuck to his face, his parents said. “They had heated beds, orange juice and oatmeal,” Tyson said. “Yeah, they have hot beds,” Mason confirmed. For the family, who had been up all night, Friday morning marked a moment of extreme relief. “It was rough, really rough,” said Tyson’s father, Brad Adamson. “Little Tyson is a hero. His brother could have gotten hypothermia.” Adamson said they are “good boys” who “stick around home” and know to avoid the nearby river. Police had brought in an emergency response team and did a boat search of the nearby Nottawasaga River. But that Amber Alert proved to be a key to the boys’ safe return. The township workers who found them said they’d heard about the alert and thought they could help because they know the area well. Dale Buchanan and co-worker Joe Moir spotted the kids walking on the side of Flos Rd. 4 W. and Atkinson Rd., a short drive from the police command post, and took them to authorities around 7 a.m. “When we found them, they were talkative,” Buchanan said. “They were just cold.” Brad Sokach, director of public works at the township, said the men reported to the command post set up near the boys’ home and had just driven away when they spotted the children walking “out of the fog” toward them. On Friday afternoon, the boys were getting ready to watch a movie while the adults were looking forward to a good night’s sleep. Fildey said it could have been a lot worse. “I want to thank everybody. People came from as far away as London to help with the search.”