A year has passed since Sergeant Sivad Johnson, 46, lost his life in an attempt to save three girls from drowning, and we still remember and honor his heroic act.
It was late August of 2020 when this off-duty firefighter was taking a trip to Belle Isle with his 10-year-old daughter. At one moment, they noticed three girls struggling to stay afloat and signaling for help. Johnson and another man jumped into Detroit River and managed to rescue one of the girls. The other two were saved by a nearby boat.
Crowd gathered around the girls to make sure they were okay, but then, Johnson’s daughter noticed her father wasn’t there. In all the chaos, he went missing.
Sgt. Sivad Johnson, 49, a 26-year veteran of the Detroit Fire Department, died while trying to rescue 3 young girls from drowning. They were later safely brought ashore. https://t.co/LGF47ENOAq
A search was initiated right away. Many people were involved in searching for Johnson, and that included officers, firefighters, and divers. Everyone was praying for a positive outcome. Unfortunately, Michigan state police later confirmed that Johnson drowned.
As reported by The New York Times, Johnson was part of the Detroit Fire Department for over 26 years.
He was a family man loved by many. “His friends, his colleagues, the people who worked for him said he was a mentor, he was a teacher. Many said he made their careers,” Deputy fire commissioner Dave Fornell said.
A huge number of firefighters gathered to salute their brave co-worker as his body was brought to Detroit Receiving Hospital.
“I would say there was not a dry eye in the house,” he said. “I’ve never seen as many firefighters as emotional as this. He was almost bigger than life. He just moved a lot of people.”
HERO! Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends and colleagues of @DetroitFire Sgt Sivad Johnson who, while off-duty, drowned saving three young girls. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” – John 15:13 – RIP Sir pic.twitter.com/oTplWGCU1v
One of Johnson’s friends started a GoFundMe page to help the family during the time of grief. The void Johnson left in everyone’s heart is huge and the pain is immense, and their only consolation is that he died a hero. May he rest in peace!
The killing of the 13 American soldiers in the bombing attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, last month, broke the heart of every true American. Deep down, we all feel the urge to have our share in honoring these brave people the best we can. One thing we can all do is to never forget that they lost their lives for this country.
Stephen Wing from Gilford, New Hampshire, the founder of Wings Custom Carvings, is honoring these heroes in his own way, by carving hand-made statues out of wood.
He shared his intention on his business’ Facebook page and asked from the public to help him get in touch with the families of the fallen troopers. “Let’s see if This works,” he posted on August 28. “I am trying to reach out to the families of our most recent tragedy in Afghanistan. I would like to donate one of these carvings to all the thirteen family’s for our fallen soldiers It’s a long shot but share away please.”
Soon after, his post went viral and he gathered information on where to send the memorial pieces.
“I wanted to say thank you to everyone across the United States of America for coming together to try and make this happen for the families of our 13 most recent Fallen Soldiers,” he posted. “With out your help this would have been nearly impossible but I’m great full to announce out of the 13 families we are going to be able to get there battle cross to the following.”
People from all over the country got in touch with Stephen and asked him to help with the shipping costs. He asked everyone who was willing to contribute to contact him.
“Now a lot of people are asking how to donate for shipping cost and to be honest I don’t even know yet have to price it all out Tuesday,” he shared on Sunday. “So if you would like to help you can contact me.
“If there is money left over from the donations to ship it will be divided between all of the families evenly. This is to help the families and let them know we stand with them and also grieve with them. Thanks for all of your help in this. Couldn’t have done it with out all of you.”
We truly hope these carvings will stand as reminders of everything the soldiers did for our country and its people.
Our hearts go out to the grieving families of the heroes.
The first day of school is supposed to be an exciting experience. For many students, however, it is also a scary one because of all the new things they are about to discover and all those new people they are about to meet.
As most of the parents of preschoolers and first graders can’t wait for their little ones to start a new chapter in their life, one mom named Brittany Denison had her concerns for her son’s first day of kindergarten.
Her boy, 5-year-old Michael Murphey is born with a condition known as Treacher Collins syndrome characterized by distinctive abnormalities of the head and face. It affects people’s breathing, hearing, and eating, but it doesn’t in any way affect their mental capabilities. Speaking of Michael, Brittany says he’s very clever, maybe even more clever than most children his age.
As Michael was getting ready to start kindergarten, Brittany decided to share a plea on Facebook. She started her post with a quote from the 2017 movie Wonder; “Dear God, please make them be nice to him.”
She asked parents to teach their kids to be accepting and kind towards those that are somehow different. Instead of using words as “weird or scary,” she asked them to teach their little ones to use words such “different and unique.”
However, little did she know that her message would reach to so many people.
On August 16, as Michael was about to leave his home and embark on the adventure called kindergarten, a group of special people who had gathered in front of his house were waiting to make his day one of the most memorable ones.
Police officers and fire fighters were there to accompany Michael to schools. But they weren’t alone. Inside the huge fire truck, there were two of Michael’s favorite superheroes, Batman and Captain America.
Michael was overwhelmed and couldn’t hide his excitement. He and his sister Alison climbed into the fire truck and got to sound the sirens.
The moment they got to Mountain Peak Elementary, the principal and a group of teachers and students were waiting to greet the firefighters and the officers. As the superheroes were giving high-fives to the kids, Michael’s teacher, Mrs. Pearson, welcomed him with a hug.
“Then we walked him inside and I wiped a few tears from my eyes before dropping him off with his classmates,” Brittany wrote on Facebook. She was extremely thankful to everyone involved in making her son’s day the best ever.
Midlothian firefighter Andrew Gatlind was the one who stumbled upon Brittany’s post and organized everything after he shared his plans with Fire Chief Dale McCaskill who contacted the family.
“You don’t know what everyone’s going through,” he told NBC5. “So if you see somebody struggling, or if you see an opportunity to step in and be that hero for somebody, do it. You never know whose life you’re gonna touch or change.”
Bruce Willis and Demi Moore were considered one of the most famous and most influential Hollywood couples back in the day. They first met on the premiere of Stakeout, which Moore attended with her then-fiancé Emilio Estevez. However, the connection they felt was instant, and soon after, they started dating. In her memoir, Inside Out, Moore wrote of that serendipitous encounter. “I’d never encountered treatment like this before,” she confessed. “Bruce was so gallant- in his own boisterous way, a real gentleman. When I said it was time for me to go home, he offered to walk me to my car. He was so eager about it- Like a little boy who didn’t want to miss the ice-cream truck. When he asked for my number, I felt a wave of schoolgirl flutters.”
The couple has three daughters together, Rumer, Scout, and Tallulah.
Moore and Willis weren’t meant to stay together for life, at least as a couple. In 1989, they announced they were splitting and their divorce was finalized in 2000.
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At the time they separated, their eldest daughter, Rumer, was just 10 years old. The girls, however, were never affected by their parents’ decision to untie the knot because Moore and Willis remained very good friends. Even today, they spend plenty of time together as a family.
After the divorce, Willis spoke to Rolling Stones, and admitted he didn’t know what went wrong between him and Moore.
“I still love Demi. We’re very close,” he revealed. “We have three children whom we will continue to raise together, and we’re probably as close now as we ever were. We realize we have a lifelong commitment to our kids.
“Our friendship continues. The institution has been set aside … It’s difficult to live your life and marriage under a magnifying glass, which is what happens to movie star couples.”
Rumer, who opened up about her parents’ sacrifice said she’s forever grateful her mom and dad kept her and her sister shielded from the public eye.
“I don’t think I could have gotten luckier and couldn’t be more grateful for all the things that my parents have done to really make that happen,” she said in an interview with Sarah’s Backstage Pass.
“They put us first and I think that was one of the most important things that they did. I have friends whose parents can’t even be in the same room with each other and the only people that are really affected the most are the kids. It’s just sad. It’s really a bummer,” she added.
“I hope they can set an example for other families who may be going through that situation. I mean what could be better than having four parents? It’s an even bigger support system.”
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Rumer grew up away from the Hollywood glam. She spent much of her childhood in Hailey, Idaho. She followed into her parents’ footsteps from very early age and starred alongside her mom in Now and Then.
“It’s so cool to watch and it’s so funny to just see yourself so tiny,” she told the Huffington Post. “But I remember being on that set was just like heaven for me.
“All I wanted to do was talk to the older girls [Gaby Hoffmann, Christina Ricci, Ashleigh Aston Moore and Thora Birch] and feel like I was in it. It was so fun.”
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She also starred alongside her famous dad in the movies The Whole Nine Yards and Hostage. Rumer has also been part of Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, starring opposite Margot Robbie, Pretty Little Liars, Hawaii Five-O and 90210, among the rest.
She says she’s looking forward to sharing the screen with her mom and dad if the right project comes along the way.
Besides acting, Rumer was also part of Dancing with the Stars. She and her dancing partner Valentin Chmerkovskiy ended up winners.
When she was very young, Rumer had been bullied online. During the 2000’s, blogs started becoming famous in America, and one blogger, Perez Hilton, wrote a lot of offensive things about Rumer. Recalling the time she had to deal with the nasty comments, the young actress said: “They said I had a huge jaw. They said I had a ′potato head’,” Willis recalled. “When you’re 14 or 15, I didn’t really understand having value in myself yet. My mind went to, ‘OK, so if I get skinny or if I dress the right way or present myself very hyper-sexually and dress this way, then I’ll be valued’.”
That unpleasant experience didn’t prevent Rumer from fulfilling her dreams and it definitely didn’t ruin her self-esteem.
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Rumer is a brave young woman who isn’t afraid to speak her mind. Recently, she spoke of her mental struggles and her anxiety. “I get nauseous and my heart won’t slow down,” she shared on her Instagram, as reported by Page Six. “It sometimes feels like a force so much bigger than me has taken over the control panel in my [brain].
“I have to catch myself when I find myself focusing on just wishing it was somehow different.
“So here I am, sitting here feeling like I’m gonna melt, even though I know I won’t and just trying to lean into the discomfort as scary and painful as that is.”
We believe that when famous people speak openly about their mental health, it helps raise awareness and serves as a reminder that no matter who you are, the struggles are real.
Rumer is a beautiful young woman who inherited the best from both her mom and dad. And although she has big shoes to fill, we know her career will be as successful as that of Moore and Willis.
Some loves are just meant to last forever, much like that between Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. These two love birds have been together for 37 years and are going stronger with each passing day.
Despite being the one for one another, the couple never married and they believe that could be the reason why they stayed in love for that long.
Kurt and Goldie first met on the set of The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band in 1966. Back then, however, it seemed there was no chemistry between them, probably because of the fact that Goldie was 21 and Kurt was still a teenager. From that movie on, both went on to have extremely successful careers.
After their first film together, Kurt and Goldie both stared in Swing Shift in 1983 and that’s when they started dating. Four years later, they appeared in Overboard.
Fans have been eagerly waiting for the couple to appear in a movie together again but that didn’t happen until 2018 when they played Mr. and Mrs. Claus in The Christmas Chronicles. And now if you loved them in this movie, you will be thrilled to learn that The Christmas Chronicles 2 is to be released in November 2020.
Goldie, who has been married twice in the past, says that if she and Kurt had got married, they would have probably been divorced until now. “We have done just perfectly without marrying. I already feel devoted, and isn’t that what marriage is supposed to do?” Goldie told Woman’s Day. “So as long as my emotional state is in a state of devotion, honesty, caring, and loving, then we’re fine. I like waking up every day and seeing that he is there and knowing that I have a choice. There is really no reason to marry.”
Parents of four children, Kate Hudson, Oliver Hudson, Boston Russell and Wyatt Russell, who all followed into their parents’ footsteps and are very successful in the movie industry, and grandparents to six, this couple has it all.
“It’s also about not losing yourself in each other,” Goldie told Porter. “Being together, two pillars holding up the house and the roof, and being different, not having to agree on everything, learning how to deal with not agreeing. Everything’s a choice.”
Kurt and Goldie got stars on the walk of fame for their impressive acting careers. According to Today, when the two were honored, Kurt said, “Goldie to you, I owe my wonderful life. Simply put Goldie, I cherish you. All of the stars in the sky or on the boulevard don’t hold a candle to that.”
She, on the other hand, spoke of the secrets of their relationship and said, “Love, gratitude, compassion because sometimes every man or every woman will drive their partner crazy. Family. Fun. Laughs. Sex.”
Karen Donaldson, a body language expert, analyzed photos of Kurt and Goldie and said that they are almost always seen walking in unison which points to the fact that they are on the same level. “Goldie and Kurt walk in unison which tells us that they are also in sync with one another on a emotional level,” Donaldson said. “[It] tells us that they are affectionate towards each other. Plus, it helps that Kurt can’t keep his eyes off Goldie—a sign that he adores her.
“The way in which Kurt holds Goldie’s hands in both of his as he kisses her, shows a truly deep connection on an emotional and physical level,” Donaldson explained.
Speaking to Woman’s Magazine, Donaldson added that it is very much obvious that Kurt and Goldie feel comfortable with each other, something very important for a long-lasting relationship.
“This signals a long-lasting relationship, void of competition and full of acceptance,” she said.“A natural mirroring of your partners posture and body language is often seen in more established relationships that have a deep connection.”
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We guess what these two have is love for the storybooks, don’t you agree?
Being there for one another when we need it the most is what keeps humanity alive.
A woman named Darrien Middleton shares an uplifting story about her grandma, whom she calls Nana, and a young boy from the neighborhood.
Nana had been living in the same house for over 38 years and she wouldn’t change it for anything. Even when she was diagnosed with cancer, she refused to move in with Darrien, saying that all her memories were in that place. On top of that, she loved the neighborhood so very much and knew that people living nearby would help her whenever she needed anything.
Source: Love What Matters/ Darrien Middleton
Being a nurse and a full-time student, Darrien didn’t have much time to go and visit Nana as often as she wished, but she knew her grandma was taken care of by her neighbors, among which 7-year-old Caleb.
“The first time Nama and Caleb ever interacted was over an extra plate of food Nana had made and given to him. You would have thought Nana had given him a $100 bill. He was so grateful and thankful for a steak dinner,” Darrien shared with Love What Matters.
From that encounter on, Caleb visited the elderly lady five times a day making sure she had everything she needed. He even helped Darrien each time Nana had a chemo treatment.
Source: Love What Matters/ Darrien Middleton
“He doesn’t come from much, but you can tell he has been raised on love. He will bust out a dance move in a heartbeat, will go on and on about how much he loves school, and make you laugh until you cry. This kid deserves the love he has received from this post. He stands out from the norm and brings so much joy into everyone’s life he is around. I am so thankful for him and the love he has shown my grandmother. I know for certain it has helped her on her hardest days. He will never know how much I truly appreciate him. I hope one day he realizes the impact he has left on her life and mine as well,” Darrien wrote of the special boy.
Source: Love What Matters/ Darrien Middleton
The photo of Nana and Caleb sitting on the porch together went viral and became a synonym of friendship. “Age doesn’t matter, gender doesn’t matter, race doesn’t matter, they chose to love each other despite what everyone else is doing around them,” Darrien ended her post.
Unfortunately, Nana passed away, but she spent her last years surrounded with love.
Thank you Caleb for making such a change in this woman’s life.
Those people who are willing to go an extra mile and risk their own life for the sake of that of others are rare, and L/Cpl. Adam J. Marshall is one of them.
This brave man has been a trooper for many years, and since 2019, he is part of Troop 5 in the Grand Strand.
While on the job last Monday, Marshall heard of an accident which took place around a mile from where he was stationed. Apparently, a man and his dog ended up in a pond after their car flew off the road. They were trapped and needed immediate help, so Marshall didn’t hesitate even a bit, he rushed towards the scene and was willing to do all it took to save the passengers.
Once there, he noticed that the vehicle submerged almost completely. The man and his dog were running out of time, so Marshal jumped into the pond and tried to pull them out from the back window which was still above the waterline.
Explaining how the rescue mission unfolded, the South Carolina Department of Public Safety posted on their Facebook page: “He [Marshall] broke out the back window, which was the only part of the vehicle not completely underwater, but was unable to locate the driver and was unable to free him through the driver’s side door.”
Luckily, Midway Fire Rescue was on their way to the scene. When they arrived, they helped Marshall pull the man out from the passenger side door. The dog managed to get out as well.
“Midway Fire and EMS treated the man on shore and then, transported him to the hospital for further treatment,” the post continued. “We are so pleased to learn that the driver is expected to make a full recovery and his dog safely made it to shore during the rescue.
“Great job to L/Cpl. A.J. Marshall and those first responders from Midway Fire Rescue for your heroic acts and outstanding teamwork.”
They also thanked the people who found themselves at the scene and helped with the rescue.
The man’s son took to Twitter to express his gratitude to everyone involved in saving his father. “Hi, Im Jacob, Danas son, who was in the car,” he wrote. “I just wanted to thank every single person that was involved in the incident … Im astonished with the fearlessness of the trooper and anyone who was there … If theres any way i can contact him let me know. You guys are awesome.”
@MidwayFireResQ#COMMENDS@SCHP_Troop5 Trooper, Good Samaritans, and MFR Crews for Heroic Life Save. Trooper & citizens were in the pond when we arrived, MFR Crew was able to reach submerged vehicle and use tools & training to extricate driver & dog. THANKS Trooper, Citizens, FFs pic.twitter.com/LZjszp1Dim
Doctors who never give up on their patients, no matter how helpless things seem, are angels sent from Heaven. Such is plastic surgeon Peter Grossman. This incredible man did the impossible for a young girl whose life went miserable and unbearable in the blink of an eye.
This is the story of Zubaida Hasan from Afghanistan, but it is at the same time a story of compassion, hope, and not giving up.
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When she was nine, back in 2001, Zubaida was involved in a horrific accident. As she lit the small gas stove, it suddenly exploded and left her with severe burns. Her skin practically melted and left one of her arms glued to her body. Her chin got attached to her chest and she was unable to close her eyes or her mouth.
Muhammad, her father, took her to the nearest hospital, but he was told by the doctors that nothing could be done, thus advised to let her die. He, however, never thought of giving up on his daughter and took her to the US military base in Kabul. The devastated man begged the doctors to help Zubaida. They don’t work with civilians, but seeing the pain the little girl was going through was more than enough for the doctors to agree to take her in and do all in their power to ease her pain.
Soon after, they arranged for Zubaida and her family to go to America where Dr. Grossman was waiting for them.
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Over the course of a year, Zubaida undergone 11 surgeries, with more to come. Despite the pain, this girl showed remarkable strength because she knew each surgery will take her a step closer to gaining her old life back.
Dr. Grossman helped Zubaida look normal again. Her transformation was incredible. Not only he changed her life and gave her a second chance, but he and his wife enrolled her to the local school where she learned to speak English in just 12 weeks time.
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Believe it or not, Zubaida could run, dance, and sing again. Her heart was filed with delight and enormous gratitude for the doctor and his team.
After the time spent in America, it was time for her to get back home to Afghanistan, with the promise that she would come to visit her doctor again. He, on the other hand, said his house is always open for Zubaida who can go to America whenever she wants.
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Take a look at the incredible story in the video below. This is definitely worth sharing with your family and friends.
