Whenever we see a man or a woman in uniform, we somehow feel the urge to greet them and thank them for all they do for our country. These people are brave, devoted, and real-life heroes. Their lives after serving in countries where there are wars, however, are completely changed. The trauma stays with them long after they get back home from deployment.
Such was the case with Sgt. Josh Marino, a young man who served in Baghdad. There, he found himself in a middle of a mortar attack and that caused him a traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress disorder.
Source: Screencap/Mutual Rescue via YouTube
Sadly, Marino felt so lonely and as though no one could understand what he was going through that he decided to take his own life.
“I took out one of my knives, I set it to the side, I wrote a letter up on my computer and set it there on the desk top,” Marino told Mutual Rescue.
Source: Screencap/Mutual Rescue via YouTube
Before doing that, he decided to go outside and have one last cigarette. Little this man knew that an encounter that followed would change his life forever. Namely, as he smoked what was supposed to be his last smoke, he heard meowing coming from a bush. “This little black and white kitten was walking out of the bushes. He just walked up and started rubbing up against my leg and let me pet him.”
This was a turning point at how Marino saw his life.
And I stopped thinking about all my problems and I started thinking about all of his problems, what I could do to help him,” he said.
Source: Screencap/Mutual Rescue via YouTube
Marino couldn’t leave the cat alone, so he returned in the days to come to bring him some water and some food, usually cans of tuna.
“This cat gave me something to look forward to everyday. He didn’t see anything wrong with me, he didn’t see any sort of flaws or imperfections. It felt safe.”
Source: Screencap/Mutual Rescue via YouTube
A couple of days passed by, and these two became very good friends. But then, something terrible happened. The cat was nowhere to be seen after Marino went to feed him one day. He was devastated. This girl, Becky, whom Marino started dating in the meantime, suggested that they go to an adoption event so that he can find a cat.
To everyone’s surprise, the cat that saved Marino’s life was there, waiting to be taken home by someone special. This time, he knew he couldn’t risk losing his pal again so he filled adoption papers right away.
Source: Screencap/Mutual Rescue via YouTube
The cat was named Scout and was now part of a huge family. Marino and his girlfriend moved in together and Scout got to hang out with Becky’s three cats.
“That little kitten made me realize that I wasn’t just a sack of damaged goods,” Marino said.
Source: Screencap/Mutual Rescue via YouTube
The family was very happy together, but then, they learned that Scout had leukemia. He had undergone blood transfusion treatments which gave them a few weeks to spend together, but he passed away.
Today, although Scout is no longer part of Marino’s life, this man says that he owns it all to the special cat who entered his life unexpectedly and changed it forever. Marino now works as a consultant of disabled veterans at the Department of Veteran Affairs and has earned a Master’s degree in clinical rehabilitation and mental health counseling.
Source: Screencap/Mutual Rescue via YouTube
Take a look at this touching mutual rescue story in the video below. Grab your tissues, you are going to need them, that’s for sure.
As much as it represents larger-than-life symbol of the entertainment business and glamour, Hollywood is at the same time a place where many dreams are crashed.
Over the years, a huge number of actors and actresses experienced the Hollywood glam, but not many were destined to stay there for long. Those who did, however, left a mark and even changed the industry forever.
One actor who made an impact and then somehow faded out of the spotlight is Val Kilmer.
Born on December 31, 1959 in Los Angeles, to parents who were not in any way related to the acting business, Val showed immense talent for acting from very early age. He attended Chatsworth High School together with Kevin Spacey and Mare Winningham and then the Hollywood Professional School. Val became the youngest ever person at the time to be accepted into the Juilliard School’s Drama Division in New York.
After Juilliard, young Val found himself conquering the New York City theater scene. What followed were some roles in blockbusters, and eventually, he ended up being part of some of the most iconic movies such as Top Gun, where he starred opposite Tom Cruise. This movie helped Val make a name for himself almost overnight. All of a sudden, everyone was obsessed with this young actor’s charming looks and undeniable talent.
During the 80s, Val starred opposite Michelle Pfeiffer in the ABC afterschool Special One Too Many. Rumors were that the two were a thing, but neither ever denied or confirmed that. Val, however, wrote a song about her titled “The Pfeiffer Howls at the Moon,” which only made the magazines speculate about their alleged relationship even further back in the day.
On the set of Willow, in 1988, Val met his future wife, actress Joanne Whalley. They had two children together before they decided to put a stop on their marriage eight years later.
“You just don’t understand humility until you have children and get divorced,” Val told Elle magazine about the divorce.
“I was very hurt and very angry and so was she. But when kids are involved, you either become friends with respect or you become mortal enemies.”
In 1991, Val played the iconic role of Jim Morrison in The Doors. He provided the vocals for the movie’s soundtrack, showing the world just another talent of his.
Others movies that followed and marked Val’s career, among the rest, are Tombstone,True Romance, and Batman.
Batman Forever ended up being the year’s highest grossing film, raking in some $336.6 million at the box office.
Although playing this superhero put Val on the pedestal, he felt like he didn’t want to do the sequels and decided to stare alongside Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in Heat. This decision didn’t turn out to be the best one because the refusal sort of broke Val’s reputations and roles started to dry up. On top of that, he was believed to be tough to work with on set.
In 2015, Val underwent a surgery due to throat cancer and lost his natural voice. When asked what he truly misses about his old voice, he said, “That I had one! That I didn’t laugh like a pirate.”
Val Kilmer will reprise the role of Lt. Tom “Iceman” Kazansky in Top Gun: Mavericks, coming out in May, 2022.
Laila, a three year old girl from a small town in the south of France, spent days inside her family’s apartment with her mother’s dead body before neighbors decided to check on the family and discovered the horrifying truth.
Some of the neighbors got concerned for Laila and her mom because they hadn’t seen them in days so they decided to see if everything was fine. When they got to the apartment, they noticed it was locked, but then they saw Laila and her puppy at the balcony. The girl seemed confused. When they asked her about her mom, she said that her mommy was tired and sleeping for some time.
This raised a red flag and the neighbors decided to break the apartment’s door and get inside. There, they noticed chaos. There were plenty of empty beer and wine bottles all over the place. The kitchen was full of dirty dishes and Laila’s mother’s lifeless body was on the bed.
The neighbors realized that Laila spent days with her mom’s dead body. She ate canned food and even fed her puppy some.
Laila was taken by social services who provided her with medical assistance. Not much is known about Laila’s father or whether or not she has family.
We hope the future would be bright for this little girl.
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For someone to be successful it doesn’t only take hard work and determination, but a little support from the community as well.
13-year-old Jaequan Faulkner from Minneapolis is a young entrepreneur who decided to open a hot dog stand and make some money on his own instead of asking for a pocket money from his parents.
Once the Bike Cops for Kids learned of Jaequan’s stand, they decided to promote his business on their Facebook page. This was a huge success as may people were eager to try his hot dogs. However, there were also those who didn’t like what he was doing and filed a complaint against him saying he was working without a permit.
Source: YouTube/ Kare 11
When officials learned that Jaequan was still a teen, they decided to help him instead of shutting his business down.
“When I realized what it was, I said, ‘No, we’re not going to just go and shut him down’ like we would an unlicensed vendor,” Minneapolis Environmental Health Director Dan Huff told KCPQ-13.
“We can help him get the permit. Let’s make this a positive thing and help him become a business owner.”
That is exactly what happened. The employees at the health department chipped in and helped the young man get the $87 10-day permit. What’s most, they got him a tent for shade, meat thermometers, and a hand-washing station for food handling.
Source: YouTube/ Kare 11
Jaequan’s story spread around the community and the Northside Economic Opportunity Network, a non-profit organization, decided to step in as well. They help “underserved entrepreneurs” and taught Jaequan basic business principles like financing, marketing, and pricing.
After the permit expired, the young man’s stand was relocated. Finally, the church collected money for his next permits until it was time for him to get back to school.
Source: YouTube/ Kare 11
“It’s the cooking and the people,” Jaequan told KCPQ-13 of why he does it. “I see someone go by with a frown on their face. I’m there with a smile, then I see a smile on their face. I just made a smile on somebody’s face by selling them a hot dog.”
“My auntie always told me, ‘Can’t nobody stop you but you.’ If you say ‘I can’t do that,’ well, then you just set yourself up for failure,” he told CNBC.
We are very glad that young people like Jaequan are interested in starting their own business and we truly hope that one day “Mr. Falkner’s Old-Fashioned-Hot-Dogs” would grow into a big business.
For more on the story go to the video below and don’t forget to SHARE it with your family and friends on Facebook!
There isn’t anything cuter out there than babies. Whether it is a human bundle of joy or a baby animal, whenever we see one, we like to hold them and cuddle with them.
When it comes to animals, this isn’t only true for cats and dogs, but the little creatures living on the farm too. Well, what’s not to love about fluffy little animals?
Source: YouTube
If you are an animal lover yourself, the following video will certainly make your day. It is a compilation of funny baby goats jumping and running around. Also, one thing that these animals seem to enjoy the most is climbing on things, no matter if that’s a huge doll house or other animals.
They are not only great around humans but dogs too.
They are so darn cute. We really needed the laugh! To see the baby goats having the time of their life go to the video below.
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Waiting long hours at the airport can be tiring. With all those people rushing to get their flights, the long queues, and the pressure of flying, one has to double check all their belongings needed in order to board the plane. As it turns out, it’s not really that uncommon for passengers to forget their passport, luggage, or ticket, but what about a child? This is definitely something we think happens only in the movies. Does “Home Alone” and the McAllisters ring a bell?
Well, one obviously highly forgetful mother did exactly that. She boarded the plane, and as it took off, she remembered her baby was still in the terminal.
She was heading to Malaysia from Saudi Arabia, and since that flight takes around eight hours, she had to beg the pilot to turn the plane around. Distressed and in panic, this mother feared for her child’s safety, although it was her fault for allowing something like that to happen.
Flying the plane around seemed like a mission impossible, but it was a kid left all alone at a huge airport in question, so the pilot asked for permission to return.
According to a YouTube video, he calls the traffic controllers and says, “May God be with us. Can we come back or what?” He then explains the reason for his requests saying, “This flight is requesting to come back…a passenger forgot her baby in the waiting area, the poor thing.”
The operators couldn’t believe what they were hearing and took a minute or two to come around saying, “This is totally a new one for us” after which they gave the pilot a green light to land.
Thankfully, the mother soon had her child in her arms. No one really knew how it happened for her to left the poor kid behind in the first place. People assume the crowd at the airport made everything too hectic for her so her brain just stopped working.
We honestly hope she will never let something like this happen ever again. Although we understand all moms are too busy, and many times too tired because of all the commitments on their plate, forgetting a child at the airport is something we can’t really understand.
Check the video below for more information on this “crazy” story and don’t forget to SHARE it with your friends on Facebook!
On Tuesday, a shooter gunned down 21 people at Robb Elementary School. The nineteen children whose lives were claimed were aged between seven and 10. Two of their teachers lost their lives too as they tried to protect their students.
The day started as any other, and no one could have ever predicted that a man at the other side of town would fire the opening shots of one of America’s deadliest mass shootings.
The killer, Salvador Ramos, first shot his grandmother in the head and then announced his plans on Facebook in a series of text messages he sent to a girl from Europe he met online.
One of the victims was a girl named Amerie Jo Garza. He father, Angel Garza, responded to the aftermath of the shooting still unaware that his girl was among the killed. Speaking to CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Angel explained that he attended to a girl “covered in blood, head to toe.”
“I thought she was injured, I asked her what was wrong and she said she’s OK,” Garza told Cooper. “She was hysterical, saying that they shot her best friend, that they killed her best friend, she’s not breathing and she was trying to call the cops.
Then he asked the young girl for her friend’s name. “She told me, she said Amerie,” he said, before breaking down and weeping on air.
“She was so sweet, Mr. Cooper,” the grief-stricken father said after an emotional pause in which he hugged a framed photo of his daughter. “She was the sweetest little girl who did nothing wrong. She listened to her mom and dad, she always brushed her teeth, she was creative, she made things for us, she never got in trouble in school.”
“I just want to know what she did to be a victim,” he said crying.
Sweet Amerie died a hero. Her grandma, Berlinda Arreola, told The Daily Beast that her granddaughter tried to call 911 on her cellphone before the 18-year-old gunman killed her.
“And instead of grabbing it and breaking it or taking it from her, he shot her,” Arreola said. “She was sitting right next to her best friend. Her best friend was covered in her blood.”
Amerie had just celebrated her birthday on May 10, her dad told Cooper. The phone was a birthday gift.
“She’d been wanting a phone for so long and we finally got it for her,” Angel said and added that other children confirmed how his daughter died while trying to call the police.
“She just tried to call the police … and I guess he just shot her,” he said through tears.
“How do you look at this girl and shoot her?” he said.
We are so very sorry for all the lives lost. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims’ families.
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Devastating news has just hit the headlines and left millions in shock.
Hollywood actor Ray Liotta has tragically passed away.
Liotta, who was born in New Jersey in 1954, is best known for his star turns in films such as Goodfellas in which he played the main character Henry Hill as he navigated the world of being a gangster. He’s also famous for playing Shoeless Joe in Field of Dreams.
The actor’s publicist, Jennifer Allen, said the he died in his sleep in the Dominican Republic, where he was filming his latest movie, as per Press Association news agency.
His fiancee Jacy Nittolo was on location at the time of his death, Allen said. Liotta was a father to daughter Karsen.
Liotta received many awards throughout the years. Back in 2016, he told PA agency that he regretted how he handled his career, including turning down a chance to audition for Tim Burton’s Batman movie. “I wish I’d handled my career differently but, you know, hindsight…”
“When I did my first movie, Tim Burton was getting ready to do Batman and he was interested in me because he wanted it to be edgy and real. I thought, ‘Batman? That’s a stupid idea’, even though he had just done one of my favourite movies of all time, Beetlejuice. So yes, I regret not auditioning for that.”
In recent years Liotta appeared in Marriage Story and No Sudden Move.
A friend of Amber Heard’s, iO Tillett Wright, who met Heard back in the day through a mutual friend testified on Tuesday claiming he acted as a mediator of the couple whenever things turned heated between them. Heard and Wright have been seen pictured together multiple times over the last decade and rumors are that he was “the friend” she defecated Depp’s bed with.
The prerecorded testimony played to the courtroom shows Wright explaining how Heard sent him a message in May 2016 saying she wanted to talk to him. Later, over the phone, after she put him on speakerphone, she told him how her then-husband, Johnny Depp, accused them of the incident mentioned above, to what Wright laughed. However, he then realized that the actor wasn’t joking.
“I could hear him walk away from the phone,” Wright said. “He came clomping back down the stairs and I heard like a [punches hand] noise and then the phone dropped and he said to her, ‘Oh? You think I hit you? You think I fucking hit you? What if I peel your fucking hair back?’ And then I heard the phone drop again and then I heard her scream.”
Wright claimed that he then called Heard’s neighbor and friend Raquel Pennington and called 911 although he was in New York while the couple was in Los Angeles.
As he was good friends with Heard, Wright became a close friend with Depp too. During the prerecorded testimony, Wright said that Depp believed Heard was cheating on him with her costars.
He continued saying that Depp would get jealous sometimes and feel crazy, and had to get it under control but was “kind, generous, and loyal” when he wasn’t under influence of alcohol.
Further, he spoke of a joke Depp made during the now ex-couple’s wedding. “I was walking with Johnny and congratulating him that they pulled it off and they did it,” Wright explained. “And he said, ‘We’re married. Now I can punch her in the face and no one can do anything about it.'”
Wright, however, said that he never really witnessed Depp physically abusing Heard.
Depp is suing his ex on the grounds that she defamed him in an op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post. She didn’t mention his name, but he claimed that was implied and he lost out on development deals as a result.
Heard is counter-suing Depp, claiming that he launched a smear campaign to paint her domestic abuse allegations as “fake” and a “hoax” orchestrated by her.
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You call it luck, or you call it hard work and determination, actress Gabourey “Gabby” Sidibe, like most of the Hollywood celebrities, perhaps needed both when she auditioned for the role of Precious which earned her the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead, in addition to nominations for the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Actress.
This is what Gabby’s journey to Hollywood looked like.
She was born on May 6, 1983 in Brooklyn, New York, to a mother who was a street performer and a dad who worked as a cab driver.
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From very early age, Gabby showed interest in becoming a comedian and drew inspiration from actress Mo’Nique. In fact, Gabby wanted to be just like her, probably never assuming she would get to play alongside her in the future.
“I always thought she was really funny, but also she’s very confident in the way she looks, and that’s what I prayed about,” she explained in an interview with the NY Times. “At that time in my life, I wanted to be everybody else, but I wanted to want to be Gabby.”
Gabby studied psychology at Mercy College and worked as a part-time receptionist in order to be able to pay for her tuition.
Then, one, day, a friend of hers called her and told her there was an audition for Lee Daniel’s upcoming movie Precious. Gabby knew the character well as she had read the book the movie was based on, Push: A Novel. With no previous experience of that type, Gabby took the book in her hands and went to pursue her dream. There were around 300 women who auditioned for the role, but Gabby was the perfect fit, and Lee Daniel’s knew that from the beginning.
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“She’s way smarter than me, way, way smarter than me, and most of the actors I’ve worked with,” Daniels told the New York Times. “I love her with all my soul.”
”I have to be really protective of her because she’s baring me her soul,” he added. ”A lot of her truth is in her.”
Youtube/LegendMariah
The movie was a huge success and suddenly, all eyes were on Gabourey Sidibe.
Her name became well known in Hollywood and everyone agreed that what she showed on screen was marvelous and extraordinary. Her noteworthy performance elevated her into the national cinematic dialogue for which she received the award ‘New Hollywood’ at the Hollywood Film Awards and the ‘Virtuosos Award’ at the Santa Barbara Film Festival.
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Gabby later spoke of her career and said that it is usually the case with Oscar nominees to get on the top in Hollywood but that wasn’t really the case with her. “I work really, really hard though. I work really, really hard. An no, the Hollywood seas didn’t part for me in the same way that it might have for maybe Anna Kendrick who was nominated for the first time that year as well, who then went on to star in films and television and the whole thing,” she said. “The seas did not part that same way for me and I assume that there are a few factors that made that so, but I am still working 10 years later.”
Youtube/ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
In recent years, “Precious” was part of the movie Yelling to the Sky, the Showtime series The Big C, American Horror Story, and the Fox musical drama series Empire.
Gabby doesn’t really want to speak of her weight, but back in 2009 she told Oprah Winfrey, “It’s something I’ve had to work at. My first diet started when I was six years old,” and added, “I’ve never been a small girl. One day I had to sit down with myself and decide that I loved myself no matter what my body looked like and what other people thought about my body.”
Three years ago, the 37-year-old actress published her book This is Just My Face: Try Not to Stare in which she spoke of her panic attacks and depression, and how her mother never understood her condition seriously.
“When I was sad about something, she told me to ‘get a thicker skin.’ When I was upset, she told me to ‘stop nitpicking.’ My mom has always had faith that things would be okay, but saying ‘tomorrow will be a better day’ wasn’t enough for me,” Gabby told People.
She is dating boyfriend Brandon Frankel, a marketing expert, and is very happy with him. The two share lots of cute pictures of themselves on Instagram, like the one below, where Frankel calls his girlfriend his queen and writes, “You’re a ball of sunshine, so generous and giving of your time and love- and your excitement and passion for life and people/things you love truly lights up my heart. You’ve taught me so much about life, myself, and the world that is truly invaluable. You make me push myself to be a better me, even though you probably don’t even realize you are. I love you more and more every single day- which seems impossible, but continually amazes me.”
When little children ask how babies are born, adults are always left startled. The truth is that it’s not that easy for this complex process to be explained to a young child and that is why grown ups tend to use simple words or even joke how the newborns are brought by the stork.
For one young girl named Erica, this process is not something unknown. On the contrary, she described it so profoundly during lesson time that her teacher couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
The teacher starts her story, which happened few years back, by explaining that they had a story telling class when Erica came to the board with a pillow stuffed under her shirt. As she started talking, she said: “This is Luke, my baby brother, and I’m going to tell you about his birthday.”
As the rest of the kids watched with amazement, Erica continued: “First, Mommy and Daddy made him as a symbol of their love, and then Daddy put a seed in my mother’s stomach, and Luke grew in there. He ate for 9 months through an umbrella cord.”
At this point, the teacher who shared this story was sad she didn’t have her camera rolling so she could take a video of the detailed yet innocent explanation.
Source: Shutterstock
“Then, about two Saturdays ago, my mother starts going, ‘Oh, oh, oh!” Erica said as she put a hand behind her back and groaned. “She walked around the house for, like an hour, “Oh, oh, oh!” At this point, bright Erica started doing a hysterical duck-walk, holding her back and groaning. “My father called the middle wife. She delivers babies, but she doesn’t have a sign on the car like the Domino’s man. They got my mother to lay down in bed like this.
“And then, pop! My mother had this bag of water she kept in there in case he got thirsty, and it just blew up and spilled all over the bed, like psshhheew!”
She had her legs spread and mimicked water flowing. “Then the middle wife starts going push, push, and breathe, breathe. They start counting, but they never even got past 10. Then, all of a sudden, out comes my brother. He was covered in yucky stuff they said was from the play-center, so there must be a lot of stuff inside there.”
Following her thorough explanation on how babies are born, Erica took a bow and returned to her seat.
The teacher was so impressed that she gave her the loudest applause.
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Cora’s story started when her parents learned they were expecting her. At first, everything seemed normal, but as the pregnancy progressed, the family received some devastating news. The little one had an abnormal heart, or half-heart syndrome (HLHS). She also had a hole in her diaphragm.
The day the parents learned how grim their unborn daughter’s condition was and that she could not possibly live with such flaws, the father decided her to be named Cora. “My husband Derek chose the name “cora” for the sandwiches at Cheesecake Factory because it resembles the Spanish term “corazon”, which means heart. I cried and replied ‘It’s beautiful’ when he suggested it,” Cora’s mom shared.
Courtesy of Shannon Welton
The parents did all in their power to transfer their medical care to the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital.When they finally switched, doctors there ruled the hole in the diaphragm out. That was great news and meant the baby still had a chance.
On the day when the induction was supposed to take place, mom Shannon received a phone call and learned the birth of her baby needed to be postponed for some time because of an infection in the hospital’s operating rooms. Later, however, the rooms were closed and she was transferred to OHSU in Portland, Oregon.
Courtesy of Shannon Welton
Shannon described the moment the process of birth was about to start and what was happening afterwards. “I puked again, and I could feel Cora attempting to give birth. My nurse was urgently calling for a doctor to come to my room while on the phone. I remember being terrified as I glanced at Derek. ‘…She’ll have to deliver Cora herself!’ I muttered to him. I knew Cora would require quick medical attention after she was born, and I was terrified she wouldn’t get it because she was due right away and we didn’t have a doctor.”
The doctor then appeared and this mom was told to push. Baby Cora Orianna Lee Welton was born on May 28th, 2019, at 7:09 a.m., weighing 6 lbs 15 oz and measuring 19 inches long.
“She was pink and sobbing when she emerged, and she was placed on my stomach. She had a lot of hair, a cute dimple on her chin, and the most gorgeous blue eyes I’d ever seen,” Shannon described her baby girl.
Courtesy of Shannon Welton
“Cora underwent several echocardiograms, a CT scan, and was prescribed prostaglandin to keep a vessel called the Ductus open so that blood could flow back to her heart from her lungs. Cora’s prescription made her forget to breathe on occasion. We saw her during a nasty apnea period the day she had her CT scan. This was the first time our child had experienced something so terrible.”
The sweet baby had her open-heart surgery at just two days old. “It was sad to see Cora after the surgery. Because her chest was still open, we had to wear masks in her room. She was very pale due to poor oxygen saturation and blood pressure. She appeared to be huge and lifeless. They administered Cora a variety of drugs over the next several days in an attempt to boost blood flow to her lungs. Her body began to swell as a result of the numerous medications she was taking,” the mother explained.
Courtesy of Shannon Welton
A day after the surgery, the couple’s older daughter, 21-month-old Chanel, met her baby sister and was over the moon.
Sadly, Cora’s SATS and blood pressure weren’t improving. Doctors then discovered that her pulmonary arteries were narrowed.
As a result, the surgeon decided they needed to wash out Cora’s chest. Sadly, this didn’t really work and they booked her for a cardiac catheterization the next day to try to figure out what was causing her blood pressure to be so low.
Courtesy of Shannon Welton
“Cora went to the cath lab the next morning for her surgery. On her shunt, they used a stent to keep a blood channel open. They thought it was a success when she came out! Her SATS had improved, and they were optimistic that this would be all she needed. And she did fantastically well for the next two days! Epinephrine, one of her blood pressure meds, was successfully weaned. She also had a Peritoneal Dialysis drain to assist remove fluid from her abdomen and give her kidneys room to begin working. Because of the fluid and drugs, she was quite bloated. Because of the fluid, her birth weight had doubled by one week after she was born. It was painful to see her grow that large. However, the PD appeared to be assisting her! The Lord had heard our prayers and had answered them!” Shannon explained in her post.
“Our tiny girl, though, began to struggle once more. Her doctors suspected she could require more surgery, but they wanted to have a CT scan first to figure out what exactly needed to be fixed. Because the CT scan revealed nothing remarkable, they assumed she had pulmonary hypertension, which means her lungs’ capillaries were constricted. As a result, they prescribed Cora a medicine to assist dilate her pupils. Fortunately, this appeared to be of assistance! They kept a tight eye on her over the weekend, hoping for continuing progress.
“A phone call from the PICU woke us up at 1:07 a.m. on Monday, June 10th. As Derek answered my phone, I can still hear it clearly in my mind. ‘Is this Cora’s father?’ Cora was having a very difficult night, according to her, and they had maxed out her Epi, but her pressures were still too low. They were preparing to put her on ECMO, or an artificial heart and lung machine. An hour later, Ashok called to inform us that she had been placed on ECMO and that another surgery would be performed first thing in the morning. We were terrified. We were well aware of the gravity of ECMO. It’s as though you’re on life support. That so many people who try it never get off.”
Cora had her second open-heart surgery. The doctor explained that if this surgery wasn’t successful, there was nothing more they could do surgically for baby Cora.
The following day, Cora opened her tiny eyes and was removed off ECMO two days after her second surgery. She was fitted with a feeding tube and the progress was evident.
As she needed to shed more fluids, she was placed on hemodialysis to help her body rid itself from the fluids. The family went to check on their daughter, but the moment they sat in the car they received a phone call. The nurse told them Cora wasn’t doing well and was receiving CPR.
After 90 minutes of CPR, they could finally reconnect her to the ECMO circuit. When they went to check on her on Father’s Day, Cora was swollen.
“A head ultrasound revealed a few small regions on Cora’s brain that were damaged after 90 minutes of CPR. The doctors hoped the damage wouldn’t be severe, and it didn’t appear to be because Cora was still awake and wiggling. They did, however, connect her to an EEG for a day to monitor her brain activity. They were able to remove the EEG the next morning because everything appeared to be normal! She received a new breathing tube because the one she had was beginning to leak, a new IV, and a Bronchoscopy to clear her lungs over the next few days. The 20th of June was a memorable day. Since the first time she went to surgery, Cora has looked her finest. She really appeared to be so lovely and at ease,” Shannon explained.
Courtesy of Shannon Welton
Her heart was ready to beat on its own, but her lungs weren’t so they relocated her ECMO cannulas from her chest to her neck as a result. Doctors said that if everything went properly, they would seal her chest. She went to the OR for the third time.
“However, unlike her previous two procedures, this one did not proceed as planned. We had the first of several unpleasant conversations with the Cardiologist on Saturday morning. Cora’s Aorta was bleeding uncontrollably. That night, they gave her a liter of blood because they were afraid she wouldn’t make it through the weekend.”
Over the weekend the bleeding stopped, but the parents now needed to make a decision. According to Shannon’s post, they were given three options, “Stay at Doernbecher and continue on our current path, start comfort care and let her go, or transfer back to Seattle Children’s Hospital in the hopes that she would improve enough to be a candidate for a heart and lung transplant one day. We were devastated to be forced to make this decision.”
Courtesy of Shannon Welton
They decided choosing Seattle was possibly the best they could go with, but at the same time, they were aware that their girl’s time on Earth was coming to an end.
“We opted to spend the entire day with our darling Cora on Wednesday. It had been a difficult day. I changed her diaper for the first time, nurse Holly clothed her in a cute outfit I provided, and we both got to hold her for a few hours. A selfless photographer from the Portland area took family portraits for us. We sang songs to Cora, read books to her, and expressed our gratitude to her for everything she has taught us. We were happy for her to begin her Heavenly mission, even though we knew we would miss her terribly.
“On the morning of June 27th, 2019, we dressed up to say our goodbyes to Cora. We put on the nicest clothes that we had with us. Cora’s hair was rinsed, and I used a washcloth to carefully wipe her body. I swaddled her firmly and put her in clean clothing with our favorite headband. Chanel kissed Cora on the forehead when we picked her up. We advised her to say her goodbyes. ‘Bye-bye, Baby Cora,’ she said. My mother said her goodbyes and escorted Chanel away from Cora, leaving Derek and me alone.”
Courtesy of Shannon Welton
Baby Cora was gone. From her mother’s arms, she slipped to the arms of God.
“Finally, she peacefully transitioned from my arms to the arms of our wonderful Savior. She had finally found relief from the stresses of life,” Shannon wrote in her post.
Courtesy of Shannon Welton
Rest in peace baby Cora. You are dearly missed.
This story and the photos have been shared by Cora’s mother, Shannon Welton.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.
Please SHARE this heartbreaking story with your family and friends on Facebook to honor Cora’s short but meaningful life.
13-year-old Tim from Texas has spent most of his life at the foster care system. He ended up there at the age of just three, and sadly, 10 years later, he still hasn’t found a forever family to call his own.
The sad reality is that a number of children never get a chance to be adopted. They simply age out of the system and are left to fend for themselves, with many of them ending on the streets, unable to find a job or a place to stay.
Tim has always dreamed of having someone to call him their son. In fact, he wanted that so badly that his caseworkers flew with him to the other part of the country so that he could be on the Wednesday’s Child program where he was given the chance to ask from the viewers to help him find a home.
This loving boy, who has been going from one home to another, said he’s a true angel and that his potential family won’t ever have any problems with him.
Throughout the program, photos of Tim from different stages of his life were shown on the screen. Back in the day, when he first entered the system, he had big bright eyes full of hope, but as years went by, he started losing that spark because he got tired of looking for security with a forever family.
“Kind of like being in a prison without walls. You got runners, but then where you gonna [sic] go if you run? Absolutely nowhere but right back to where you ran from,” he explained. “I know I want a mom and dad at least,” Tim added.
Image Credit: KHOU11
In a mom, he’s hoping to find someone caring and understanding. “Someone that cares, who’s always worried. I may seem embarrassed sometimes (by her worrying) but she’ll still be wondering if I’m OK. She’ll ask how my day is every time I walk through the door,” Tim said.
He dreams that his forever father would be his personal hero. Someone who will throw a ball around with him and teach him about what it means to be a man. “If I go outside, he’ll go outside with me. He’ll give me some normalcy.” Tim said.
He also said that he would love it if the family has other children too because he really wants to have siblings.
Finding a family means he would no longer need to care what his life would be like after he reaches 18.
“Freedom. Freedom to go out the door when I want and them not worrying about me coming back or not, because they know they can trust me,” this sweet boy explained.
For more information on how to adopt Tim please contact LaQueena Warren at [email protected].
Most times, all a person needs in order to thrive is a little TLC. Without that, we may feel vulnerable and never gather the courage to shine, just like one little girl named Michaela DePrince, born Mabinty Bangura on January 6, 1995, who grew up in an orphanage and was dubbed a “devil’s child” because of her vitiligo.
This girl’s father was killed during the Sierra Leone’s civil war and her mother died of starvation. Not knowing what to do with her, Michaela’s uncle placed her at an orphanage when she was just three years old. There, children were ranked from 1 to 27, with number 1 being the favorite child. Michaela was ranked 27. Everyone believed that she was possessed by an evil entry because of the white spots on her skin. Speaking of those times, Michaela recalled: “They thought of me as a devil’s child. They told me every day how I wasn’t going to get adopted because nobody would want a devil’s child.”
Life in Sierra Leone was tough. The civil war began on 23 March 1991 when the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), with support from the special forces of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), intervened in Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow the Joseph Momoh government. It lasted 11 years, leaving over 50,000 dead.
One night, as Michaela was walking back from school with her teacher, they came across three drunk soldiers. When the three men noticed the teacher was pregnant they cut her stomach open to see whether she was carrying a boy or a girl. When they saw the fetus was a girl, they cut off the teacher’s arms and legs and one of them stabbed a machete into Michaela’s stomach. She then blacked out, but doctors managed to save her life.
Source: Michaela DePrince/ Facebook
During those tough times, Michaela stumbled upon a discarded issue of Dance Magazine. “There was a lady on it, she was on her tippy-toes, in this pink, beautiful tutu. I had never seen anything like this, a costume that stuck out with glitter on it, with just so much beauty. I could just see the beauty in that person and the hope and the love and just everything that I didn’t have. And I just thought: ‘Wow! This is what I want to be,’“ she recalled.
Luckily, her dream came true after she was adopted by an American couple who lost their three children. Once in the States, Michaela, who was five at the time, was enrolled into the Rock School of Dance in Philadelphia. Her new mom and dad, Charles and Elaine DePrince, were perfectly aware of the girl’s love and passion for dancing and did their best to support her.
Once, she asked her ballet teacher whether the white spots on her skin would stand on her way to success to what the teacher replied that she didn’t even notice them as she was way too busy admiring her dancing.
As she grew older, some of her other teachers told Michaela’s mom that she could not pursue a career as a ballerina because of her skin color, saying that they didn’t want to put “a lot of effort and money into the Black dancers because they just get fat and get big boobs and big thighs.”
These words only made Michaela work even harder. “I’m still trying to change the way people see black dancers, that we can become delicate dancers, that we can be a ballerina.”
Today, the little girl that was once dubbed “the devil’s child” is an ambassador for War Child Holland, which helps kids affected by conflict all over the world. She is a famous ballerina, a soloist at the Boston Ballet, featured in Beyoncé and Madonna music videos, and starred in the film adaptation of the ballet Coppelia.
Even though you might have had a terrible past and even though you might have been through a lot and might be still going through a lot, if you have something that you love and that makes you happy and that gives you that feeling inside to continue growing up and that makes you want to have a good future then you should focus on that and not focus on the negative.”
Take a look at the video about Michaela’s life journey and SHARE this inspiring story with your family and friends on Facebook.
Kirk Douglas will always be remembered as a Hollywood icon and an unforgettable actor. His career spanned seven decades, a time during which he played in a number of classics which are popular even today.
What is special about this actor, who passed away on February 5, 2020, at the age of 103, is that his life story went from rags to riches. As he described it in his best-selling autobiography, The Ragman’s Son, Kirk’s family lived in one of the poorest parts of New York and they were “on the lowest rung on the ladder.” His parents were Russian Jewish immigrants and no one wanted to give his father a job besides the neighborhood they lived in was known for the many factories.
In order to provide for his family, Kirk’s father worked as a junk dealer, or a ragman.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Kirk explained that residing in Amsterdam, New York, meant “living in the East End, the opposite side of town from the rich people on Market Hill. It meant living at 46 Eagle Street, a run-down, two-story, gray clapboard house, the last house at the bottom of a sloping street, next to the factories, the railroad tracks, and the Mohawk River.”
Despite the unfortunate conditions his family was living in, Kirk knew he would be successful one day. However, on the way to stardom, he worked around 40 different jobs which ranged from newspaper boy to dishwasher.
“I also was a hard worker. I’d invent jobs, like selling soda and candy to workers at the mill at the end of our street. Amsterdam was one of the largest mill towns in the country. There were dozens of factories but no jobs for Jews.”
Shutterstock/Bart Sherkow
Kirk’s love for writing, reading, and acting was born because of one special teacher, Louise Livingston. She was a huge lover of poetry and passed that passion to young Kirk. As he couldn’t possibly collect enough money to attend university, his teacher encouraged him to take a leap of faith and ask for a scholarship at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York. He took all his school awards and transcripts along with a letter of recommendation written by Mrs. Livingston.
Once he got enrolled with scholarship, Kirk started working as an actor at the Tamarack Playhouse on Lake Pleasant.
It was then that he decided to change his birth name, Issur Danielovitch, to Kirk Douglas because his real name was seemingly “too unwieldy” and “too Jewish” for Hollywood back in the first half of the 20th century, according to what the actor told People.
Getty Images
In 1941, Kirk had his Broadway debut, but then the war started and he enlisted to become part of the army. While serving as a communication officer on a submarine, Kirk got injured in an accident and was discharged from the Navy as a junior grade lieutenant in 1943.
Once home, he could turn to his acting career. One thing led to another and he got cast in the 1946 film The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers whose producer, Hal Willis, noticed Kirk’s talent during a show. In 1949, the actor received his first ever Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role for the movie Boxer.
Although he starred in a number of Oscar winning movies, including The Bad and the Beautiful and Lust for Life among the rest, he never won a competitive Academy Award. Then, in 1996, he was awarded an honorary Oscar for “50 years as a creative and moral force in the motion picture community.”
Shutterstock/Featureflash Photo Agency
Kirk Douglas was married twice in his life. He and his first wife, actress and model Diana Dill, stayed together for eight years and welcomed two sons together, Joel and Michael Douglas. It was his second wife, Anne Buydens, who he considered the great love of his life. They were married until Kirk’s passing in 2020. He also had two children with Anne.
“I had been a big movie star with two Oscar nominations by the time I met Anne, and I believed that any woman would be flattered if I asked her out. Anne was the one who turned me down,” Kirk recalled about the time he met Anne.
He persuaded her to be his publicist for the 1953 film Act of Love and that’s when she fall for him as well. They married in 1954.
Shutterstock/Bart Sherkow
Thanks to his successful career, Kirk made a fortune. At the time of his passing, he was reported to had had a net worth of $61 million. However, reports are that his children didn’t receive a penny from his money. Instead, he left everything to the charities and causes he held near and dear to his heart his entire life.
Even his son Michael Douglas, whose relationship with Kirk wasn’t the perfect one, said his father was a generous and charitable man. “Kirk’s life was well-lived, and he leaves a legacy in film that will endure for generations to come and a history as a renowned philanthropist who worked to aid the public and bring peace to the planet,” Michael Douglas said in a statement.
During his life, Kirk and Anne gave plenty of money to charity through their Douglas Foundation.
Shutterstock/Kathy Hutchins
The relationship between Kirk and his son Michael had its ups and downs and things got even more heated when Michael persuaded his father to sell the rights to the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Kirk agreed and expected to play the lead role in the film, but Michael chose Jack Nicholson instead.
“So Michael asked me if he could try to produce it, and I said: ‘Sure!’ Next thing I know, he has a director lined up, and it’s all go. So I said to him: ‘Great! When do we start rehearsing?’” Kirk Douglas recalled in an interview with The Guardian.
“Not you, Dad,” Michael replied. “You’re too old.”
“I couldn’t believe it!” Kirk added. “So I said: ‘Who’s playing my part? Jack Nicholson? Never heard of him. Well, at least it will be a flop.”
Both Michael Douglas and Jack Nicholson received Oscars for best picture and best actor respectively.
Shutterstock/Kathy Hutchins
Kirk Douglas left a legacy and will always be remembered as someone with a heart of gold who never forgot where he came from. He spent his life creating beautiful movies and helping others. May he rest in peace.
I am sure most of you remember the story of the German Shepherd who was seen laying on the grave of whom we were told was her owner she dearly missed. The faith of this dog broke the hearts of millions of people into a million pieces. However, it turned out that it wasn’t the real story behind the photo that went viral in a blink of an eye.
The true story of the life of this dog is also heartbreaking, but the good thing is that after her ordeal, this dog that stole our hearts got her happy ending.
Photo credit: Facebook / Vesna Mihajloski
It turns out the mother dog was a stray who was desperately trying to find a safe place for her litter of puppies. Eventually, she chose the graveyard and dig a hole into one of the graves.
Photo credit: Facebook / Vesna Mihajloski
This unusual event took place at the graveyard of Novi Beograd, Belgrade, Serbia.
Photo credit: Facebook / Vesna Mihajloski
This brave mother and her babies were spotted by an animal lover who decided to take things into her hands and take them off that place to a safer one.
Photo credit: Facebook / Vesna Mihajloski
The mom was a very cute dog that wasn’t afraid of people and was happy to approach the rescuers who offered her some food. It was as though she could sense they were there to lend a helping hand.
The hero who took part in the rescue was a woman named Vesna Mihajloski. She was more than happy to welcome the whole dog family in her home.
Photo credit: Facebook / Vesna Mihajloski
Both the mother and her cute babies were given the medical care they needed. But most important of all, they were provided with lots of love, kindness, and affection.
The sweet pups are now all grown up and healthier and happier than ever. They enjoy their days running around and bonding with each other, their dog mommy, and their human mommy.
The mother is glad and grateful for the second chance for a better life for her and her offspring.
Photo credit: Facebook / Vesna Mihajloski
We hope that each of the members of this beautiful dog family will find their forever home and will spend the rest of their lives surrounded by people who would love them endlessly. Until then, they have all the time to snuggle and be by each other’s side.
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Nothing speaks love and compassion louder than unlike animal friendships that light our days like sunshine rays on cloudy days.
The most watched ad of all time featuring different species sharing happy moments together reminds us of the beautifies of life. We don’t have to be same in order to respect each other.
The Android ad spreads the message that says, “Be Together. Not The Same” through series of images between animals of different kinds that found friends in one another. So if you’ve never seen a dog and a dolphin swimming together, or a bear and tiger nuzzling than this is your chance.
“Friends Furever” will make your day as it did to the millions of people who got to see it.
This video is definitely a must see. Check it out below and don’t forget to SHARE it with your family and friends on Facebook!
The impact adults can have on children is immense and that is the reason why we should always mind our words and our behavior when we are around youngsters.
The following story is touching and inspiring. It is about a little girl who was obsessed with bugs so much that she eventually grew up to pursue a PhD in biological sciences and is now working with aquatic invertebrates such as crustaceans as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California at Santa Barbara.
When Rebecca Varney was just four years old, she would spend her days catching bugs and taking care of them. Her father recalled that he didn’t like the bugs so he would tell his daughter they would be better of out in the nature so she wouldn’t keep them at home.
Rebecca Varney, at 4, in her favorite bug T-shirt on her way to the University of California at Berkeley to visit the Essig Museum of Entomology. (Mary Jo Grothman-Pelton)
The parents believed that Rebecca’s love for bugs was just an infatuation, but they were wrong. As time passed by, she got to love them even more. So, one day, the parents encouraged their daughter to write a letter to the University of California at Berkeley.
“My name is Rebecca and I have a bug collection. I read about yours and it is bigger than mine is. Can I see it? Also, I have a question. Do walking sticks have knees? Sincerely, Rebecca,” she recalled writing.
Shortly after, she was invited on a tour at the Essig Museum of Entomology. The professor in charge spent time with Rebecca explaining everything about the bugs. At one moment, he told her that she could attend a college which gives whole classes about bugs and that she can spend her life researching them.
What the professor didn’t know was that his words would stick with the girl her entire life. He let her hold a hissing cockroach and a live scorpion, and explained how walking sticks have knees.
“And then he shook my hand and said ‘It’s been a pleasure to meet another scientist,’” Rebecca said in the Tweet she posted recently. The reason she shared the story of this experience she had as a child was because she was trying to track down the professor who gave her the tour. Sadly, it wasn’t as easy as she thought because over the years, some of the professors passed away, and others retired.
Vernard Richard Lewis, then a professor of entomology at the University of California at Berkeley, encouraged Rebecca Varney’s love for bugs. (Steve Fossum)
After some time, someone mentioned that the professor in question could be a man named Vernard Richard Lewis, the first Black entomology professor at UC-Berkeley and one of several faculty members who gave tours of the Essig Museum. Rebecca’s mom couldn’t recall whether the professor was black, but when they mentioned that he let Rebecca pick up some hissing cockroaches and scorpions, he said, “Oh, that was me, I always had those around.”
He remembered that his schedule was always busy, but still, he always found time for children like Rebecca.
“Do I remember meeting her specifically? No. I talked to thousands of kids, and I visited schools, and made sure to give them time,” Lewis said. “Why? Because my grandfather was the one who instilled in me the love and passion of nature. He had that infinite patience, he never told me ‘no,’ and I was a wild kid, bringing all the bugs back home — black widow spiders. I was nuts.
“So all those kids, Rebecca included, when they get all excited, I see me.”
Vernard Richard Lewis, then a professor of entomology at the University of California at Berkeley, teaches students how to conduct bug races at Washington Elementary School in Richmond, Calif., in 2006. (Robin Tabuchi)
We are so glad Rebecca found the man who encouraged her love for bugs. Meeting him back in the day certainly had a lot to do with her choosing her current profession.
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If you are into comedy, chances are you are very familiar with the unique and very much creative style of one of the most prominent comedians there are, Scott Thompson, or better known as Carrot Top.
Born in Florida, in 1965, to a father who worked in NASA and helped build spaceships and trained astronauts, and having a brother who went into the Air Force Academy and became a jet pilot, Carrot Top sometimes felt like the “oddball.” His family, however, supported his passion throughout the years.
Carrot Top knew he wanted to be a comedian since he was pretty young. However, as there aren’t any schools out there that teach comedy, he would often stood in front of a mirror and tell jokes.
Youtube/LIVEKellyandRyan
It wasn’t until he heard that a comedy club in West Palm Beach, which had a show on the radio, announced they were holding open mic nights that he tried performing in front of audience. The first time he went, he only watched what others did, and the following week, he just knew he was ready to do it himself.
“I put together what I thought was an act, and I showed up. The woman said, ‘You were so funny, but the stuff you’re doing is all about [your] college,’” he recalled.
“She said, ‘Everyone that comes to this club is not going to be in college. They are going to have jobs, and there might be 40-year-olds, there might be 60 year olds. It’s going to be a collection of different age groups and occupations, so your stuff has to be a little bit more general.’”
These words were what helped Carrot Top add uniqueness to his acts and use a bunch of props, smoke bombs, and flashing lights.
Youtube/LIVEKellyandRyan
“When I started touring at the beginning of my career, I had two trunks and a strobe light,” Carrot Top told the Los Angeles Times in 1995.
“Things got pretty crazy pretty fast, and before I knew it, I had a team touring the country in an 18-wheeler with 35 trunks full of props.”
After a number of appearances in shows such as The Tonight Show and Regis & Kathie Lee, he was slammed by other comedians. Dom Irrera said, “I don’t consider him a stand-up. I consider him a clown.”
Youtube/MyTalkShowHeroes
But this didn’t crush Carrot Top’s self-esteem. He never spoke negatively of those who criticized his work. On the contrary, he always answered back with style.
“I think what I do is very creative and clever,” Carrot Top said speaking to Los Angeles Times in response to the criticism .
“A lot of comics don’t look at it that way. [That issue] always comes up. It kind of eats at you after a while. Why are so many people bitter and jealous in this business? Everybody has their own style. If you went to the movies every week and everybody acted the same way Tom Cruise did, boy, wouldn’t that suck?”
Lisa Lake/Getty Images
Show after show, Carrot Top became a famous name in the industry. Even today, there are some who don’t find his comedy attractive, but he has his base of fans who love what he does.
Ever since 2005, Carrot Top performs at the Luxor Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. He does over 200 shows each year.
From the moment he first took the stage until now, his appearance has changed drastically and the media started writing that he was on steroids and did a bunch of procedures on his face and body. The comedian denied everything and claimed that he gained muscles by spending long hours at the gym.
“That’s 35 years of working out. Maybe five years ago, I decided I’d worked out enough,” Carrot Top told Esquire in 2015.
“I quit cold turkey. Didn’t go to the gym for maybe a year. Then I started running. That’s where I am now. I just kind of wanted a normal build.”
Kevin Winter/ACMA/Getty Images for ACMA
During a roast on Comedy Central back in 2013, he recalled one comedian telling him, “Jesus, Carrot Top, when are you gonna stop with all the plastic surgery? You look like the guy from The Mask or something.’” Carrot Top answered back saying, “I’m sorry that I look good,” during an appearance on Oprah.
“For a while I had gotten really big. I didn’t do steroids or anything, I just worked out a lot, and I never had any plastic surgery. I can see why people would think that since I got really big for a while, but I never had any work done,” he told Florida Today.
“I mean, if I was going to have plastic surgery, I would look better than this! My crew, my family, and my friends all know I work so hard I wouldn’t have had time to get work done if I wanted to. That was absurd.”
Shutterstock/s_bukley
Carrot Top has an estimated net worth of around $70 million and lives in a 4,300 square feet house with a swimming pool, three bedrooms, and two-and-a-half baths.
According to the 2015 Esquire piece of writing, Carrot Top’s house was constructed “by the same builder who built Céline Dion’s palatial desert estate.” The site further added that materials left over from the larger job, including pilfered floor tile and the kitchen’s rustic beams,” got a spot in his home.
Besides comedy, he has tried himself as an actor too. He appeared in a 2002 episode of Scrubs and other shows such as N.Y.U.K and ComiXspotlight. He also had some more minor, uncredited roles in The Hangover and Larry the Cable Guy’s Christmas Spectacular.
Carrot Top attends the official gift lounge presented by Míage Skincare during the 64th annual GRAMMY Awards at Topgolf Las Vegas on March 31, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Getty Images)
Whether you love his comedy style or not, one thing is certain, that Carrot Top has made quite a career.
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There is nothing more satisfying for a parent than seeing their children succeed in life.
Now think of the mom and dad of the famous Osmond siblings. Most of them became famous and respected individuals who gave so much to the world of music. In fact, it was their dad who believed his kids should try themselves as musicians from very young age.
Marie, the only girl among the eight brothers, joined the group Osmond Brothers when she was just four. She, however, wasn’t a regular during the group’s television performances through the 1960s. At the age of 12, Marie started her solo career and had her first recording session which she later described as terrifying. “It was a full orchestra and rhythm section. I was the only Osmond girl, what if I failed?” she told Daily Mail in 2015. “So I threw up! Then I went in and sang.”
Youtube/Dave Osmond Videos
At the age of just 14, Marie released the single Paper Roses which reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart. From that moment on, her career flourished and she has remained part of the industry for over six decades.
In 1975, she and brother Donny teamed up for the TV show Donny & Marie where the two sang and co-hosted. The show which hosted famous names like Chuck Berry, Paul Anka, Sonny & Cher and Olivia Newton-John always ended with the siblings signing May Tomorrow Be a Perfect Day.
From 2008 up until 2019, the singing duo performed at the Flamingo Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Shutterstock
Marie, just like her mom, had many children. She was married three times, twice to the same husband, basketball player Steve Lyle Craig. The two had one child, son Stephen Jr. With second husband Brian Blosil, Marie had two biological and five adopted children, making her a mom of eight.
She and Brian lost son Michael to suicide in 2010. Her fans were surprised to see her getting back on stage just weeks after the tragic incident.
Speaking to Fox in 2013, she said, “It was so hard for me to get back on the stage two weeks after he died but I had to show my children that I chose to live. It was very hard and we talk about it, that’s the other thing. I know there are other families that won’t talk about it. Just as much as I lost a son, my children lost a brother and they still need to process it.”
Marie and Steve married for the second time in 2011 and she wore her original wedding dress from their first wedding in 1982. They held the relationship a secret for some time but decided to tied the knot before their son Steven’s marriage.
“Stephen was getting married and we realized we can’t go to our son’s wedding and not be married,” Marie told People. “So we got married a few months before he did. He joked that he never thought it would happen, but it did!”
“The thing about a second marriage is that you realize things you thought were so important, aren’t,” she continued. “I love being with my husband. He is the sweetest man I know. He lives to serve and really listens to people’s needs.”
One of Marie’s daughters caught the attention of the public when she married her girlfriend.
Being a Mormon, Marie spoke openly in the past of her church’s views on same-sex marriages and how they don’t fit her religion, but after her daughter came out as a lesbian she said she accepted her decision and supported her.
“I was so honored when Diane Sawyer named me Person of the Week, and like I told her, ‘Diane, I love my daughter,’” Marie said. “I cried when I found out when she told me she was gay when she was 17 because of the judgment, I have many friends who are gay and I didn’t want that for my child [because of the judgment].”
Her other daughter, Rachel, married Gabriel Krueger on Christmas Day in 2013. The two have two children, daughter Rocket Jade and son Wolf.
Marie was over the moon, she posted photos of her grandchildren and wrote, “I’m a Glamma again — two times grandma, two times as glamorous!”
In August, Marie’s family welcomed another bundle of joy. Her daughter Brianna had a baby girl, Mabel Amarantha.
She’s a proud grandmother and never misses the chance to speak of how happy her grandchildren make her. Recently, she wrote, “I’m overjoyed for sure as I have pondered over our precious little addition to the family. I pray continually for my grandchildren (this next generation), that they will not be afraid of the world they’re growing up in.”
Marie and Steve are enjoying their days in their Utah home and are involved with several charity organizations. In fact, they are planning to leave all their money to these organizations as they believe they have done a lot for their kids and giving them all on plate won’t teach them hard work.
“Also, my husband and I just dropped our last two kids off at college, we looked at each other, laughed and remembered we hadn’t been this alone together since 1982!! So, at this stage of my life, I’m looking forward to spending more time with him and visiting all the kids/grandkids,” Marie said.
With all she has given to the world throughout the years, Marie deserves to have fun. We wish her and her family only the best.
Whether it is a human or an animal, a mother is a mother. These special creatures are the most loving and caring there are and they would do anything for the well-being of their children no matter what it takes.
Queen Uniek, a Friesian horse in The Netherlands, was expecting a baby. Sadly, the moment she went into labor, her owner and the veterinarians could feel something was wrong. The mom-to-be acted strangely and wouldn’t stop running into circles.
When the time came for the foal to be born, the vets provided assistance, but the little one wasn’t breathing. They did their best to revive it, but to no avail.
Source: YouTube/ The DoDo
Uniek got closer and started sniffing and licking her baby, but there was nothing to be done.
The owner, Yvonne, stood by Uniek’s side and tried to comfort her and calm her down because it was obvious the horse was disturbed. She was aware her foal wasn’t alive and was heartbroken.
Source: YouTube/ The DoDo
Shortly after this devastating incident, Yvonne received some great news. A friend of hers, who had a farm too, called her and told her that they had an orphaned foal in their barn. The baby was in need of a mother, and Uniek was longing for a baby, so Yvonne decided to take the little one home and see if Uniek would accept it. Could this be the solution to Uniek’s grief?
Source: YouTube/ The DoDo
When she first saw the young foal whose name was Raising Star, Uniek was tentative, but she then got closer and sniffed the foal after which she did a little dance. This was a good sign.
The foal got keen on Uniek as well and that was a start of a beautiful mother-child relationship.
“It was a very special moment. I never thought this would happen. We knew instantly that Queen Uniek accepted Rising Star,” Yvonne told The Dodo.
Source: YouTube/ The DoDo
For more on this heartwarming story go to the video below and don’t forget to SHARE it with your family and friends on Facebook!
88-year-old Violet, a retired nurse, was getting back home to UK after visiting her daughter in New York. Before boarding the plane, she got a chance to have a quick chat with a young man named Jack who was also flying home.
During their conversation, Violet mentioned how she never traveled first class although she always dreamed of being able to. She, however, couldn’t afford it.
As it turned out, Jack’s entire family was traveling first class that day, so he came up with this brilliant idea of fulfilling Violet’s dream by giving up his seat to her. He, however, didn’t tell her that until they boarded the plane.
Once on board, the Virgin Atlantic flight attendant Leah Any approached Violet and told her to switch her seat so that she could travel in style, just like she always wanted.
As she found this gesture extremely touching and thoughtful, Leah asked if she could snap a photo of the two friends and post it online. Both Jack and Violet were happy to pose together.
“Of the hundreds of flights I’ve operated, I’ve had the pleasure of looking after footballers, supermodels and some Hollywood movie stars but let me tell you about my two favorite passengers EVER!
“Jack and Violet (I wish she was called Vera or Rose). Jack and his family purchased seats In our upper class cabin for a flight home from New York, but when he got onboard, Jack went and found violet in economy and swapped seats with her.
“He then sat on the row of seats directly next to the economy toilets and never made a peep or asked for anything the rest of the flight. No fuss, no attention, literally did it out of the kindness of his own heart, no one asked him too [sic].
“Violet is 88 years old, has been a nurse in both the UK and over in America. She travels to New York to see her daughter, but hasn’t been able to for a while because of a knee replacement. Her dream has always been to sit at the front, and Jack made that come true.
“You should of [sic] seen her face, when I tucked her in her bed after supper. She said her daughter won’t believe her, and wanted a ‘selfie’ to prove it, but didn’t have a phone or an email address. These photos are getting sent in the post tomorrow, can you even cope.”
The smile on Violet’s face made our day. This story is just another proof that humanity is alive. If you enjoyed it as much as we did don’t forget to share it with your loved ones.
Have you ever been in that situation when you need to go out shopping for something straight away, like some milk for the children, or something to eat for that evening and as you pay you are told that your card was declined? So you try your card again a second or third time and hope nobody sees what is happening.
Usually, that’s when the people behind you wonder why you’re taking so long and realize what is going on. You say out loud that there is money in your account, and you can’t understand it. So you leave the shop in the end empty-handed and with your tail between your legs!
Most people would walk out and not come back again with embarrassment, but one pawn shop customer thought differently. This one customer really needed shoes, so when his card was declined, he came back with help from a police officer. The cashier jumped to ask quickly if there was a problem, the officer responded completely unexpectedly!
Alicia Danielle works at an ordinary pawn shop, it doesn’t look much from the outside, but; inside it’s like a small cavern full of little treasures. There was weightlifting equipment, big stereo speakers and all sorts of other things that people will eventually buy one day.
In this guy’s case, one pair of shoes that he both liked and really needed was what he found, but it didn’t look like he was going to be able to get them… He was walking out with the same pair of tattered shoes that he walked in with.
Alicia wrote on Facebook:
“So this guy comes in to buy a pair of shoes because his are literally falling off. Anyway, his card wouldn’t work so he left.”
This poor guy was really crossing his fingers that the bank may let this one slip, knowing that the money wasn’t really available, but if you don’t try then you never know, right? Miracles happen every day, and for this guy it did, but not in the way he was expecting.
This guy was really desperate for the shoes and he needed to do what he had to get them! A short time after he left the employees in the shop noticed the man return with the law on his side! The staff were very curious and asked the officer if there was anything wrong?
The officer said, quite simply, no problem, but if you have those shoes still I’d like to go ahead purchase them, the store worker and the officer split the cost between them.
Alicia said in her Facebook post that there wasn’t anyone else in the shop, and neither of them did the good deed to get noticed or getting noticed on social media, it was just a genuine act of kindness.
Alicia shared this storey as she really feels that there is too much hating and sadness in the world, mistrust and bad people are rife. Even small acts of kindness can really start something good and inspire others to do the same too!
“We still have so far to go, but I promise you small acts of kindness like this are what’s going to rebuild trust and faith in our communities. I didn’t get the cop’s name but this didn’t go unnoticed or unappreciated by me or the customer.”
There are sometimes when we see things that will stay with us forever. This is certainly one of them! Alicia’s post has been shared more than 1,500 times and has received over 18,000 reactions.
Please share to inspire others to show their appreciation for those who risk their lives every day to keep us safe.
Prince George celebrated his eighth birthday and wishes came pouring from a huge number of fans. His parents paid tribute to their eldest son by sharing an incredibly cute photo of him with the caption: “Turning eight(!) tomorrow!” The handsome prince is portrayed smiling and one thing fans can’t get over with is his resemblance with his father, Prince William, when he was that age.
“Looks like William so much,” one user commented.
“Oh my goodness look how much he resembles his Dad..and grandmother. Happy Birthday, young Prince,” another user said.
“Looks so much like his father,” someone else wrote.
Except for the royal fans, some experts also commented on the incredible resemblance. “It’s clear from George’s body language that he hero-worships his dad and William’s close mentoring of his son would make similar body language traits inevitable,” Judi James, body language expert, told Express after comparing the photo of the two princess at the same age.
“Body language is primarily a learned behaviour and so mimicking the person you want to be like is natural, but there is more than just current links and similarities between George and his dad.”
She is convinced there are striking similarities between the famous and much-loved father and son.
“Looking at photographs of them both at roughly the same age we can see some striking similarities in body language and looks.
“There are hints of similar personalities in the making, impacted by their shared destiny as well as the open affection and cuddles that were part of both their childhoods.”
The Queen also posted a lovely message, honoring her grandson, writing through the official Royal Family account. “Wishing Prince George a very happy 8th birthday today!”
Her Majesty seems to be extremely fond of Kate and William’s firstborn child. Back in 2016, Kate revealed that Prince George has a special nickname for his loving granny. “George is only two-and-a-half and he calls her ‘Gan-Gan’,” she revealed.
