Posts Tagged ‘miracle’
Facebook reunites mother with long-lost son
A woman whose three-year-old son was abducted and taken to live in Hungary has been reunited with him 27 years later after finding his name on Facebook.
Avril Grube last saw Gavin when his father took him on an outing to Blackpool Zoo. That was in 1982.
Instead of going to the zoo, however, Joseph Paros took the boy to Budapest in defiance of a court order.
Despite appeals via the Hungarian Embassy in London and the British Embassy in Budapest, and an appeal to Margaret Thatcher, then the Prime Minister, Mrs Grube heard nothing more of her son.
Then last October, her sister, Beryl Wilson, typed the name Gavin Paros into Google and found a link to someone of that name on the social networking site Facebook.
A frustrating wait followed. With more than 200 million users, there was a possibility that the Facebook member merely shared the name with Mrs Grube’s son.
It was several weeks before Mr Paros, now a 30-year-old father of three, checked his Facebook page and found the message from his aunt. Mother and son were reunited at 4am on Thursday after her husband Jeff picked him up from Gatwick and drove him to their home in Poole, Dorset. Mrs Grube, 61, who is partially disabled after a stroke, said: “I couldn’t sleep, I just sat waiting for him to arrive. Even though it has been nearly 30 years, when I first saw him I recognised him. He has my eyes.
“I was so overcome and just said ‘my beautiful son’ over and over again. He was very quiet and overwhelmed. We just hugged each other. It is the happiest day of my life, there are almost no words to describe it.”
The pair managed to communicate, although Mr Paros has forgotten all the English he knew as a boy and Mrs Grube does not speak Hungarian.
Mrs Grube, who has three other children, has yet to meet her daughter-in-law, Sylvia, and three grandchildren Anastasia, 10, Thomas, 7, and Angelina, 6. She hopes they will decide to move to Britain.
Mrs Wilson, 59, had spent the best part of three decades helping her sister trace her son. Because Hungary was a Communist state in 1982 on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain it made the task of tracing a three-year-old boy virtually impossible for a single mother in Liverpool. Appeals for help through official channels fell on deaf ears.
Mrs Wilson, who still lives in Liverpool, said: “Gavin’s father had visitation rights and said he was going to the zoo. Naturally, my sister was devastated. We didn’t have people around us to tell us where to go or who to speak to. We tried our MP and wrote to Margaret Thatcher but nobody was interested or wanted to help.
“Avril endured many sleepless nights, not knowing if Gavin was alive or dead. She didn’t cope very well and had a terrible time. She has a big heart and loves her children very much. As a result her own health has suffered.”
While Mrs Wilson was trying to trace Mr Paros through the internet, he had been trying to find his English family after the death of his father in 2006. Mrs Wilson said: “I tried online electoral rolls to check if Gavin had moved back to Britain, and I tried Friends Reunited, but didn’t get anywhere.
“Then one day last October I put his name into Facebook and found him. I e-mailed him but it took a while for him to respond and when he did he gave me his phone numbers.
“I called my sister when I heard back from Gavin and told her to sit down as I had some news. All I heard after that was screaming.”
Country doctor saves boy with electric drill
Twelve-year-old Nicholas Rossi was lucky to have seen his 13th birthday on Tuesday, after a bicycle accident in a country town left him with bleeding on the brain.
Nicholas’ mother Karen, a nurse, took him to the district hospital when he complained of a headache. There he experienced seizures and lapsed in and out of consciousness. Doctor Rob Carson recognized the symptoms of a brain hemorrhage, realized he had minutes to act and quickly called Melbourne neurosurgeon David Wallace for procedural advice.
With no neurological drills in the district hospital, Dr. Carson had to improvise. Nicholas was anesthetized while Dr. Carson retrieved an electric drill from the maintenance room. He drilled a hole in Nicholas’ skull just below a bruise mark above his ear and a blood clot soon emerged. He then widened the hole to approximately 1cm in diameter with forceps to allow for the insertion of a drainage tube.
An hour after the makeshift surgery that Nicholas’ father Michael likened to a “military operation,” Nicholas was airlifted to Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital, where he remained under observation until was released yesterday (Tuesday), which also happened to be his 13th birthday.
“Miracle Bra” saves woman’s life in robbery shooting
A Brazilian woman who was shot in the chest by robbers on a bus survived the attack because she had stuffed money into her bra.
The woman was travelling on the bus in the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia when it was held up by two armed men.
The incident took place in Bahia’s capital, Salvador, where 58-year-old Ivonete Pereira travelling to her summer home in the nearby town of Lauro de Freitas.
Because of frequent bus attacks in the region, she hid 150 reals (£45) in 20 and 10-real notes coiled inside the left cup of her bra.
When the bus passed through the Boca do Rio neighborhood, the robbers suddenly announced their intention. A shoot out ensued with a police officer on the scene and a stray bullet hit Pereira.
Her bra was stuffed with just enough cash to absorb most of the impact, although she still had to be taken to hospital to have the bullet removed.
Read more: Bra saves woman’s life in robbery shooting
Heroic PE teacher pushes mother and children from path of car
A physical-education teacher at A.K. Suter Elementary School in Pensacola is being called a hero after he was struck by a car this morning near the school while he protected children.
Patrick Judd was transported to Baptist Hospital. Colleen Kirsch, spokeswoman for the hospital, said Judd was in good condition this morning.
Deputy Superintendent Norm Ross said witnesses saw Judd push a mother and her two children out of the path of an oncoming car.
By doing so, Judd took the brunt of the hit and suffered a leg injury.
District officials applauded Judd’s selfless actions Friday.
Laura Richards, 37, dropped off 6-year-old Abigail for school this morning and was crossing the street while talking with Judd.
She had 2-year old Laura Sophia sitting on her hip and 4-year-old Isabella holding her hand as she walked.
“He jumped back to take the full impact,” Richards said of Judd. “I don’t really know what happened. It happened so quickly but when it was all said and done we were safe on the side of the road and my daughters’ flip flops were still on the pavement.”
Richards said she know Judd because she sees him every morning and afternoon doing crossing guard duty. The last day of school before Christmas break, Richards said, Judd wears a Santa Claus costume while guiding traffic.
“We’re so grateful,” she said. “We pray for him and that he’ll be alright. If if he hadn’t been there it would have been us. My two little girls are so tiny.”
“The incident this morning was certainly an act of heroism,” Ross said. “It doesn’t surprise me at all. He’s been a longtime employee and has demonstrated throughout his career his dedication to students and the school.”
Superintendent Malcolm Thomas said he was proud of Judd’s service to the schools.
“This is just another example of the dedication of our employees in this district,” Thomas said.
In 1999 Judd won the Elementary School Physical Education Teacher of the Year Award from the county.
Read more and see the family he saved: ‘An act of heroism’
Woman spends $23,000 to find lost dog [Video]
Ginny Davis went to extreme measures to find her lost dog, a $23,000 investment that she said paid off.
When Davis lost her 2-year-old shih tzu, Sam, money was no object.
With six furry friends, Davis considers her dogs family. When Sam wiggled out of his collar on the way to the groomer, Davis was devastated.
“He was just in panic mode at that point and so he just kept running,” she said.
As quickly as Sam made his escape, Davis drew up a game plan to find him. She hired search and rescue teams from Oklahoma and Ohio to trace his scent and plastered thousands of signs all over Indianapolis and Greenwood.
With every phone call she got, Davis had a little more hope that Sam would be found safe and sound.
One day last week, Davis got a phone call she had waited months for. A postal worker saw Sam sleeping in a nearby field. When Davis called Sam’s name, the dog came running to her.
“I thought, ‘My God, it is him,’ and I just sat down and cried,” Davis said.
Philip Borst, who has a veterinary practice near Davis’ home, said he was shocked when he heard that a pet owner spent $23,000 to find her dog.
“I’ve had stories over my 35 years of dogs that have been lost for 100 miles away and they found them … in another city or state,” Borst said. “The lengths that she went, that showed that she sure did love that little pooch.”
“I’m not a wealthy person. It’s just that I feel when you get an animal, you make a commitment,” Davis said.
Sam was extremely dirty and full of ticks when he was found, but after a good grooming and examination, he’s the same dog Davis loves.
Read more and watch this story: Woman Spends $23,000 To Find Lost Dog
Stranger pays $800 to save cancer patient’s dog
Here’s a great story that reminds us that good things sometimes happen out of the blue!
The woman seemed to appear out of nowhere. One minute, Justine Parnell was in the parking lot, sobbing a howl reserved for life-breaking moments.
And then there she was. Thin and fierce, a buzz-cut of shocking blond hair, deep hollowed blue eyes. She asked gently:
“What’s wrong?”
And Parnell told her. The puppy she had given her best friend — Tammy Horsley, who is dying from cancer — had Parvo, a deadly and contagious disease. The emergency animal hospital wanted $800 up front to treat him. So Zeus, the tiny Shih Tzu-poodle mix, was going to be euthanized.
Before Parnell could tell the woman any more — that they had been there for six hours, calling everyone they knew who might have some extra money — the woman was running through the hospital door.
Zeus’ leg had already been shaved to administer the lethal injection. But the woman found a vet tech and said Zeus was not going to be put down.
“I’m paying the bill,” she said.
Theresa FairLady is opening an insurance business next door to the animal hospital and was walking to her car for mouse pads on Sunday when she saw the woman crying. She knew she had to help her, but she can’t explain why.
Horsley hasn’t believed in people for a long time, much less guardian angels. As a teen in church, she asked questions that were always answered with “have faith” and it annoyed her.
The 39-year-old has been married and divorced three times, accumulating tattoos, piercings and a distrust of humanity. Her two boys live with their dad. She said one fiance died in a freak go-cart accident and the other was murdered in Las Vegas. She was in jail on drug charges when her mother passed away. A few years ago, she came home to Port Richey to take care of her ailing father. Parnell helped her get off drugs. Her life seemed to be getting better.
Then she found the lump in her breast.
Doctors told her the cancer had spread to her bones. It was stage four. Terminal.
If there is a God, she thought, he surely hates me.
She says she has stayed clean since the diagnosis. She gets chemotherapy treatments once a month, she said.
Parnell gave her Zeus because Horsley needed someone in her life to love her no matter what. Horsley can’t believe FairLady saved Zeus. “I’ve had so many creeps in my life,” Horsley said, “My first thought was, ‘Okay, what does she want?’ ”
But she didn’t want anything.
“I just knew that dog couldn’t die,” said FairLady, 48, who is beginning a new chapter of her life. She used to be a professional baseball umpire and then opened an animal clinic in New Port Richey with her partner of 17 years. Together, she thinks, they rescued more than 5,000 animals, spending their weekends at shelters saving pets slated to die. But then they broke up.
“It was devastating,” FairLady said. They sold the clinic. Her name used to be Theresa Cox but she changed it to FairLady last fall. She says it’s what people called her on the field, The Fair Lady.
She stopped rescuing animals because it reminded her too much of her ex.
But then there was Zeus.
“He’s a miracle puppy,” FairLady said.
Read more: Kind stranger pays $800 to save cancer patient’s dog
Men catch toddler in 30-foot fall [Video]
Amazing story of being at the right place at the right time.
Two men are being hailed as heroes by police for catching a toddler who fell 30 feet from a third-story window.
Robert Lemire of Methuen says that he was talking on his cell phone on Sunday evening outside a pizza shop when he saw the toddler dangling from a third-story window in a home across the street.
“I heard some commotion across the street. I saw some toys go out the window,” he said.“A couple of minutes later, I heard a baby cry and I thought right away – I looked across and there was a baby hanging from the window sill.”
The toddler was being held by two other children.
The 45-year-old father of two bolted across a busy street and was nearly hit by a car.
“I didn’t even look, I just ran across the street,” Lemire said.
He met 23-year-old Alex Day, who had been inside the home at a Bible study meeting on the first floor.Together, they caught 18-month-old Caliah Clark before she hit the ground.
“The baby basically fell about two seconds after we got there,” Day said.
“He got the top half, I pretty much got the bottom half,” said Lemire.
The child was taken to a hospital and is OK.
The toddler’s father was taking care of a newborn at the time.
Read more and watch this story: Men Catch Toddler In 30-Foot Fall In Lawrence
Students help injured classmate complete project and graduate [Video]
This is a a great one! If you are soft-hearted, get the tissues ready.
Last January, a Seneca Valley High School student was killed in a tragic accident on I-79 while driving to a sporting event.
But her best friend, a passenger in the vehicle, survived serious injuries and is now looking forward to a bright future.
Family, friends and teachers say it’s nothing short of a miracle to see Dana Hughes, a Seneca Valley High School senior, up and walking again. Two months ago, the teen was critically injured in an auto accident while heading to a lacrosse match.
As a senior, in order to graduate, Hughes had to complete her senior project of training and competing in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s ”Just A Short Run” marathon at North Park.
However, the accident left her not well enough to run so about 90 of her classmates got permission to complete the project for her.
“She’s like a big sister to me. All my life, she’s always been my role model, so I wanted to do something for her,” said one of Hughes’ classmates, Megan Condit.
Hughes, just out of rehab, was able to walk five miles of the marathon, and dedicated the effort to in the memory of Quail. And today she had a chance to thank all of her classmates and friends who supported her.
“Everything that I got when I was in Pittsburgh Institute, in the hospital, the prayers especially helped,” she said. “I think, God was shining over me. I know he was.”
“I never thought I’d say this, but I never thought I’d be so excited to go back to school,” added Hughes.
Read more and watch this heart-warming story: Students Help Injured Classmate Complete Project
Natasha Richardson’s death saved the life of a girl hit by baseball
Connie and Donald McCracken were watching CNN one evening last week when they learned of the tragic death of actress Natasha Richardson from a head injury. Immediately, their minds turned to their 7-year-old daughter, Morgan, who was upstairs getting ready for bed.
Two days earlier, Morgan, her father, and brother had been playing baseball in the yard of their Mentor, Ohio, home when her father hit a line drive that landed just above Morgan’s left temple. A lump formed, but the McCrackens iced it down and the swelling subsided within an hour.
“For the next two days, she was perfectly fine,” Donald McCracken says. “She had no symptoms. She went to school both days and got an A on her spelling test as usual. There were no issues whatsoever.”
But after hearing about Richardson’s death, the McCrackens wondered if Morgan was really as OK as she seemed. After all, Richardson had been talking and lucid immediately after her fatal injury.
When they went upstairs to kiss Morgan good night, she complained of a headache. “Because of Natasha, we called the pediatrician immediately. And by the time I got off the phone with him, Morgan was sobbing, her head hurt so much,” McCracken says.
The McCrackens took Morgan to the emergency room at LakeWest Hospital in neighboring Willoughby, where doctors ordered a CT scan and immediately put Morgan on a helicopter to Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, with her father by her side.
Unlike Richardson’s, Morgan’s story has a happy ending. After surgery and five days in the hospital, she’s at home and doing fine. “Dr. Cohen told us that if we hadn’t brought her in Thursday night, she never would have woken up,” McCracken says.
Read more: Natasha’s lesson helps save Ohio girl
(Caught On Tape) Hero police officer saves little boy [Video]
Talk about being at the right place at the right time. You’ve got to watch the video!
A Grosse Pointe Park police officer is being called a hero for pulling a toddler out of the street.
The rescue was captured on the officer’s patrol car Dash Cam video.
Officer Ryan Willmer was talking with a driver he had just pulled over for speeding on Altar road when he heard a woman yelling for her son.
The woman and her 3-year-old son had just come out of a grocery store when the toddler darted out into the busy street.
When the officer saw the child in the street he quickly ran out, scooped the boy up and handed him back to his mother.
The toddler was not hurt.
Officer Willmer said he was just doing his job and that many of his colleagues would have done the same.
Read more and watch this story: Hero Cop Saves Little Boy
