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Her son died at age 14. 23 years after donating his heart, she got to hear it beat again.

She lost her son long ago, but she got to hear a part of him that still lives.

What would you do if a complete stranger gave you a second chance at life?

It seems like an appropriate time to ugly cry. GIF from "America's Next Top Model."

It probably wouldn't feel like enough, but at the very least, you'd likely want to thank them.


Meet Daniel Titley. His life was saved when he received a heart transplant at just 11 years old thanks to a teenage donor.

Image from "Real Stories with Ranvir Singh."

As reported by "Real Stories with Ranvir Singh," Daniel was born with severe heart complications and the doctors said he wouldn't live past a few months. He underwent multiple surgeries, most of which helped, but he still needed a new heart. And he finally got one at the age of 11 thanks to a donation from a 14-year-old boy who had died in a car crash.

Daniel long wondered about the child who made his new lease on life possible.

At the age of 35, after having his new heart for twice as long as his original heart (!!!), he decided to find out exactly who this child was.

After some digging into records, he found out his donor was a teenager named Stephen Norris. Daniel was hesitant to reach out because he didn't want to remind the donor's family about a painful memory. But he contacted the family and asked to meet anyway. He had to say thank you.

His donor's mother, Gillian Norris, agreed to meet.

And when they embraced, she not only heard Daniel's thanks and appreciation. She got to listen to the heart of her son beating, 23 years after his death.

What? No, I'm not crying. I just have something in both of my eyes. GIF from "Real Stories with Ranvir Singh."

These types of meetings are rare. But Gillian and Daniel wanted to share this intimate moment with the world.

They wanted to encourage individuals and their families to participate in organ donation.

In case you missed the news, there's a shortage of organ donors in the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a new name is added to the national transplant waiting list every 10 minutes and an average of 22 people die every day while waiting for an organ transplant. Daniel lives in the U.K., where up to three people a day die while waiting for a donation. That's still a lot of deaths that could have been prevented.

Gillian and Daniel's story shows how the benefit of organ donation goes beyond the lives saved. It's helpful for the survivors as well.

Making the decision about organ donation can be a really tough thing to do on top of dealing with losing a loved one. However, agreeing to it can be helpful for the survivor dealing with loss. Gillian is one of those people. She told ITV, "Knowing that there's people out there given time that they wouldn't have had without a donor is a comfort to me."

If you want to learn more about organ donation, including how join your state's donor registry, visit Donate Life America.


Time travel back to 1905.

Back in 1905, a book called "The Apples of New York" was published by the New York State Department of Agriculture. It featured hundreds of apple varieties of all shapes, colors, and sizes, including Thomas Jefferson's personal favorite, the Esopus Spitzenburg.






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Health

Gen Xer explains sense of 'impending doom' that seems to define the Millennial generation

Somebody finally put it into words and a lot of Millenials are feeling seen.

A woman looks to the ground in dispair.

At the end of his YouTube video “Does Anyone Else Feel Like Everything Has Changed?” self-development influencer Stephen Antonioni makes a rather haunting observation: "In many ways, the world is a better place than it was yesterday, just judging by objective measures. But I can't help share the feeling that something is off and perhaps terribly so. And therefore, I have to ask the question: Does anyone else feel like everything has changed?"

The most popular comment on the video, which was liked over 28,000 times was written by a YouTuber named Tracy Smith. Even though, at 57, she’s a Gen Xer, her thoughts have resonated with thousands of Millenials.

“I am 57. Not only does it feel like ‘something wicked this way comes’ but there is also this feeling that the whole world is holding its breath. Almost as though we are all waiting for some catalyst or sign or event that puts an end to this feeling of being put on hold,” Smith wrote. “This vague, unexplained unease we feel. Something terrible lurking just out of our field of vision but we all feel it closing in. I cannot count the number of people who have told me they wish that whatever is going to happen would just get on with it. That this waiting for the thing in the darkness is unbearable.”

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Melissa Pateras explains how dry cleaning works.


Have you ever wondered what happens at the dry cleaners? Or are you like me, who just assumed the people at the dry cleaners were wizards and never questioned their magic? Turns out, dry cleaners aren't magic and there's actually a pretty interesting explanation of how they came to be and what they do.

Melissa Pateras is known on Tiktok for her laundry knowledge. Seriously, her ability to fold laundry is hypnotizing. This time, she created a video explaining what actually takes place at the dry cleaner and the internet is aghast.

Before Pateras explained what happens in the mysterious world behind the counter of a dry cleaner, she asked a few of her friends what they thought dry cleaning was. Their answers were...interesting to say the least.

One friend surmised, "You put it in a box, right...and then you let some wind, really fast wind, blow around on your clothes and it wipes off all the dirt." The friend, whose username is @unlearn16, continued with her working hypothesis, saying that the clothes are then blasted with infrared heat to sterilize the garments. While that is certainly an interesting theory, that's not what happens.

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Joy

Doberman's blissful reaction while getting pampered at bathtime goes viral

This "scary" dog's next-level beauty routine proves there's nothing scary about him at all.

Representative Image from Canva

May this adorable video show that Doberman's don't deserve their bad reputation.

Let’s face it, Hollywood has given Doberman’s a bad reputation. So often they are depicted as the canine henchman to the evil villain, that many people assume that’s their temperament in real life.

But the truth is: like just about every dog on the planet, Dobermans are sweet, loyal and affectionate canine companions. And, much like Pit Bulls, they are not nearly as inherently aggressive as pop culture makes them out to be—especially when properly trained.

I mean, just take a look at Atlas. This goodest of good bois recently went viral on TikTok while getting a nice, relaxing bathtime session. He proved that not only are Doberman’s capable of extreme levels of chill, they can have a deep felt appreciation for some good old fashioned pampering.

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Photo by Gustavo Fring|Canva

Therapists explains being 'touched out' and gives tips to help

Just about every mother has experienced the feeling of being touched out. They may not know that's what it's called, or some may feel embarrassed to admit they're feeling that way due to fear of judgement. But when you think about it, being touched out, especially when you have younger kids seems inevitable.

The sense of your body not belonging to only you can start during pregnancy. Everything you do directly affects your developing fetus, and once the baby is born, it needs a lot of physical contact for proper brain, social, and emotional development. So babies are held a lot outside of feedings. Those babies turn into toddlers who then turn into early school agers, all of whom rely very heavily on co-regulation of their emotions and being physically near their parent to feel safe.

It's pretty much a constant state of being touched throughout much of the day. When psychologist, Dr. Raquel Martin reveals she too feels touched out in a video on Instagram, parents across the internet felt validated.

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No better time to grab a little shut eye.

For those in the military, sleep can mean the difference between life and death. But shut-eye can be very hard to come by, especially during active conflict.

According to Sharon Ackman, the U.S. Navy Pre-Flight School developed a scientific method to help its pilots fall asleep. Through this technique, 96% of the pilots were able to fall asleep in two minutes or less.

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