+
upworthy
Joy

Neighbors rally to throw an epic early Halloween party for a boy with terminal cancer

Nearly 1,000 people showed up to make sure it was a lasting positive memory.

sick kids
Photo by Rohan Reddy on Unsplash

Halloween should be a time of pure joy for kids.

It’s not every day that an act of kindness looks like a parade of witches, zombies and monsters. But for the Hurdakis family, it’s one they’ll likely never forget.

According to CBC, 5-year-old Alexandros Hurdakis had undergone surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation to fight ependymoma (a brain tumor that forms in the brain or spinal cord) for most of his young life. On top of these intense and expensive therapies, Alex uses a tracheostomy tube to breathe and eats with a gastrostomy tube. Despite his challenges, nothing stops him from “lighting up a room.”

Though the treatments did help, eventually his tumor grew back, and his parents, Nick and Kira, finally received the message they had been dreading—the cancer was now terminal. The family’s GoFundMe page shared on Sept. 8 that doctors expected them to lose Alex “within a week.”

Alex’s heartfelt wish was to celebrate Halloween by seeing the monsters at the haunted house in Niagara Falls. Though doctors said Alex would have to stay close to home, the entire community stepped up to bring Halloween to him..


A lot of the credit goes to Paula Tzouanakis Anderson, a family friend who blasted the community group page on Facebook looking for some basic decorations to build a modest haunted house.

Tzouanakis Anderson received an overwhelming amount of response from people wanting to help. So much so that she asked city officials to block off the street in preparation for a bona fide block party.

Alex wished for monsters and he got them. People paraded through the street dressed as dinosaurs, witches, zombies, Freddy Krueger, Darth Vader and more. Even English bulldog Rubble from “PAW Patrol” (one of Alex's faves) showed up. There were decked-out cars and motorcycles, plus festive face painters and cotton candy vendors. It was an all-out banger, and it became possible in a little over two days.

The expected guest count was initially 200. They had somewhere around 1000.

"I started crying," Tzouanakis Anderson told CBC on Sept. 15, the day after the party. "So many individuals came together to make this night great.”

"We never expected so many people to help out," Nick added. "It was something else. There are no words."

As for Alex, he enjoyed giving everyone high-fives well into the night, despite being tired. "[Alex] was waving to every single person in the crowd. He knew it was for him …. You could see the love in his eyes,” Tzouanakis Anderson said.

Support from the neighborhood continued to roll in long after the party had ended, as they were able to gather donations to help the Hurdakis family cover medical expenses during such a difficult time. Halloween is a time for fun and magic, and these strangers showed up in a big way to ensure Alex wouldn’t miss out. His time might be limited, but he got to experience the pure joy of the holiday, thanks to a loving community. This is humanity at its best. If you’d like to donate to the Hurdakis family, you can find their GoFundMe page here.


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.






Keep ReadingShow less

Joey Grundl, Milwaukee pizza guy.

Joey Grundl, a pizza delivery driver for a Domino's Pizza in Waldo, Wisconsin, is being hailed as a hero for noticing a kidnapped woman's subtle cry for help.

The delivery man was sent to a woman's house to deliver a pie when her ex-boyfriend, Dean Hoffman, opened the door. Grundl looked over his shoulder and saw a middle-aged woman with a black eye standing behind Hoffman. She appeared to be mouthing the words: "Call the police."

Keep ReadingShow less
Photo by Katerina Holmes|Canva

Mom in tears after another parent calls about daughter's lunch


People say having children is like having your heart walk around outside of your body. You send them off to school, practices or playdates and hope that the world treats them kindly because when they hurt, you hurt. Inevitably there will be times when your child's feelings are hurt so you do your best to prepare for that day.

But what prepares you for when the child you love so much winds up accidentally healing your inner child. A mom on TikTok, who goes by Soogia posted a video explaining a phone call she received from a parent in her daughter's classroom. The mom called to inform Soogia that their kids had been sharing lunch with each other.

Soogia wasn't prepared for what came next. The classmate's mother informed her that her son loves the food Soogia's daughter brings to school and wanted to learn how to cook it too.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pop Culture

Listen to this organ in Croatia that uses the sea to make hauntingly beautiful music

It's a 230-foot-long organ that turns the rhythm of the waves into actual music.


In 2005, a Croatian architect designed a 230-foot-long organ that turns the rhythm of the waves into actual music.

Nope, not nonsensical bellows or chaotic tones. Real, actual, music.

Keep ReadingShow less
Modern Families

A comic from The Oatmeal illustrates how we're missing the mark on happiness.

I do the things that are meaningful to me, even if they don't make me "happy."

By Matthew Inman/The Oatmeal. Used with permission.

How to Be Perfectly Happy


Matthew Inman is the Eisner Award-winning author of The Oatmeal. He's published six books, including New York Times Best-Sellers such as "How to Tell if Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You"and "The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances."He enjoys running marathons, writing comics, and eating cake.

You can read more of Matthew's comics here.

Keep ReadingShow less
Health

Sweeping UN study finds that 9 out of 10 people worldwide are biased against women

In other words, 9 out of 10 people worldwide—both men and women—are biased against women in vital areas that impact the world in major ways.

Photo by Joe Gardner on Unsplash

As the U.S. ramps into an all-too-familiar presidential election cycle where the only viable candidates left on the ballot are men, the UN announces a study that may—at least partially—explain why.

The Gender Social Norms Index released yesterday by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) offers a look at gender equality as measured by people's personal gender bias. The data, which was collected from 75 countries covering 81% of the world's population, found that 91% of men and 86% of women show at least one clear bias against women in the areas of politics, economics, education, and physical integrity.

In other words, 9 out of 10 people worldwide—both men and women—are biased against women in vital areas that impact the world in major ways. Splendid.

Keep ReadingShow less