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This 7-year-old met her bone marrow donor. It's much more than a feel-good moment.

Adriana Avilés was diagnosed with leukemia in May 2015. At just 4 years old, she faced a tough road ahead.  

She had a lot of support along the way. Her father is MLB utility player Mike Avilés. The diagnosis came when he played for the Detroit Tigers; his teammates shaved their heads in solidarity with Adriana as she went through treatment.

But in December 2015, a miracle donation helped save her life.


Mike Laureano, a college student at the time, donated bone marrow to help Adriana fight the disease.

In early 2016, it was announced she was cancer-free, thanks in large part to Laureano's donation. Her journey from diagnosis to recovery touched many people, including her father's teammates.

"It's a blessing, not only as a teammate, but as a friend," Cleveland Indians outfielder Michael Brantley said after it was announced she was cancer-free.

In 2018, Adriana got the chance to thank Laureano in person.

The teary meet-up in the heartwarming viral video is clearly emotional for both of them.

[rebelmouse-image 19470394 dam="1" original_size="1200x595" caption="All images by Inside Edition/YouTube." expand=1]All images by Inside Edition/YouTube.

The two were connected through a program called Be The Match, which Laureano learned about during a donor drive at his university.

"Adri might only be 7 years old, but her heart and mind are wise — she knows how incredible this gift of life was," Jessy, her mother, said.

Be The Match is an organization that runs America's largest bone marrow donor registry and works to match potential donors with those diagnosed with blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma.

Laureano signed up to donate because "it was the right thing to do."

"I was a healthy individual living my life," he said, "so if I could help allow someone else to do the same then I, as a human being, have an obligation to do so."

Mike Laureano posing with Adriana's parents.

Everyone needs human connection. Be The Match is a great example of transforming that idea into actionable service.

The organization allows donors the opportunity to meet their recipients in person. Understandably, not every donor will want to meet their recipient (and vice versa) — but for those who might otherwise be sitting on the fence, that promise of a real human connection can be a powerful incentive.

Not everyone can be a donor, and that's OK! There are always other ways to help, such as volunteering with the American Cancer Society. Be The Match offers some alternatives as well, which you can check out here.

No matter what, the opportunity to see a life changed firsthand is just what the doctor ordered.

Watch the full video of Adriana and Laureano meeting below:

The gaze of the approving Boomer.

Over the past few years, Baby Boomers (1946 to 1964) have been getting a lot of grief from the generations that came after them, Gen X (1965 to 1980), Millenials (1981 to 1996), and now, Gen Z (1997 to 2012). Their grievances include environmental destruction, wealth hoarding, political polarization, and being judgemental when they don’t understand how hard it is for younger people to make it in America these days.

Every Baby Boomer is different, so it's wrong to paint them all with a broad brush. But it’s undeniable that each generation shares common values, and some are bound to come into conflict.

However, life in 2023 isn’t without its annoyances. Many that came about after the technological revolution put a phone in everyone’s hands and brought a whole new host of problems. Add the younger generations' hands-on approach to child rearing and penchant for outrage, and a lot of moden life has become insufferanble.

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Klein Kwagga understood the assignment at his sister's concert.

Some kids are too shy to ever want to get on a stage, some will spend most of a performance staring awkwardly at their shoes, and some kids love the opportunity to show off what they've practiced in front of an audience.

And then there are the kids were simply born for the spotlight. You know them when you see them.

When Dirkco Jansen van Nieuwenhuizen hopped on stage with all of the other brothers and sisters of the dance students at René’s Art of Dance in South Africa, no one expected a viral sensation. According to Capetown Etc, it was the school's year-end concert, and siblings were invited to come up and dance to Bernice West’s Lyfie—a popular song in Afrikaans. And Dirkco, who goes by Klein Kwagga, took the assignment and ran with it.

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Prepare to get Thatcherized.

It seems that Adele is going viral once again.

Perhaps you’ve seen the image in question previously (it seems to make the rounds every couple of years). But in case you missed it—it’s Adele’s face. Normal, just upside down.

Only it’s not normal. In fact, when you turn Adele’s face right side up, what you notice is that her eyes and mouth were actually right-side up THE ENTIRE TIME, even though the entire head was upside down. So when you turn the head right side up, the eyes and mouth are now UPSIDE-DOWN—and you can’t unsee it. Do you feel like you're Alice in Wonderland yet?

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Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

People share the most practical ways to support new parents

There's a lot of preparation that goes into having a child well before they're even born. First there are the physical changes your body makes to clear up some space for a tiny human roughly the size of a watermelon. Then there's preparing the nursery, buying lots of extremely small clothes, diapers and an expected understanding that while sleep may be your friend, you won't be getting any of it for about a year.

Lots of people give plenty of advice to help you cope in the early days but after the baby arrives, the focus shifts to solely the baby. It's obviously not a deliberate shift. Babies are just more shiny and new that the parents. But not everyone forgets about the parents once baby makes their grand entrance–some go out of their way to make sure the parents feel supported.

Upworthy asked its audience, "what was the best non-baby related gift you received as a new parent," and the answers were a masterclass on how to care for new parents.

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Family

A mom seeks doctor's help for postpartum depression and instead gets a visit from the cops

Too many women lose out on much needed support because of unwarranted stigma.

Canva

Postpartum depression is very common, and treatable.

Jessica Porten recently visited her doctor four months after giving birth to her daughter, Kira. She wasn't feeling quite like herself.

She had been dealing with overwhelming sadness and fits of anger, which she knew was likely stemming from a case of postpartum depression.

In a Facebook post, Porten recounts the story of that appointment.

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Identity

Formerly enslaved man's response to his 'master' wanting him back is a literary masterpiece

"I would rather stay here and starve — and die, if it come to that — than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young masters."

A photo of Jordan Anderson.

In 1825, at the approximate age of 8, Jordan Anderson (sometimes spelled "Jordon") was sold into slavery and would live as a servant of the Anderson family for 39 years. In 1864, the Union Army camped out on the Anderson plantation and he and his wife, Amanda, were liberated. The couple eventually made it safely to Dayton, Ohio, where, in July 1865, Jordan received a letter from his former owner, Colonel P.H. Anderson. The letter kindly asked Jordan to return to work on the plantation because it had fallen into disarray during the war.

On Aug. 7, 1865, Jordan dictated his response through his new boss, Valentine Winters, and it was published in the Cincinnati Commercial. The letter, entitled "Letter from a Freedman to His Old Master," was not only hilarious, but it showed compassion, defiance, and dignity. That year, the letter would be republished in theNew York Daily Tribune and Lydia Marie Child's "The Freedman's Book."

The letter mentions a "Miss Mary" (Col. Anderson's Wife), "Martha" (Col. Anderson's daughter), Henry (most likely Col. Anderson's son), and George Carter (a local carpenter).

Dayton, Ohio,
August 7, 1865
To My Old Master, Colonel P.H. Anderson, Big Spring, Tennessee

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