It was a special morning Tuesday at Lynbrook High School as junior Aidan Slattery returned to school after undergoing heart transplant surgery three months ago. Lynbrook Supt. Melissa Burak, Principal Joseph Rainis, assistant principals Salvatore Brescia and Matthew Sarosy joined excited students, staff and members of the Slattery family waiting for his arrival outside the high school.
Looking to give Slattery a memorable surprise homecoming, students held balloons and posters to welcome him back. Members of the marching band performed, and the cheerleading and kickline teams lined the sidewalk as Aidan was dropped off at the front of the building. Everyone cheered as they paved a path for him from the entrance of the school through the lobby, cafeteria and hallway.
Slattery, who has had a heart condition his entire life, fell ill in early May during his sophomore year and was taken to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. There he learned his heart was failing and was placed on the nationwide emergency heart transplant list. He underwent a massive surgery to receive a heart pump called a ventricular assist device and began to grow stronger. Within five weeks, a near perfect match was discovered for a donor heart and Slattery underwent heart transplant surgery.
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Every week, Patch has scores of reporters around the country covering their communities, reporting on the good and the bad. Sometimes, the good gets lost in the swirl. The story of Aidan returning to school was just one of many uplifting stories told by Patch last week. Here are more:
First Gray Whale Of Season Spout-ed In South Orange County
They don’t call it the Whale Watching Capitol of the World for nothing! On Tuesday off the shores of Dana Point, whale watchers viewed the season’s first migrating gray whale! On Tuesday, diver Mike Couffer spotted the leviathan and alerted whale watching crews, Patch was told.
“The little guy was seen first off Newport pier by diver Mike Couffer, he whale was 30 feet and traveling south past Dana Point,” Donna Kalez, spokesperson for Dana Point Whale Watching said. “Capt. Steve Burkhalter and Frank Brennan found this whale.”
Gray whales are typically not seen until late November or early December, according to Capt. Dave Anderson of Capt. Dave’s Whale Watching.
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Napa Grower Wins World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off
An Atlantic Giant pumpkin weighing more than a ton won $15,225 in prize money Monday at the 46th Annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay.
“I started my seed April 10, and the pumpkin itself grew for 120 days,” said Napa resident Leonardo Urena.
In addition to the substantial prize money he won, Urena’s 2,175-pound pumpkin has also earned him a starring role in this week’s Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival parade on Saturday.
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Wounded Green Beret Comes Home To New House
He’d given everything in defense of his country — including his legs.
Army Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Kenworthy, a Green Beret, was completing his seventh combat deployment in Afghanistan in July 2014. His convoy was returning from a night mission when his truck hit an improvised explosive device.
The truck rolled, and Kenworthy was thrown from the vehicle and pinned beneath the machine gun turret.
His fellow Green Berets were able to lift the gun off him and save his life, but he suffered a spinal cord injury that left him a quadriplegic.
Now the country he sacrificed so much for is giving back.
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Airline’s Act Of Kindness Saves Ocean City Teams’ Disney Trip
The Ocean City High School cross country teams arrived at Philadelphia International Airport. The contingent of 79 was set to board a Frontier Airlines flight Thursday to Orlando for the Disney Cross Country Classic.
The team worked tirelessly to raise money for the trip the previous two years, operating multiple car washes and bagging groceries at Shop-Rite. But once they left for the airport, they realized things would get complicated.
As their bus departed from school, they realized their flight coming in from 6 to 9 p.m. Then it got delayed after 9 p.m.
“Then we figured out that our flight would be cancelled,” boys coach Matt Purdue told MileSplit NJ. “We went to the flight counter and they said they would refund our tickets. We told the ticket agent we have about 80 people who need to get to Disney for a cross-country race. We’re really not interested in a refund. They said the next flight was not until next Wednesday.”
But the kids didn’t give up, tweeting out to Delta Airlines.
Delta sent an MD88 plane — an emergency aircraft intended for corporate executives or politicians to travel quickly, or for pro sports teams stranded by weather
The coaching staff was placed in first-class, and the plane took off shortly after 4 a.m. They made it to 8 a.m. check-in and got about an hour of sleep before the Disney Classic began at 10 a.m.
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‘Real Life Bruce Wayne’ Disarms Gunman On Chicago Commuter Train
Chicago police have dubbed a Boston man a “real-life Bruce Wayne” after he disarmed a man accused of robbing passengers on the Blue Line on Sunday. Jean-Paul LaPierre said he was in town to run the Chicago Marathon when he didn’t hesitate to get involved after witnessing the robberies.
“I don’t like bullies,” LaPierre, 54, told the Chicago Sun-Times, saying adrenaline kicked in and he wasn’t afraid as he approached the robber and demanded the gun. “When I see someone pull a gun it makes me angry — it makes me really, really angry.”
Tremaine Anderson, 30, was later taken into custody on charges of robbery and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon. Police said Anderson was robbing people on the train at gunpoint around 5:50 p.m. Sunday before he was disarmed and held until officers arrived.
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Framingham’s Most Famous Glass Artist Is Blowing Up
Before lighting the torch, Momoko Schafer issues a breezy warning to a reporter: the flame can reach temperatures upward of 6,000 degrees, so make sure not to walk directly in front of it.
With that said, Schafer turns on the small but mighty torch, dons safety glasses, and gets to work heating up the bulbous end of a long tube of glass. Painstakingly, she shapes material into a colorful spotted button that she will later attach to a larger glass sculpture of a mushroom.
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From her workspace in an old Framingham mill, Schafer is running a one-woman glass-making enterprise. Schafer, 25, has only been working with glass since her teens, but her profile exploded this summer when she appeared in the Netflix reality show “Blown Away.”
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Hope In The Rubble: Staff Helps Find Wedding Ring Lost In Trash
It would be like finding a needle in a haystack. That’s what Ron Fisher thought despairingly when he realized he’d accidentally brought a box of valuables, including his wedding ring, to the North Sea transfer station.
Fisher, who lives in Flanders and owns Fisher Signs & Shirts in Southampton and Westhampton, said after moving into a new house last month, there were lots of boxes.
“We more or less finished unpacking and I loaded my car to bring them to the dump for recycling,” he wrote on Facebook. “Next to all the flattened boxes in my trunk was a box containing the deed to our house, all of our mortgage closing paperwork, the warranties and receipts for all of our new furniture, and, most importantly, my oversized wedding ring that I’ve been meaning to resize.”
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See It: Gordon Ramsay Surprises Ocean County Girl Fighting Cancer
Beachwood 12-year-old Kallista Flores got her wish. And just as she did when she heard celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay was in the area filming, she let out a scream.
And then ran to hug her idol as he stood in a conference room at her school (see video below).
Her father, Wolf Flores, put out a plea on Facebook on Tuesday night. On Wednesday morning, word got to Ramsay.
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Kingstowne Dental Office Tackles School Lunch Debts
Kingstowne Dental Specialists isn’t just in the business of pediatric dental and orthodontic care. The office, located at Kingstowne Towne Center, joined an effort to help cover school meals for kids in need.
Dr. Courtney Marzban, a pediatric dentist, opened the office in July with her orthodontist brother-in-law, Dr. Bob Marzban. Through a partnership with Settle the Debt, the office will cover two school lunches for every new patient.
“I love what I do and I want to give back,” Courtney Marzban told Patch. “I wanted to do more and this was a way we could financially do more.”
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Bumper Cat: Clearwater Firefighters Give Kitty A Hand Out
When a Clearwater woman discovered a kitten irretrievably stuck in the bumper of her car Tuesday, she turned to the people known for their animal rescue efforts – the Clearwater Fire & Rescue Department.
The A shift crew at Station 48 at 1700 N. Belcher Road were a bit flummoxed at first when the resident pulled her car into the station and announced that there was a kitten nestled inside her bumper beyond her reach. But, they quickly sprang into action when they heard the little cat mewing for help. Crawling beneath the car, they loosened the car’s bumper and coaxed.
Though a bit frightened, the kitten was no worse for wear after traveling around town inside a car bumper. As for the firefighters, the little guy destined to be named Bumper thinks they’re the cat’s meow.
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Adoptable Dog: Skater Won’t Let Spinal Cord Injury Slow Him Down
Skater is a 2-year-old lab/shepherd mix who has defied the odds. He was hit by a car and his spinal cord was severed. The vet said he’d never walk again. But put Skater in his custom-made wheelchair, and he can’t wait to run.
This special needs dog with a can-do attitude is friendly, loving and would make an ideal pet for a family on the go. To foster or adopt him, fill out an application at Maxx & Me Pet Rescue.
Based in Westchase, Maxx & Me is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping abused and neglected animals.
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Alpharetta Cat A Finalist In Nationwide Insurance Contest
The story of a cat that went missing who later returned home, may end up benefiting the veterinarian’s office that saved her.
Minnow the tabby cat from Alpharetta is one of five finalists for the Hambone Award by Nationwide Insurance.
Her story begins when her adopted parents Andrea, and her late husband Graham, made an unplanned visit to an animal shelter, they were immediately drawn to a sweet, talkative cat named Minnow—but wound up going home without adopting her. Andrea was consumed with regret and called the next day, only to find that the domestic short hair had already been adopted. That evening, she learned it was her husband who had taken the cat home.
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Nibble On Tiny Golden Hedgehogs At New Park Slope Chocolate Shop
Life-like hedgehogs and golden wrenches forged in chocolate from a new shop on Fifth Avenue might look too good to eat at first — but customers may soon find they’re too good not to eat, too, owners told Patch.
“It is interesting. People always say they are not going to eat it,” co-owner Sergei Potekhin said of the intricate figurines. “But, in a couple of days they tell us, ‘We ate it, we started to eat it — and the chocolate is really good.'”
Potekhin is one half of the husband-and-wife duo who moved to New York from their native Russia to open the new shop at 537 Fifth Ave., named “Not Just Chocolate NYC” for its vast array of chocolatey items that diverge from the usual bar or candy-shaped morsel.
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Vienna Family Raises Guide Dog In Training
Percy may seem like your average dog. On this particular October afternoon, the black Labrador could be found lying by his companion’s side on the porch before an afternoon walk. But these behaviors are a crucial part of his training so he can one day serve as a guide dog for a blind or visually impaired person.
Mother and daughter pair Jennifer and Ellie Butler took Percy into their Vienna home through Guiding Eyes for the Blind, a New York-based non-profit training guide dogs. As puppy raisers, they’re tasked with raising him before he can go through formal guide dog training. That involves teaching Percy manners and socialization so he’s prepared to advance into training.
This is the first time they’re raising a puppy through the program. The military family had lost their old dog before learning about the guide dog program. Ellie, a senior at Flint Hill School, wanted a new dog but her mother didn’t think it was the right time. The puppy raising program proved to be the perfect compromise.
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Pinellas County Provides 13,000 Pounds Fresh Food To Needy
More than 500 Pinellas County families received groceries during a Farm Share giveaway in Tarpon Springs Friday.
The Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners and community partners teamed up with Farm Share to give away fresh produce and groceries at St. Timothy Lutheran Church in Tarpon Springs.
Farm Share provided more than 13,000 pounds of food. Surplus food was donated to local nonprofit organizations.
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if you’ve missed some of our recent collections of uplifting stories, click on the links below for more Good News in America.
Good News in America week ending October 13
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