The good guys thread

[kuhio98]

Comforted by a Canine Angel
When a dog unexpectedly appeared in her husband's hospital room, she wondered why he was there. But not for long...
By Peggy Frezon, Rensselaer, New York

I huddled in the vinyl chair near the foot of the hospital bed. That man lying there, pale and still, monitors blinking all around him, oxygen tube clamped to his nose–I barely recognized him. How could that be Mike, the husband I’d relied on for 31 years?

My take-charge guy was battling multiple blood clots in his lungs that had debilitated his body. The doctor said the worst was over. Now we just had to be patient.

But I’d made myself sick with worry, spending my days at the hospital and night after sleepless night at home, scared and completely on my own. For the first time in my life, I had no one to depend on.

We were one of those couples who did everything together.

At breakfast we did the daily crossword puzzle, sharing a pen. We went together to the gym, where we climbed aboard adjacent treadmill machines, plugged in our ear buds and watched the same show on TV. When Mike tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to the screen, I always knew exactly what he was thinking.

Mike was my rock. Lord, please help him get better. I feel all alone without him. A strange sound came from the hospital corridor. A sharp click-click-click-click on the linoleum floor drew nearer till it stopped outside Mike’s room. I did a double take. A dog loomed in the doorway.

I recognized the breed by his distinctive black and white coat highlighted by rust-colored markings–a Bernese Mountain Dog. The special collar distinguished him as a therapy dog. I gazed at Mike, awake but dazed.

I’d been a dog-lover all my life, but what could a therapy dog possibly do to help my husband? The dog seemed to read my thoughts. He had a job to do and he got to it.

Purposefully, he stepped into the room, handler in tow. I sat quietly watching this well-trained beauty. Maybe petting the dog’s soft fur will give Mike some small comfort.

As the dog headed toward Mike’s bedside, he suddenly stopped. He padded over to my chair and looked into my eyes. With that, the dog nudged his head against my waist, as if asking for a hug. I put my arms around him and buried my face into his thick, velvety fur till I felt the gentle pulsing of his heart.

I am here, its rhythm seemed to say.

My whole body relaxed. My stress lifted away. Mike smiled from the bed. The dog let me hold him for as long as I needed to. When I finally released him, he put his paw on my knee and looked up at me. I turned to his handler. “How did he know that I was the one who needed him?”

“Gabriel always knows,” she said.

I stroked the dog’s neck. Gabriel. My angel dog. The Lord knew how to soothe me. He’d keep me strong while my husband regained his health. On that I could depend.

[kuhio98]

Yard sale raises over $10,000 for fire victims

Brooksville, Florida - From t-shirts to golf clubs, Papa Joe's Yard Sale in Brooksville had overwhelming support from the community this weekend.

Papa Joe's is raising money to help its employees, who lost their jobs after the mom and pop restaurant was destroyed in a fire on Jan. 24.

The event was so successful on Saturday, the restaurant's owners, Joseph and Donna Giarratana, decided to hold it again on Sunday. They wound up raising more than $10,000.

"They bring items and they go away with items. So, it's just great. They just really do whatever they can do to show support," said Papa Joe's owner Joseph Giarratana.

"It means a lot. The community kicked in and put a lot to us. I've been here 25 years and I don't have anything. So hopefully he'll come back pretty soon," said former employee Teresa Mott.

The owners tell 10 News they will rebuild, but they don't know when or where.

Papa Joe's will hold another fundraiser in two weeks on Feb. 16. It will be at the Spring Lake Methodist Church in Brooksville from 1 p.m. - 6 p.m.

[kuhio98]

Lenexa teen recognized for pulling 53 cars from snow for free

LENEXA, Kan. - As the snow storm blew through the area Tuesday night , most of us were fast asleep, but Andrew Flood of Lenexa, Kan., was hard at work.

The 19-year-old spent the entire night pulling cars out of the snow. He was out in the cold so long that the bottom of his jeans had frozen solid and by the time the sun came up, he had helped 53 people.

Andrew's work was done completely as a volunteer. He didn’t ask or take a dime from any of the people he helped, but his good deeds aren't going without recognition.

When 41 Action News featured Andrew on Wednesday's morning show, Mary Montgomery-Shatz was watching. She is the director of operations for LongHorn Steakhouse and gave Flood a $200 gift card.

Flood was stunned and said he just likes helping people.

"Sometimes people don't have money for road side or towing," Flood said. "For us to show up and help them out, families they appreciate that. If it's their daughter or son and they're stuck out in the middle of nowhere, they like to know the feeling that people are out there willing to help them."

His father Brad Flood couldn't be more proud.

Flood plans on maintaining that spirit of helping others. He's currently studying to become a paramedic.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...2026189&type=1

[kuhio98]

Forbes Hospice Flies Dying Man’s Family From Jamaica To Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A dying man’s wish was to see his wife and kids one more time, and thanks to the generosity and hard work of some Pittsburghers, that wish has come true.

Charlton Fisher is at Forbes Hospice at West Penn Hospital.

He’s from Jamaica, but he left his family behind and came to the United States, so he could earn money for his oldest daughter to go to nursing school.

The 43-year-old’s heart, however, is barely working. With his pacemaker failing, he wound up in the hospital, and then was moved to hospice when things got worse.

He says he couldn’t get up out of bed or even see.

He needs a heart transplant to survive, which is unlikely. The staff asked him what they could do for him.

“He said ‘I miss my wife and kids so badly,’” said Forbes Hospice Counselor Kevin Henry.

Intern Ellen Freise-March, in particular, worked tirelessly to get emergency papers for Fisher’s wife Marion, his 11-year-old daughter Ashley and his 3-year-old daughter Asha-kay.

Fisher’s boss at the hotels in Bentleyville, where he worked as a maintenance man, paid for the airfare.
And Saturday night, Fisher’s wish came true.

“So, so, so beautiful,” said Fisher, as he clutched a rosary in his hand. “I was there waiting and then when the moment came, I couldn’t believe my eyes!”

He started to cry when his wife talked about what it meant to her, and how she felt alone so far away in Jamaica.

Now they’re together. “She stayed by me. She hasn’t left,” he said.

And it seems for Charlton Fisher, family may be the best medicine.
Since his family arrived, he’s been walking, and he says his vision has gotten better.
He wants to live now more than ever.

“I don’t want to die yet, because I haven’t fulfilled my promise to my daughter,” said Fisher.
He’s not well enough to fly, so he’ll be driven to New York City to stay with his mother-in-law. His boss will pay for that as well, for which Fisher is extremely grateful.

He still hopes to get a new heart.

This isn’t the first time first time Forbes Hospice has pulled together to help someone’s dying wish come true.

For one patient, they arranged for a horse-drawn carriage ride, they’ve organized two weddings for patients and even had a pizza flown in from Chicago for another patient.

[kuhio98]

Canadian cross-country coach helps ailing Russian in awesome Olympic moment

Anton Gafarov was having a tough time on Tuesday.

Having reached the semifinals of the men's cross-country sprint, the 27-year-old Russian fell twice and then broke one of his skis. It looked like he'd have to walk off the course instead of crossing the finish line.

But enter Justin Wadsworth, a former American Olympian who's coaching the Canadian team in Sochi. With a competitor struggling, Wadsworth ran out to Gafarov and hooked him up with an extra ski. Though his run took almost as twice as long as his qualifying and quarterfinal run, Gafarov was able to finish the race.

Wadsworth, who competed for the United States in Lillehammer, Nagano and Salt Lake City, is no stranger to people helping people on the cross-country circuit. He's married to Canadian Beckie Scott, whose relay partner Sara Renner was lent a ski pole by Norwegian coach Bjornar Haakensmoen in the 2006 Turin Games. The act of generosity helped Scott and Renner clinch a silver medal while a pair of Norwegian skiers took fourth.

Scott has said that helping out fellow competitors is the rule and not the exception in cross-country.

"Had it been anybody else on the course, they would have done the same thing," Scott said in 2012. "It just happened that it was a Norwegian coach at that moment who had a pole for Sara.

"If someone hadn't done it, then that would have been exceptional. It's really more common to give people poles and help them out than it is to do nothing."

[kuhio98]

Eugene Westerhouse Builds Wheelchair Ramps for Disabled People

Eugene "Westie" Westerhouse takes humility to a whole new level.

Ask the 87-year-old Eudora, Kan., resident about his good deeds and he'll start talking about wood and tape measures and four-by-fours.

When pressed about his good deeds, he says, "I was just looking for something to do."

But to many Westerhouse is a godsend, having volunteered his time and still-significant muscle designing and building free wheelchair ramps for more than 300 people with special needs for nearly four decades.

"Westie is known to almost everybody within a 100-mile radius of here," says friend and wheelchair ramp co-builder Bill VanDeBerghe, who leads the Kingdom Builders ministry of the Eudora United Methodist Church, the umbrella for Westerhouse's charitable works.

"He's extremely embarrassed by any attention," says VanDeBerghe "but Westie is a remarkable man and quite a leader."

She should know.

Westie built a ramp for her husband, Gary, 62, after he suffered a serious stroke last June.
"Westie is our superhero!" she says.

Westerhouse, a former rural postal carrier who lives with his wife of 65 years, Dottie, on the farm homesteaded by his great-great-grandparents, built his first wheelchair ramp in 1978 when contacted by a church bishop with a parishioner in need.

"I took time off from carrying mail and traveled about 110 miles to go help an old gentleman who needed a ramp so he could get to the doctor," Westerhouse says. "And it just kind of grew from there."

Westerhouse retired from the postal service in 1993 and since then estimates he and his crew of fellow church members have built about 14 ramps a year.

"The one I'm building right now is for a lady who is handicapped and will never be out of her wheelchair," Westerhouse says.

"And I've built two now in the last few months for children," he says. "It's great to be able to help these young people."

Those in need learn about Westerhouse's ramps in a variety of ways – word of mouth, through the church and, more recently, from a feature article in the local newspaper ("Let me send you a copy," Westie offers).

For Deb and Gary Jennings of Lawrence, Kan., the Kingdom Builders came to them after a call from Deb's mom.

"I was in shock and didn't know what to do or what our needs might be," says Deb, 57, of Gary's stroke.

"I had assumed my husband would be walking out of the hospital," she says. "But when that couldn't happen, Westie and Bill calmed me down and led me into the world of wheelchairs and wheelchair ramps."

Westerhouse constructs each ramp in sections inside his home workshop, with the average cost in materials between $700 and $800.

These materials are often paid for through church funds or through grants from local health agencies. All labor is donated, with a crew of up to a dozen volunteers installing home ramps under Westerhouse's guidance.

"It's remarkable," says VanDeBerghe. "Westie is 87 and the vast majority – in fact everyone – we're building for are people much younger than he is.

"He has this incredible stamina we are all amazed by," he says. "Building the ramps can be very tiring, but Westie is right there in the middle of the work."

"I had no idea how much our world would change once we had the wheelchair ramp," says Deb Jennings.

"We call our ramp 'The Freedom Ramp,' " she says. "And I can't say enough good about Westie. He started the ball rolling on how we were going to enter into this new world."

Westerhouse's typically humble response?

"Wherever I'm needed," he says, "I'll go."

[kuhio98]

'Heroic' father rescues 5 children from burning townhouse

SACRAMENTO – Firefighters credited "heroic acts" of a young father for saving the lives of his five children as fire tore through their south Sacramento townhouse.

What may have started as a kitchen fire shortly after 1 a.m. quickly spread to the entire apartment at 46 Creeks Edge Way.

Neighbor Tyrone Thompson said he watched Deon Hill, 24, run out of the townhouse with three young children in his arms and a fourth child clutching his pants leg.

"I just remember him saying I have a baby in there," Thompson recalled.

Hill's cousin, Shawn Jones, said Hill went back into the burning building and crawled commando-style up the stairs to pull his 3-year-old daughter, Joy, from her bed.

The two emerged choking on smoke and both suffered minor burns, but Jones said both would be released from the hospital after overnight observation.

Jones said Hill was home with the children while his wife, Sierra, was away on an overnight shift as a home healthcare worker.