Good Words, Good Deeds, Good News

Strangers Attend Veteran's Funeral

U. S. Marine veteran Gerry Brooks passed away at the age of 86 on May 18. Even though he had a few relatives, no one stepped up to arrange his funeral. The funeral home did it, and sent out a request for pallbearers and attendees, so the funeral could be done. Within minutes of posting the request, they had to start turning away pallbearer volunteers, as so many had called in.

Patriot Guard Riders, a volunteer organization that attends the funerals of U.S. veterans and first responders, escorted the hearse for 40 miles from the funeral home on motorcycles. Members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) organization performed a 21-gun salute as volunteers held American flags and a crane lifted a giant flag at the entrance of the cemetery.

Hundreds of people attended the funeral, including his son, granddaughter, and son-in-law.

“It renews your faith in humanity,” Katie Riposta, the funeral director, said. “It sounds like he was a good person, but I know nothing about his life,” she continued, saying that a woman contacted the funeral home to say that Brooks' had taken her in when she had nowhere else to go.

“It doesn't matter if he served one day or made the military his career,” Riposta said. “He still deserves to be respected and not alone.”

Florida Brothers Help Multiple People in a Fiery Car Crash

Florida brothers Christian and Dillon heroically helped multiple people involved in a fiery, fatal car crash. In the middle of the bridge, a truck pulled to the side, and in front of that, they saw a smashed car, a car on fire and a truck that had turned over.

They ran to the truck to help those people out and then to the smashed car. A 55-year-old man and a 15-year-old girl who were riding in the pickup truck were hospitalized with minor injuries, as well as a 26-year-old man in the smashed car. The police hadn't announced the victim in the car on fire, or disclosed the cause of the accident.

The brothers expressed the hope that if they were ever in that kind of trouble, someone would step up to try to help them.

“You have to kind of give yourself a pep talk and think, 'If this were me, I hope somebody would help me,'” Christian said. “Your life can be over in a second. That was almost us. We were quite literally one car away from it all.”

“I would say, if you're able to help, then help,” Dillon added.

Officers Save Newborn With No Heartbeat

Two policemen in Alexandria, Virginia, revived a newborn in the tense moments after he was born not breathing. The 9-1-1 call stated that the other had just given birth, and that the baby seemed lifeless. When they responded, they found him not breathing and having no heartbeat.

Their training kicked in, and one officer began administering CPR, while the other officer tried to keep the parents calm. After two rounds of CPR, he found a pulse, and the baby “started fussing”. The officer added, “It felt amazing to hear him cry. In that moment, all the stress and fear of the situation just left me.”

The baby and his mother are doing well and have since returned home after a short stay in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Neighbors Save Drowning Child

A little boy is alive thanks to community members near Boston, Massachusetts, who were there when he desperately needed help. 9-1-1 was called, saying that there was a child who had drowned in a park pond. The fire department said that bystanders had pulled him out of the water and that he was unresponsive.

Community members there had CPR training, and gave the four-year-old CPR. When the firefighters arrived, he was breathing. However, a 10-year-old girl had seen the boy under the water and pulled him onto the shore. He was taken to a nearby pediatric trauma center after being stabilized. There was no report on his condition.

The 10-year-old girl was also credited for saving his life, along with all those involved in reviving him.

Hero Dog Saves 38 Others

A 10-year-old Basset Hound ran away from the home she was living in. When officials found her wandering, they had her checked to see if she had a chip, which she did. It turns out the home she ran away from was neglecting the animals there, and her running away saved the animals that were still there — 36 dogs, a cat and a chicken.

She has been named Hero Salvare (the last name meaning to save and protect). The Humane Society in South Carolina described the conditions at the home, saying that the animals were in small cages, with filth everywhere, and some of them had untreated injuries.

The Humane Society took in 15 of the dogs themselves, including Hero, with several other smaller animal rescues taking in the others. Members of the community pitched in to help cover medical and other expenses for the rescued animals. Many of the dogs, including Hero, have been adopted now.

Primary Cause of Lupus Discovered — and A Possible Way to Reverse It

A team of scientists from Northwestern Medicine and Brigham and Women's Hospital have identified the cause of lupus, a devastating autoimmune disease that affects 1.5 million Americans.

The researchers first studied lupus patients and found that those with the disease had higher levels of an infection-fighting protein called interferon and not enough aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR), which regulates how the body responds to infection.

The team aims to develop medications to activate the AHR pathway. When this pathway is insufficient, it results in too many immune cells that promote the production of disease-causing autoantibodies.

“We found that if we either activate the AHR pathway with small molecule activators or limit the pathologically excessive interferon in the blood, we can reduce the number of these disease-causing cells,” said a researcher. “If these effects are durable, this may be a potential cure.”