Blog Posts by Nadine Kalinauskas

Luangrath's mother survived a battle with cervical cancer 10 years ago, but has been struggling to stay afloat financially ever since.

So for Mother's Day, he bought her a house.

"For years, one of the goals of mine was always to provide my mother with something she worked so hard for and lost. Las Vegas was one of the hardest hit city in the economic downturn, and my mother ended up losing her home. Its been a long time coming and I just wanted to share this special moment with you," he wrote.

Watch the beautiful moment below:

Luangrath's mother wasn't the only one overwhelmed by incredible generosity on Mother's Day.

In Miami, a compassionate foreclosure specialist paid more than $4,000 in back taxes on an elderly woman's house.

Thelma Turner was at risk of losing her home when she sought the financial advice of Luis Valdeon. He offered to pay off her debt as a late Mother's Day gift — and as a birthday gift to himself.

[ More Good News: Autistic teen may be smarter than Einstein ]

Read More »from For Mother’s Day, son surprises his mom with a house

Jacob Barnett, 14, is studying for a Master's degree in quantum physics.

What makes this story most remarkable is that his parents were told he'd never be able to read.

Jacob was diagnosed with autism at 2 years old.

"Oh my gosh, when he was 2, my fear was that he would never be in our world at all," Kristine Barnett, Jacob's mother, told the Indianapolis Star in 2011. "He would not talk to anyone. He would not even look at us."

Jacob proved his doctors wrong.

Now he's solving quantum mechanics problems.

With an IQ of 170, higher than that of Albert Einstein, the young genius from Indiana was tipped as a future Nobel prize winner after a Princeton professor confirmed that the then-9-year-old's mathematical models were groundbreaking, expanding on Einstein's famous field of relativity.

"I'm impressed by his interest in physics and the amount that he has learned so far," Professor Scott Tremaine wrote in an email to the family. "The theory that he's working on involves several of the toughest

Read More »from Autistic teen may be smarter than Einstein

This summer, Jack Wiegand, 20, hopes to become the youngest pilot to fly around the world solo.

On May 2, Wiegand embarked on the flight of a lifetime, taking off in his hometown of Fresno, California.

His exciting trip began without incident.

"The first day of my around the world journey was a success and I was excited to get started," he blogged.

A few days later, however, Wiegand realized he forgot something: his passport.

"Six months prior to the trip, everything was preparation, you know? It was all doing flight training, getting everything absolutely perfect, and, you know, to forget something like a passport is just something that slipped my mind, I guess," he told the National Post.

He realized the embarrassing oversight after his flight from Morristown, New Jersey to Iqaluit, Nunavut.

"I just handed customs my leather passport case because I was confident it was in there," Wiegand told the Fresno Bee in a telephone interview Thursday. "The officer opened it and said, 'There is

Read More »from Pilot flying around the world solo gets a hand from mom in Canada

Last Monday, Ashley Yasick, 27, of Delray Beach, Florida, was checking her voicemail when she discovered a message from someone dialling a wrong number. The man sounded frantic, asking for help.

"It was one of those gut-wrenching phone calls and I knew right away I couldn't ignore it," Yasick told the Sun-Sentinel. "I called him back. Clearly he was trying to reach out to somebody."

When she called back, the man on the other end of the line couldn't speak.

"It was a very distressing phone call. I kept asking him 'Where are you?' but he couldn't really talk," Yasick said. "I kept saying, 'I need you to give me more information.' He kept telling me he was in the back room of the house."

Yasick then Googled the man's phone number to find out where he was from: Norwood, Pennsylvania. She looked up the number for the Norwood Police Department and called them, asking them to check in on the man.

She later learned that the distressed caller was Thomas Buck, an 84-year-old man from Pennsylvania,

Read More »from Man’s wrong number saved his life, thanks to compassionate stranger

According to new Dove research, participation in sports and activities can play a crucial role in young girls' development. This follows the 2010 findings that six in 10 girls have quit sports because of poor body image.

To help young girls feel more encouraged and empowered in the activities they love, Dove approached Canada's trampoline superstar, Rosie MacLennan, and asked her to share her story.

"I guess they thought that because I'd gotten to the peak of where I can get in my career, they wanted to hear my story: how I did it and why I did it," MacLennan says.

MacLennan, 24, Canada's only gold medalist at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, recently spoke to Yahoo! Canada News about the new Dove "Girls Unstoppable" campaign and the role moms, mentors and athletics can play in building young girls' self-esteem.

Y! Canada: What is your "unstoppable" story?

MacLennan: Generally speaking, at a young age, you start to get compared to other people. You start comparing yourself to other people,

Read More »from ‘Unstoppable’ Rosie MacLennan empowers girls to pursue the activities they love: A Yahoo! Exclusive

In January, two sloth bear cubs were born at Chicago's Brookfield Zoo. They spent their first few months of life in a maternity den with their mom, 10-year-old Hani.

This Wednesday, just in time for Mother's Day, the still-unnamed brother/sister duo finally made their public debut.

"Zoo guests will be able to witness one of the most intriguing behavioural traits of this species: a mother sloth bear carrying her young on her back. Rarely seen in other bear species, a cub riding on its mother's back is a regular mode of family travel. Hani will continue to carry her cubs until they are about a third her size," the zoo posted on YouTube.

According to zoo spokeswoman Sandra Katzen, sloth bears, which live only in southern Asia, are listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, with fewer than 20,000 thought to remain in the wild, including populations in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The cute siblings were the first successful sloth bear litter born at

Read More »from Cute sloth bear cubs make their debut at Brookfield Zoo

One South African couple is hand-raising cheetahs alongside their young children.

Featured in the documentary "Cheetah House," the Schoeman family embraces the big cats as if they were domestic kittens.

The young cheetahs, Wakku and Skyla, live and play with toddlers Kayla Schoeman, 1, and her brother, Malan, 3.

Parents Hein and Kim Schoeman are animals trainers on the Abertinia animal reserve where the 1-year-old cheetahs were born. They decided that hand-raising the animals would give them a greater chance at survival, as the cheetah's mother didn't seem capable of caring for her entire litter.

"At the end of the day, it all boils down to how humans and nature can live together and respect each other. That's what it’s about," Hein Schoeman said in a Skype interview with ABC News.

Watch the unconventional family in action below:

"When you raise them, it's extremely strict. You need to establish dominance and respect first of all and maintain that," Schoeman said of raising the wild animals.

Read More »from In ‘Cheetah House,’ toddlers play with adopted cheetahs

On May 5, University of Portland graduate Sam Bridgman did what many of us take for granted: he walked.

Usually confined to a motorized wheelchair — he was diagnosed with the rare degenerative neuromuscular disorder Friedreich's ataxia at age 15 — Bridgman walked across the stage at his college graduation with the help of athletic trainers Cat Wade and Brad Scott, who worked with a determined Bridgman throughout his entire time at the school.

The inspirational student's feat was met with a standing ovation from his proud peers.

Watch Bridgman's inspirational walk below. (Warning: tearjerker.)

"You've never met anyone that smiles bigger and more often," Laurie C. Kelley, associate vice president of university relations and chief marketing officer, told The Oregonian. "His smile just lights up your day."

"He'll be missed," she added. "There's not another Sam Bridgman."

"Our son, Hayden, has FA as well. He is 9 years old. Sam, YOU are an inspiration! I hope your efforts, along with the rest of

Read More »from Standing ovation: Wheelchair-bound university student walks across stage at graduation