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    • Trey Gregory, 17, donated a piece of his liver to his dying mother, Patty.

      He almost wasn't allowed to do so.

      In October of 2009, liver disease landed Patty Gregory on a transplant waiting list at Toronto General Hospital.

      Her son, Trey, then 16, suggested he donate a portion of his liver. Patty was sure a donor would come forward in time, and was uncomfortable with her son risking his life for hers. Besides, hospital officials said no. The minimum age for live donors was 18.

      As Patty's condition worsened, Trey started to lobby the hospital. The Star reports he met with surgeons, donor co-ordinators, social workers and a psychiatrist.

      The Grade 12 student won over the local medical community. Gregory's challenge to Toronto General's transplant policy resulted in real change: the hospital now consider donors as young as 16.

      On May 13th, five days after Mother's Day, Trey underwent the 11-hour surgery that allowed his mother to receive the liver portion she needed. He says it's the best

      Read More »from Toronto teen Trey Gregory wins change in organ donation rules
    • #LoveFromSudan: A Love Letter to South Sudan

      South Sudan, the world's newest nation, received its first love letter this week — from Sudan.

      "So here, to a new beginning. May you learn from our mistakes and may we learn from ours," writes Mo Elzubeir, the video's creator, on his blog.

      He initiated the #LoveFromSudan project out of his heartache for the division of his nation and his excitement for South Sudan's newfound independence.

      "We are heartbroken because a part of us, a culture, a people, many peoples, have gone their own way.

      But the truth is, I have nothing but love for the people of South Sudan. I wish them the best in their new nation. I wish for them to prosper and cherish the freedom they have fought and struggled for."

      He compiled best wishes from his Sudanese blog readers into the touching video above.

      Read More »from #LoveFromSudan: A Love Letter to South Sudan
    • He calls Fenelon Falls home, but he's a hero in Sutton thanks to his life-saving quick-thinking this past weekend.

      According to the Toronto Star, 21-year-old James Slatcher was tossing around a basketball with a friend outside of his sister's townhouse complex in Sutton in the early hours of Monday morning.

      Shortly after 2 a.m., he smelled something burning and noticed smoke.

      "My first thought was to get my sister, my nephew and my niece out," he tells YorkRegion.com.

      Then Slatcher ran back into the building, pulling the fire alarm before knocking on each of the 36 units, waking up residents and alerting them of the fire.

      "I wasn't really thinking. I was just getting as many people out as I could," Slatcher told The Star.

      "It took a lot of guts," Sergeant Kevin Smith of York Regional Police's 3 District headquarters told YorkRegion.com. "He did a good thing with no concern to his own welfare."

      Slatcher has been hailed a hero by the community, especially by the residents whose lives he

      Read More »from James Slatcher saves 100 from Sutton fire, hailed as hero
    • Japanese beat the heat with spray-can cooling foams

      The high tech trend-setters in Japan have come up with a new way to keep cool just in time to beat summer heat.

      Japan Trends claims that the newest must-have product from the land of the rising sun is the spray-can cooling spray. The foam-like spray quickly solidifies and can then be wrapped around the wrist or neck, providing instant relief from the summer's sweltering heat.

      Gizmodo reports that "icy-cold foam sprays have been around for a while in the East," but that the silly string-like substance is only now hitting the mainstream.

      Watch how it works below:

      On the hottest summer day, would you embrace this accessorize-with-foam trend?

      Read More »from Japanese beat the heat with spray-can cooling foams
    • After Susanne Janson lost her daughters in Thailand's massive earthquake and tsunami in 2004, she shifted her grief into action. She sold her home in Sweden and moved to Thailand where she now runs a home that cares for children and families in need.

      Janson's teenage daughters, Eleonor and Josefin were vacationing in the devastated Southeast Asian country with her ex-husband and his family when the tsunami hit. They all perished in the disaster.

      "When I realized I wouldn't bring them back home alive, I wanted to die," Janson, 47, told CNN.

      Janson had little desire to return to her advertising career. As she contemplated what to do with her life post-disaster, she read about a Thai-Swedish couple building an orphanage in Phuket for children who lost their parents in the tsunami.

      In March 2005, Janson and Forssell volunteered at the orphanage. In 2006, they moved to Thailand for good and became managers of Barnhem Muang Mai. While "barnhem" is Swedish for "home for children," Janson

      Read More »from Post-tsunami, mourning mother dedicates life to helping Thai children
    • Man who lived in airport for four years returns home

      A real-life, Tom Hanks-less version of "The Terminal" has come to a happy ending.

      Rene Becker, 57, spent the last four years living at Palma de Mallorca Airport in Spain.

      The German architect fled his home in Mainz four years ago after accusing his wife, Edith, of having an affair. With nowhere else to go, his journey ended at the airport.

      A German newspaper featured his story two weeks ago, revealing that a local police station permitted the man to wash there, and that the airport canteen let him eat for just 2 Euros. He earned extra cash by doing odd jobs around the airport.

      His wife and 24-year-old daughter, Patricia, saw the article and flew to the airport to attempt to persuade him to come home.

      Becker, sporting a shaggy beard and lugging a grubby suitcase, burst into tears at the sight of his family.

      The Austrian Times reports that, until they had seen the article, Becker's family had made no effort to contact him, assuming he left them for the high life, living in a luxury villa

      Read More »from Man who lived in airport for four years returns home
    • The Jetsons were right. We have moving sidewalks. And now we have flying cars.

      The Terrafugia Transition has been deemed roadworthy by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) after granting the "roadable aircraft" special exemptions.

      The official press release states that it's "the first combined flying-driving vehicle to receive such special consideration from the Department of Transportation since the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards came into being in the 1970s."

      One of those exemptions involves the windscreen. While NHTSA usually requires the installation of automotive safety glass, it permitted the Transition to use polycarbonate materials to save weight and prevent shattering should a bird fly into the windshield. The Transition also uses special tires that are rated for highway speeds but can withstand takeoffs and landings.

      Terrafugia boasts that the Transition "is also the first to incorporate automotive safety features such as a purpose-built energy

      Read More »from The Terrafugia Transition: Flying car approved for road use
    • It's easy to focus on all the things that are wrong in the place you live, whether it's endless traffic, tangled bureaucracy, high unemployment or worse.

      But how often do you give thought to the things that make your country a pretty great place to live? The Better Life Initiative , a recent project conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), set out to determine which countries had the levels of well-being, based on 11 general categories.

      The study touched on everything from work-life balance, safety, education, housing, environment and jobs to measure quality of life based on essential material conditions

      Below are the top five countries considered the world's happiest, and what factors catapulted them to the top.

      1. Australia

      It could be the great climate, the beautiful beaches or the friendly people, but folks in Oz live longer than average, 81.5 years. Chalk it up to a health-conscious population and an environmentally friendly ethos. Civic

      Read More »from Five places you’re most likely to meet cheerful people
    • Is it possible to be too cheerful?

      We all know at least one. That painfully upbeat individual who thinks everything is wonderful and sublime, seems to exist in a chronic state of euphoria, and loves nothing more than to constantly let you know about it.

      It might be a relative, an acquaintance or a co-worker, but their buoyant gait, blinding grin and air of unrepressed joy makes them impossible to miss — or sometimes tolerate.

      You may feel guilty for your impatience. "How," you ask yourself, "can someone always be so cheerful?" and, "Is there something wrong with me for even thinking that?"

      The good news is you're not alone. Far from it. Christopher Peterson, a psychology professor at University of Michigan, recently published an article that explored whether you could, in fact, be too cheerful. The answer, he concluded, was a resounding yes.

      "I was just thinking about cheerfulness and whether it could be overdone. I thought of specific people who really annoyed me by their unrelenting chatter about how great their lives

      Read More »from Is it possible to be too cheerful?
    • The Australian night sky has always been awe-inspiring, but this time-lapse video takes the visual splendour of the southern Milky Way to an entirely new level.

      Amateur astronomer Alex Cherney spent a year compiling 31 hours of exposure over six nights on Southern Ocean Coast in Australia into "Ocean Sky," the stunning video that took home the overall prize at the STARMUS astrophotography competition.

      The STARMUS site says of the winning entry:

      "In this compilation see our Galaxy, rising and setting over the turbulent Southern Ocean, connecting the distant stars to that other fascinating interface, the ocean shore. In between the action comes from the scudding clouds and the only evidence of life, coastal shipping and the occasional aircraft darting through the night. Beyond our galaxy, its nearest galactic neighbours, the Magellanic clouds, rise high in the sky, while moonrise suddenly reveals the remarkable landscape of Australia's south coast."

      Read More »from Stunning time-lapse video of the Milky Way ‘Ocean Sky’ wins prize

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