Fed up with the constant barrage of headlines? These heartwarming true stories remind us of the goodness still in the world.
11 Heartwarming True Stories to Restore Your Faith in Humanity
The preschool haircut prank that proved friendship has no color
Reddy Weldon and Jax Rosebush are best friends. When Jax needed a haircut, he told his mom he wanted to look just like his buddy Reddy, so the teacher wouldn’t be able to tell the two pint-size preschoolers apart. There was just one thing the boys hadn’t considered: Reddy is Black, and Jax is white. But that didn’t matter to these best friends. When the two showed up to school on Monday with the same shaved heads, their teacher played along, making for a true story of harmony and the benefits of seeing the world through children’s eyes.
Five siblings, one forever home: A viral adoption story
You might think it would be a long shot to have a family of five young foster children, ranging in age from 2 to 11, adopted together by a loving family. The children thought so too—until they appealed to readers of the Kansas City Star for a forever home for all five. The children and the newspaper could never have expected the immediate responses that flooded the Star’s email inbox. In just a few days, the appeal went viral, garnering more than 4 million views. After combing through thousands of legitimate inquiries and offers to adopt the siblings, their adoption agency was able to place the “Fab 5” together, with parents Toni and Jeff Whaley.
A heartfelt proposal after breast cancer
Cancer is devastating, so it’s uplifting to hear a story with a joyful ending. Jim Koch, an Iowa man whose 54-year-old wife, Lora, was diagnosed with breast cancer, made sure their cancer story had a beautiful twist. One week after Lora underwent a bilateral mastectomy, Jim re-proposed to his wife. They had already been married for 26 years, but as Jim told ABC News: “I’ve known Lora as the most selfless person, and as she was going through this rough patch, I really wanted to give a sign and a reminder of love and commitment.” Jim reminds us that true love endures—even through sickness and hardship.
A teen firefighter’s lifesaving rescue
Talk about being in the right place at the right time. In 2014, a 17-year-old volunteer firefighter named Joseph Chambers heard a loud crash outside his sister’s home. Joseph found two wrecked vehicles—one of them a police patrol car. He immediately ran up to Officer Mark Kimsey’s car to see if he was okay. Officer Kimsey was trapped, but Joseph sprang into action, pulling him out through the window with the help of another bystander as the patrol car burst into flames.
Maybe it was Joseph’s firefighter training that allowed him to think and act so quickly, but it’s certain that he saved a man’s life that day without once thinking about his own well-being. He later became a police officer himself—a full-circle moment in a life already marked by bravery.
The town that learned sign language to surprise one man
Can you imagine living in a place where everyone but you spoke the same language? Such was life for Muaharrem, a deaf man in Istanbul who uses sign language to communicate. He got by, but he never felt fully included. Until one day, when a Samsung campaign changed everything. As Muaharrem’s sister, Ozlem, walked him through his neighborhood, he suddenly realized that everyone he encountered not only understood sign language, they used it to communicate with him. Samsung had worked with locals to teach them sign language as part of a promotion for its hearing-access technology—but in doing so, the company gave Muaharrem a priceless gift: the opportunity to truly connect.
The kids who turned a bachelor into a father
Pittsburgh police detective Jack Mook was a self-proclaimed bachelor who loved the single life, doing whatever he wanted while off-duty. He often boxed at the gym, where he volunteered to teach local kids. He became particularly close to two brothers who came in almost every week for several years to learn from him. One day, the boys just stopped showing up—and Mook knew something was wrong. Mook found the older brother, Josh, at his school and broke down when the boy explained the conditions they were living in at their foster home.
Through an emergency appeal, Mook decided to foster the boys and later went on to adopt them, finalizing the most important chapter in his life in 2014. Mook says the boys have changed his life. The self-proclaimed bachelor is not only the dad of two teenagers, he’s also happily married and has three stepchildren. After his story went viral, women lined up to meet this ordinary superhero—and he married one of them.
An airport stranger pays it forward in the sweetest way
Airports can be stressful, and they’re made even more so when something unexpected happens—unless you find an angel on earth, like one father did. After trying to check in for an upcoming flight with his daughter, the man was told that his 2-year-old daughter would need her own ticket. He had mistakenly believed children her age could fly for free. The father, clearly upset, left the counter to make some phone calls. That’s when a stranger stepped in, approaching the counter to tell the agent she wanted to pay for the little girl’s ticket—all $749 of it. The grateful father asked for her name so he could repay her, but she insisted on remaining anonymous. Her act lives on thanks to a viral photo of her good deed circulating on Facebook.
A lost voicemail brings back a husband’s voice
When you lose someone you love, it can feel like everything about them has vanished from your world. One woman discovered how far from the truth that is, after she lost her husband to cancer. Debora Taylor had been fighting her own cancer battle when her husband was diagnosed with lung cancer. Sadly, Hank passed away just a month later. Debora was still recovering from her own treatments and grieving deeply.
But one day, Debora found a voicemail from her husband that she had never deleted. The voicemail was of Hank, somewhat agitated on his way home from work but still showing the silly side that Debora loved. She treasured the voicemail until the day she switched phone carriers and lost her husband’s message. After she shared her story on Facebook, her old phone carrier helped her recover the voicemail—and gave her a piece of her husband back.
A boy’s lemonade stand raises $61,000 for his best friend
Few things are more touching than a child giving selflessly—like 7-year-old Quinn Callander did for his best friend, Brayden Grozdanich. Brayden has cerebral palsy, and Quinn wanted to help his friend walk and move with less pain. So he set up a lemonade stand with Braydon, and the two began selling their delicious drinks outside a local grocery store. Quinn’s mom posted about the fundraiser online, hoping to raise a few more dollars for his cause. What they didn’t expect was more than $61,000 in donations—which would help support a much-needed surgery for Brayden later that year.
The babysitter who donated part of her liver
Would you donate an organ to someone you’d only just met if it meant saving a life? One young babysitter did just that—without a second thought—to save the life of a toddler she had known for only three weeks. Kiersten Miles began babysitting Talia in the summer of 2016, and she soon learned that the baby would need a liver transplant. Kiersten offered to be her donor—no questions asked. After multiple tests confirmed she was a match, Kiersten learned she could be a donor for Talia. In January 2017, both girls underwent surgery and made full recoveries. Talia’s parents believe Kiersten was placed in their lives at the perfect time to save their little girl. They’ve since told Kiersten, “I could tell you thank you for the rest of my life every single day, and it wouldn’t be enough.”
Ginger opened her home—and changed a life
Ginger Sprouse wanted to do more than just hand out meals to the homeless. One homeless man in particular caught her attention—he sat in the same spot each day near her cooking school. She learned that his name was Victor, and he struggled with mental illness. He returned to the same spot every day, hoping his mother would find him, because it was where he’d last seen her. Ginger began talking to Victor during her coffee breaks, learning more about his life, including the fact that he’d been homeless for 10 years and hadn’t seen his mother in three. Ginger decided to take Victor into her home and launched a Facebook campaign called This Is Victor to raise money to help get him back on his feet. She gave him a job in her kitchen and even helped him reunite with his mom. Ginger says she’ll help Victor as long as he needs her.
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Sources:
- CNN: “Black and white friends try to trick teacher with matching haircuts”
- Kansas City Star: “Family Wanted: Five siblings want to stay together”
- Kansas City Star: “Kansas Fab Five siblings stay together and get their forever home”
- ABC News: “Man re-proposes to wife of 26 years after breast cancer surgery”
- Philadelphia Inquirer: “Man who rescued Philly cop as a teen becomes a cop himself”
- Time: “These Neighbors Learned Sign Language So a Deaf Resident Would Feel More at Home”
- CBS News: “Pittsburgh Police Detective Adopts Two Boys In Need Of A Home”
- CBS News: “Stranger buys $749 plane ticket for distraught dad’s toddler”
- Today: “Widow recovers late husband’s voicemail that she thought she lost forever”
- Fox News: “Best friends open lemonade stand to raise money for boy’s surgery”
- CBS News: “New Jersey Nanny Donates Part Of Liver To Save Toddler She Had Known For Just Weeks”
- Today: “Woman steps up to help homeless man who needed more than ‘another sandwich’”
