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Packers Fan Wrote Heartwarming “Thank You” to Seattle on Craigslist

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Seattle-Seahawks-CenturyLinkField-CC-Unwritten

A 55-year-old Orlando man who brought his 10-year-old son to the NFC Championship in Seattle to try to ease his grief over the loss of a beloved pet wrote about how a young Seahawks fan changed his attitude in the midst of a big game loss. Read the touching story, in the words of his father:

“First of all what a great game yesterday. Both teams had their ups and downs and as a Packer fan I must say the end was not what I expected. The reason I am posting today is to let others know of the kindness shared to my 10 year old son by a 12 year old girl from Seattle at the game .

My son lost his best friend in the world last week after a short illness. He grew up with Boo from about one year old. Boo was my son’s dog, his best friend, the one who played with him, shared most all home meals with him and loved him no matter what.

I was lost as how to help him heal, and out of nowhere a dear friend offered us two tickets to the game in Seattle. I got the tickets, bought the plane tickets and told my son. He was very excited and for a minute seemed to be doing better.

Off we went and boy what a great time we had. Seattle is such a wonderful city and to see our much loved Packers play could it get any better. Sunday arrived and off we went to the game. Great seats, loud, exciting, nothing better then this I thought.

 We were seated next to a large family of Seattle fans so what joy we were having kidding them as our Packers run off to a lead. My son was sitting right next to a young girl of 12. They talked and seemed to be having a great time.

Well we all know that the Packers played a great game but a win was not to be had. After Seattle scored in overtime I noticed the young girl was crying and still sitting in her seat. Her father talked to her and gave her a hug. When we were leaving I asked the father if the girl was crying for joy by the win and to my shock he told me no, she was crying because she wanted the Packers to win because she knew my son had lost his dog and she thought he needed this more then she did. I kept this to myself on the flight home.

While my son was having our dinner meal he looked at me and said he was glad that Seattle had won. I was surprised and ask him why. He looked at me and told me the girl sitting next to him had lost her cat to a dog attack only the day before and he wanted her to have something to help her feel better.

Football will never be the same to me. So Thank You Seattle for the great game, and Thank You God for putting so much love for others to these two young people. Wishing Seattle only the very best but know the Pack Will Be Back!!!!!!!!”

Arkansas Woman is Hero to Thousands of Ex-Offenders Who Need Jobs

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town-hero-Darlene Lewis-THV11Vid

After prison, many of those who have paid their debt to society confront major hurdles in providing for themselves and their families.

Darlene Lewis, whose son faced the same situation, decided to dedicate herself to helping ex-convicts find jobs so they don’t fall back into a life of crime.

Last year alone, her non-profit, Lewis Burnett Employment Finders, helped more than 2,000 ex-offenders find full-time employment.

(WATCH a video and READ the story from THV-11 *NOTE auto-playing audio, so adjust your speakers)

Donated Eyewear Allows Blind Mother to See Her Newborn Baby (WATCH)

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Kathy Beitz esight glasses sees newborn baby-850px

Kathy Beitz has been legally blind since she was 11 years old.

She had never even seen a baby before, but with an amazing new technology, she was able to gaze upon her newborn son.

The 29-year-old Ontario woman became the latest recipient of eSight glasses, which use a video camera to record images which are then enhanced and projected onto screens in front of the eyes.

The special headset glasses, which normally cost $15,000, were gifted to both Kathy and her sister through the Canadian company’s fundraising efforts.

Beitz and her sister, Yvonne Felix, have a genetic form of macular degeneration. Yvonne shared the incredible moment in a YouTube video and praised the company that gave her and her sibling the ability to see well again.

(WATCH the video below)

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Stage 4 Brain Tumor Survivor: 12 Years Cancer-Free and Running Marathons

By
Janis McCarty
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Liam Ryan-author-book cover

This is a true story of an ordinary man named Liam Ryan who beat huge odds against stage 4 brain cancer. Not only does he have one of the most astonishing and heart lifting survival stories, but he has abundant determination, resilience and spirited generosity. Liam is undeniably the most inspirational man I’ve ever known.

In 2002, Liam was diagnosed with cancer. Not just any cancer. A massive and very aggressive stage 4 tumor was discovered in the middle of his head. It ran from his sinus pocket, around his eye and was backed up against his brain stem. One consultant told him that it would be more accurately classified as stage 44.

The doctors counseled him saying it was the second worst head & neck cancer tumors they had ever seen. The worst case they had seen was dead in a month. He was given very little chance of survival and, most likely, only weeks to live. There were very few hospitals in the world that offered any hope to a case like this. Liam found a team of surgeons willing to perform the operation in Liverpool, England.

The problem with this advanced diagnosis was that the complex treatment required gave him only a 5% chance of making it. If he made it through the 12 hour operation, he was likely to be without sight, speech, hearing, mobility and loss of brain function – or any combination of all five.

Liam miraculously recovered from the extensive surgery and 7 weeks of radical radiation and chemo-radiotherapy. In between he contacted bacterial meningitis twice and a deep vein thrombosis. These serious medical issues themselves nearly ended his life, but with his intense will to live and fighting spirit he maintained his positive mind-set and overcame.

All of this happened 12 years ago. Apart from an eye patch, he has recovered and returned to work as an architect, talking and functioning again just as before. He even resumed running and has participated in several marathons.

In 2012, Liam published his memoir, Cancer 4, Me 5 – After Extra-time to share his story with the world.

“I wrote this book as the book I went looking for myself when I was diagnosed 12 years ago — the story about beating cancer against all odds.”

Liam, who grew up in a rural Irish town and became a successful architect in Liverpool, England, is living proof that no matter how the odds are stacked against you they can always be overturned.

One of his notable accomplishments is having been the site architect for the famous Beatle Story museum at Albert Dock in Liverpool.

“I am one of the very lucky ones who should no longer be here. I have a story now, a story I did not volunteer for. It is a story that I feel needs to be told. What I have endured and survived is a tremendous source of inspiration to people everywhere. It is a story that proves hope always exists, no matter what the prognosis. I am going to dedicate the rest of my life to continuing the fight.”

In the book he writes: Cancer chose me for one of its worst cases. But it made one big mistake. It did not take away my ability to run. It has left me with a platform to exact revenge. Now the fight is on my terms. The money I raise may one day lead to a cure being found for this incredible disease. By selecting me, cancer may have ultimately led to its own eventual downfall.

Caregiver Wins TEDx Award For Helping Others With Ill Relatives

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Sergio Vorst
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Sergio van Santvoort Vorst-TedTalkx-500px

I was a caregiver for my ill parents and my wife. I told my story on TEDx Amsterdam and I won a second place!

Now I’m able to help other people in need with my Bucket Line Foundation.

When his wife was diagnosed with cancer. His parents were taken ill, almost at the same time and he realized exactly how overwhelming the role of the caregiver becomes. The Dutch man began to think of ways in which he could do something to alleviate the distress of caregivers, to help them in their day-to-day life.

The Bucket line helps to co-ordinate the needs of the caregivers with those who are best able to help them in their tasks. Through this foundation, people who are in need of help with specific tasks are matched with those in their neighborhoods who are willing to lend a helping hand. -TEDx

Please help me to share the idea 🙂 The Netherlands website (in Dutch) is here: www.bucketline.nl

Here’s my 5 minute TED talk:

Photo of the Day: Tech Dudes Grow a Few for Charity

By
Andrew Hall
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moustaches-grown-for-charity-Nublue-submitted

Back in Movember, Andrew Hall and a few guys (and gals) at the UK web design company Nublue, raised some money for charity and sent this photo of the results:

“We partook in some fine moustachery to raise funds and awareness for a local charity in Lancaster (UK) called CancerCare. Happy to say we reached our £500 target, which will pay for loads of one-to-one counseling sessions for local people with cancer.”

Nice-looking blokes, we think.

Thanks, Nublue!

Stylist Offers Trauma-free Haircuts for Special Needs Children

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haircut at home-Colleen-Spano

A hairstylist who is mother to an autistic daughter launched a service to take the trauma out of trims for special needs children.

Colleen Spano provides haircuts right in the homes of families whose special needs children, particularly those with autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders, normally detest the feel and sound of scissors.

“Right away they feel more comfortable because they’re in their own environment, surrounded by familiar things,” said the stylist whose business, Shear Sunshine, operates near South Bend, Indiana.Katy Perry-Jodi Dipiazza

CHECK Out: Katy Perry and Girl With Autism Bring Down the House (WATCH!)

“People with sensory processing issues often find getting a haircut to be tremendously over-stimulating and exhausting. All those nasty smells, big sounds, strange clothing and strange/new people…it can be way too much!” she explained on her website, Sunshine Behavior.

(READ the story in the Daily Mail)

Photo from Colleen Spano / Story tip from katherine

Boy’s Inspiring Video Shows How He Overcame Autism Odds

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Michael Whary-eagle-scout-w-autism-FamilyYouTube

After diagnosing him with autism when he was a toddler, doctors told Michael Whary’s parents that he would likely never drive a car or even ride a bike, but this high-achieving teen has proven them all wrong.

He plays piano, joined the marching band as a trumpet-player, competes with the track team and takes advanced classes in the Honor Society.

Scouting is one of his favorite activities and Michael chose as his Eagle Scout service project to create an inspiring video for parents of autistic kids.Lego braille printer-Banerjee-family photo

CHECK Out: 13-Year-old Entrepreneur Gets Intel Funding for His Low-cost Braille Printer

In making the video over a nine-month period, the 16-year-old from Elyria, Ohio focused on giving parents hope. The video delivers the message loud and clear: Your kids will be happy, they will have friends, and they will be able to work — even succeed at the highest levels of society — and contribute to the community.

(WATCH his video below or READ the story at Yahoo News)

Need a Pep Talk? Look at These Famous People Who’ve Failed

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Success poster-CC-thinboyfatter

No matter how many times they failed in life, people like Lincoln, Einstein, Disney, Jobs, Edison and The Beatles, threw off the rejections and kept moving forward toward success.

If you are feeling like a failure, you may be the world’s next big success!

(WATCH the inspiring video below)

Image credit: Thinboyfatter (CC license on flicker)

Using a 3D Printed Heart to Save a 4-Year-Old Girl

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3D copy of heart-MiamiHeraldVideo

Out of Florida comes another brilliant application of 3D-printing — this time to save the life of a young heart patient in what might have been her final days.

In a desperate attempt to fix Adanelie’s heart, a team of cardiovascular surgeons at Miami Children’s Hospital turn to 3D-printing to help pave the way for a successful operation.

Using the 3D model, the doctors were able to plan a unique surgery that had never been performed, utilizing parts from a donor heart.

Dr. Redmond Burke said, before seeing the 3D model he “couldn’t picture,” the operation.

(WATCH the video below or READ the story from the Miami Herald)

Story tip from Kim Campbell

School-wide Suicide Prevention Program Cuts Teen Risk in Half

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After participating in a prevention program at school, European teenagers were about half as likely to attempt suicide or to feel suicidal, according to a new study involving 11,000 students and published in The Lancet.

Reuters reports that the most successful program out of the three tested, called Youth Aware of Mental Health, targeted the students with lectures, role-playing exercises and education about mental health and suicide risk.100 Facebook friends arrive at School-KATUvid

CHECK Out: 100 Facebook ‘Friends’ Show up to Back Bullied Student

Afterward, students likely “felt that the power of mastering their feelings, coping with stress and choosing solutions was in their hands and not decided or forced by adults,” said a Swedish psychiatry professor involved.

Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people.

(READ more from Reuters Health)

Today is National Handwriting Day – A Lost Art?

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The lost art of handwriting is one of the few ways we can uniquely express ourselves.

Today, January 23, is National Handwriting Day, honoring also the birthday of John Hancock, born in 1737, whose very name has come to mean “signature.”

As in, “Add your John Hancock, here.”

john hancock signature and portrait

Hancock was President of the Second Continental Congress, the first Governor of Massachusetts, and the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence. His flowery signature was top and center, and the largest, by far, of any of the names signed on the revolutionary document.

The photo above shows the beautiful penmanship of a Good News Network contributor, Rose, who mailed a card, with a check, to our Post Office box.

Here’s hoping children and young adults continue devising their own signatures, so when, or if, they ever need to sign an important document, they can do so with the same flair and relish as John Hancock.

Tootsie Roll Names 83-year-old Widow as New CEO

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It’s highly unusual for a company to name an 83-year old as CEO, even one who has served as president since 1962. But, Tootsie Roll’s board of directors announced that Ellen Gordon would take the place of her CEO husband Melvin, who died this week at age 95.

Melvin and Ellen, who were married for 65 years, ran the Chicago candy maker together for decades after he became a director of her family’s publicly traded company in 1952.slinky rainbow-CC-Tim Ebbs

CHECK Out: Sage In Toyland: Slinky CEO Cares Most About Her Employees

“Melvin’s life represented the very highest values in business, wisdom, generosity, and integrity,” Ms. Gordon said in a statement. “Tootsie Roll has seen great growth and success during his time as chairman.

The Chicago company’s founder, Leo Hirschfield, started a candy shop in 1896 and, according to Food Business News, named the half-caramel-half-chocolate penny candy after his five-year old daughter Clara, nicknamed “Tootsie.”

(READ more at WXII-TV12)

Photo credit: Brave Heart via CC on flickr / Story tip from Kelly Harrington

Teen’s Balloon Letter to Dad in Heaven Gets Touching Response From 400 Miles Away

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balloon message to dead father-FB

16-year-old Ashlynn Marracino wrote a long note to her father who died of a brain aneurysm on the side of a silver balloon and let it soar up to the heavens.

She described how she loved and missed him:

“I don’t like how I never had you in my life. It’s not fair. Show me a sign please. Anything to let me know you’re there. I miss you so much and I want you back.”

The next day the star-shaped balloon descended 435 miles away into a sandwich shop parking lot in Auburn, California.childes-nativity scene-jefftaylor-submitted

More Synchronicity: Nativity’s Incredible Return to Son Decades After Mom’s Death

A customer took it inside to the owner and the two conspired to send the girl a care package, after seeing her full name on the balloon, and finding the girl on Facebook.

“I jumped on a Pay-it-Forward-Auburn page I follow on Facebook, and asked people to contribute.”

Soon, people around the country heard about it and began sending Ashlynn care packages and letters. Even author Mitch Albom joined the kindness train and wanted to send his inspiring book, The Five People You Meet in Heaven.

(WATCH the video below or READ the story from TODAY)

In Minutes, Strangers Give $160K for Field Trips to Harvard for NYC’s Poorest Kids

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Mott Hall Bridges Academy-HONYphoto

Just one hour ago, the popular photography blog, Humans of New York, posted a plea to help fund field trips to Harvard for an inner city school, and this fundraiser has taken off like nothing we’ve seen.

6000 people have donated and it’s already blown past its goal of $100,000.

It all started after Brandon, the blog’s founder, posted a photo of a little boy from a neighborhood with the worst crime rate in the city of New York, Brownsville, Brooklyn.

When asked who was his hero, he named principal, Nadia Lopez at Mott Hall Bridges Academy. Ms. Lopez sets high expectation for him — and every other neighborhood sixth grader who comes to her school. She tells the African-American children that they are descended from the people who invented Math and Astronomy.

Nadia Lopez principla HumansOfNewYork
“This is a neighborhood that doesn’t necessarily expect much from our children, so at Mott Hall Bridges Academy we set our expectations very high. We don’t call the children ‘students,’ we call them ‘scholars.’ Our color is purple. Our scholars wear purple and so do our staff. Because purple is the color of royalty.”

Brandon wanted to meet the principal. After taking her photo, they talked about how his huge online community (HONY) could help. Humans in New York has 10 million followers on social media.

“Since many of her scholars have never left New York, she wants them to know what it feels like to stand on the campus of one of the world’s top schools, and know that they belong,” he wrote on the fundraising page. “She thinks the experience will broaden their horizons and expand their idea of their own potential.”

“We estimate the cost of a trip, including transportation and lodging, will be about $30,000 (for the entire sixth grade class), so let’s really hit it out of the park for these kids.”

The HONY community is doing that — and much more. In the minutes it took me to write this story, another $10,000 was raised.

UPDATE: (Jan. 27) More than 29,000 donors have opened their wallets giving $873,765 in 5 days.

CHECK Out the fundraiser at Indiegogo / Photos courtesy of Humans of New York / Story tip from Lisa Kopf Malaniak

Let’s Help This Amazing School by Sharing with the Buttons below…

Ingenious Gates-Funded Machine Turns Feces Into Drinking Water

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Bill Gates water from feces-GatesNotesVideo

He watched the piles of feces go up the conveyer belt and drop into a large bin. A few minutes later, after a machine boiled and treated it, Bill Gates took a taste and proclaimed it, “Delicious.”

“The water tasted as good as any I’ve had out of a bottle,” wrote the billionaire on his blog. “And having studied the engineering behind it, I would happily drink it every day. It’s that safe.”

The goal of this Gates Foundation-funded project is not to sell bottled water. It’s about sanitation, and affordable ways to get rid of the human waste that contaminates drinking water and kills some 700,000 children in the developing world every year.

The machine, called the Omniprocessor, was designed by the Janicki Bioenergy company, an engineering firm near Seattle. During processing, the self-powering machine produces water and electricity (plus a little ash), and runs at such a high temperature that there’s no nasty smell. And, it meets every emissions standard set by the U.S. government.Tomatoes Hydroponic Sundrop Farmsphoto

CHECK Out: Growing Food in the Desert: The Solution to the World’s Food Crisis is Here

 

In the months leading up to a new pilot project in Senegal, Gates talked about the other benefits:

”Through the ingenious use of a steam engine, it produces more than enough energy to burn the next batch of waste. In other words, it powers itself, with electricity to spare. The next-generation processor, more advanced than the one I saw, will handle waste from 100,000 people, producing up to 86,000 liters of potable water a day and a net 250 kw of electricity.”

“Our goal is to make the processors cheap enough that entrepreneurs in low- and middle-income countries will want to invest in them and then start profitable waste-treatment businesses.”

What is better than a system that turns waste into a commodity?

(WATCH the video below – READ more at GatesNotes.com)

Calgary Man Creates Massive Free Public Skating Rink on His Pond

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ice-skating-on-pond-CC- Doug Brown-900px

Norm Price has spent his money and time building, maintaining and spreading the word about a massive public skating rink on his northeast Calgary property.

Price created two ice rinks this winter — complete with hockey nets and places to simply stroll — because he thinks public skating is too expensive. For the third year in a row, he’s inviting the entire city to skate on his pond for free.

(READ the story, w/ photo, in the Calgary Herald)

File photo from Alaska by Doug Brown (CC) – Story tip from Diana Izz

X-Rays Reveal Ancient Texts Charred By Vesuvius Eruption

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papyrus-scroll-carbonized by vesuvius-NatureJournal

Researchers have found a key that may unlock the secrets hidden in 300 papyrus scrolls from antiquity that survived the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79.

Previously, scholars and scientists tried to unroll the carbonized remains of texts from an ancient library unearthed in 1752, but had to abandoned the process because it resulted in too much destruction.Vivian Maier photographer nanny-326px

WATCH: After Death, Nanny is Revealed to be Masterful Photographer

Now, using a powerful 3D scan with X-ray-computed tomography, researchers in Naples, Italy, say that for the first time, they can read letters inside the scrolls — which were turned into black carbon masses by the volcano’s gases– without unrolling them.

The possibility of recovering vanished works of ancient Greek and Roman authors like Epicurus and his student Philodemus has historians giddy.

(READ the story from the New York Times)

Do You Know About Your Superpower?

By
Michelle Ploog
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Yoga-by-ocean-power-MichellePloog-submitted

I’ve got great news! Information that is known, yet not always remembered… You have a superpower! We all do…

Each of us: you, me, the bus driver, the florist, our children, teachers… everyone!

We are all blessed with the superpower of conscious choice.

When I think about the superpower we have been given, I find myself in utter amazement. To my knowledge, we are the only species in the known universe that have the superpower of conscious choice.

What is this superpower’s kryptonite?? I think it’s our fears, insecurities, need for instant gratification, and playing the victim to our circumstances.

To be clear, we all get rained on. I know it’s said time and time again, but needs to be said now too: It’s not the cards we’ve been dealt, but how we play them that matters.

If we are NOT using this conscious choice to live out our hopes and dreams, then we are wasting our superpower and one of the greatest gifts we’ve been given.

You may be thinking, “That’s great Michelle, but HOW do I use the power of conscious choice to create my future?”joy-on-beach

CHECK Out: The 10 Quickest Ways to Boost Your Happiness

First, let’s pull out the “Ploog Dictionary” and take a moment to define conscious choice as: choosing action in the present moment to create a desired outcome for the future.

For example, in your dream life you may see yourself with 6-pack abs and a perfectly rounded booty. Every single day you are presented with choices that will either create this as your reality or take you further away from it.

Like it or not, it’s the choices that you make throughout your daily life that determine whether you meet a goal or you don’t.

Think of it as the moment you are faced with the option between 5:30 yoga or 5:30 happy hour. One isn’t better or worse, but each take you a step closer to your chosen 6-pack.

Look at career, love, family, contribution, self-confidence and fulfillment. What are the assumed possible results when you choose between logging into Facebook or working on an item you have moved way to the side of your desktop.blue and gold stairs

ALSO: Here Are Six Keys to Changing Almost Anything

You can choose to send your significant other a love note or irritated text because they left a tissue out on the nightstand (or both!). You can choose between standing up for what’s right or hiding in silence.

You have been given a superpower. The superpower of conscious choice. As with all power, comes responsibility. Choose wisely and choose what’s in alignment with your desired goals.

What you focus on will create your future.

I hope this has inspired your day and will continue to inspire you throughout the week. Forward to a friend in need of a pep talk – you never know how you can ignite someone’s superpower into creating their dream life!

Thank you for reading!
Much Love and BIG smiles, Michelle Ploog

[email protected] / www.michelleploog.com / Twitter & Instagram: @michelleploog

Seahawks Reveler Gives Shirt off Back to Young Packers Fan After Loss

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Good News Network
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Seattle fan gives shirt off back to kid-McElravyFamilyPhoto-FB13-year-old Austin McElravy was attending his first NFL game with his dad, but the die-hard Packers fans were surrounded during the championship final by some not-so-nice Seattle Seahawks fans — except for one.

After the last minute loss, the young Packers-lover was happy for the guy next to him, PJ Ledorze, who had befriended the family throughout the game. He congratulated him on the wild victory, and PJ suddenly pulled off his beloved Seahawks jersey and gave it to Austin.

The family took a photo and was very touched, but they never got PJ’s last name, and later wanted to thank him again. They contacted a local TV station that then posted the McElravy’s photo in an effort to locate the generous sportsman.

“Can you help us get in contact with this fan? We attended the game today and my son and I are die-hard Packers fans. At the game there was one fan (a 12) who was pretty vulgar to us and said some pretty rude things to me and my 13 year old son Austin. The whole game this guy in a Sherman Jersey was talking to us having a good time…offered to trade jerseys with us (but we did not want to give up our Green and Gold). At the end of the game my son congratulated him on a great game and PJ took off his Sherman Super Bowl Jersey and GAVE it to my son. We were moved to tearsOaklandRaider-with-4yo-ailing-fan-TonyGonzales:Raidersphoto…the 12’s showed what being a Seahawk fan is truly about.”

CHECK Out: Oakland NFL Player Gives His Paycheck to 4-Year-Old with Heart Condition

After the publicity, PJ was found, and received hundreds of compliments on Facebook and Instagram for his sportsmanlike behavior. Now his generosity is being rewarded.

On Tuesday, the star player on Seattle’s team, Richard Sherman (the player whose jersey Ledorze had worn and given away), posted a big shout-out for the kind gesture.

“I appreciate what you did for for Austin. I’m going to send you a new signed Jersey and some gear from my store. I know you didn’t expect anything in return, but you deserve it.”

(WATCH the inspiring video below or READ the King-5 story here)

Story tip from Judy Ritchie

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