A terminally ill dog's love of cheeseburgers is the uplifting story we all need right now.
Cody, a 10-year-old boxer-Labrador mix, loves cheeseburgers. And since his cancer diagnosis, his humans have been happy to indulge that craving.
Two months back, Cody got the bad news, with his vet giving him between just one and three months to live. His owner, Alec Karcher, shared his dog's story on Twitter, explaining how they were trying to make Cody's final days as happy as possible.
"My family and I were heartbroken by the news, but we decided we wanted to try and make the last part of his life the best we could," Karcher wrote. "Every day since we found out, we've gotten him a plain cheeseburger to eat with his many medications to make it easier and more enjoyable for him."
On July 15, as Karcher stopped at his local Burger King in Toledo, Ohio, an employee asked about the family's newfound love of plain cheeseburgers. Karcher responded by telling the employee Cody's story.
"She immediately asked us to wait a second after she gave us our food," he wrote. "A few minutes later, she returned after talking to her manager. She asked us for a name and said that the rest of the cheeseburgers for Cody would be free at their location."
This might seem like something small, but to Karcher and his family, the gesture meant the world.
"I can't explain how much that means to us, and my family and I are beyond appreciative," he wrote.
The official Burger King account got in on the action, replying to Karcher's original post, offering well wishes and a thanks for allowing that location to have an effect on their lives.
Burger King is right. The world does need more kindness and empathy. Small acts can add up in unexpected ways.
Maybe a small act of kindness is offering comfort to a heartbroken family or keeping a terminally ill dog's belly filled with his favorite food. It could also take any number of other forms, each as helpful as the one before it. The point here is that we all have the chance to make the world a better — or a worse — place for those around us. It's up to us how we choose to use our influence.
Cody is a good boy. Photo via Alec Karcher, used with permission.
May each burger be as delicious as the one before it, Cody. You are, of course, a very, very good dog.
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An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
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Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.