👋 Welcome to Smileworthy, where we round up all the good things happening out there that are not receiving the attention they deserve!

This week: a former inmate bought the prison he once lived in – to give others a second chance. Plus: a mom who donated part of her liver to save her baby, eight dads who blocked a kidnapping suspect with their moving trucks, the man whose blood saved 2 million babies, a four-eared cat the internet swore was AI, and Dolly Parton getting a children's hospital in her name (because who else?).

Let’s jump right in👇

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Feel good stories from Happilynews.com guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

Three days after donating part of her liver to save her baby's life, Ashlynn Moss walked into intensive care, held her side where the organ had been, and looked down at her seven-month-old son Luka.

She was complete again.

It almost didn't happen. When Luka was born in November 2022 in Salt Lake City, Utah, the Moss family thought they had a perfectly healthy baby. But within days, doctors noticed his bilirubin levels were dangerously high. They sent the family home with special lights to treat what they hoped was just jaundice – but daily blood tests showed he was only getting worse.

An ultrasound revealed no signs of a gallbladder or connective bile ducts between Luka's liver and intestines. On December 1st, exploratory surgery confirmed the diagnosis: Biliary Atresia, a rare liver disease. Doctors moved straight into a Kasai procedure – connecting the small intestine directly to the liver to replace the missing ducts.

The odds of success were 50/50. By Christmas, the family had their answer. Luka's skin kept turning more yellow. The Kasai hadn't worked.

On April 17th, Luka was officially listed for a transplant. That same day, Ashlynn and her husband Hayden submitted their donor assessments. Hayden's body mass meant his liver would be too large for an infant – but Ashlynn was cleared to keep testing.

"If that meant donating a piece of my liver only seven months postpartum after my C-section, I was going to do it," she said.

The months that followed pushed the family to its limits. Luka's failing liver left him unable to absorb nutrients. NG tubes and PICC lines kept him stable – barely. His skin and eyes had turned so yellow that even hospital staff did double takes.

Then one night, the call came. A perfect liver match had been found. Luka made it all the way into the OR – and at 3 a.m., surgeons delivered crushing news. Flight delays and complications had left the donor liver unusable.

"The silence was deafening," Ashlynn said. But she knew there was still one option left – her.

Doctors fast-tracked her remaining tests. Twenty days later, the news arrived: Ashlynn was a perfect match.

On June 26th, both went into surgery at separate hospitals about 20 minutes apart. Around eight hours after her own operation, Ashlynn got the update – Luka's transplant was a success.

Three days later, Hayden drove Ashlynn to see her son. The reunion – later shared on social media – shows her walking into the ward, one hand pressed to her side, tears in her eyes as she reaches for Luka.

"That moment felt so out-of-body and so sacred," she said. "I was complete again."

Luka's recovery was anything but smooth. He battled COVID, multiple infections, sepsis, and at one point his heart stopped entirely. But slowly, he stabilized.

Today, Luka is two years old. He laughs, plays, runs, and eats like a kid making up for lost time. He still gets regular blood draws and takes immune suppressants twice daily – but he's hit every milestone.

"No matter how dark and hopeless you feel, you have to find the strength to keep pressing forward," Ashlynn said. "Luka is proof of miracles – so believe in them, and expect them."

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It’s not all doom and gloom out there. Here’s some positive news items from publications around the world.

🇺🇸 Goldsboro, North Carolina
Former Inmate Becomes First Person in US History to Buy a Prison – And He's Turning It Into a Second Chance
Kerwin Pittman spent 11 and a half years behind bars after being sent to prison at 18. Now, eight years after his release, he's purchased the former Wayne County Correctional Center for $275,000 and is transforming it into a housing and job training campus for formerly incarcerated people. The barbed wire is coming down. The cells are becoming dorm rooms. And the facility that once held people like him will soon help up to 300 residents rebuild their lives. (Read more 👉 Good Good Good)

🇦🇺 Sydney, Australia
The Man With the Golden Arm: How One Donor Saved the Lives of 2 Million Babies
James Harrison started donating blood at 18 after a life-saving transfusion as a teenager. Doctors then discovered his plasma contained a rare antibody used to make Anti-D injections – medication that prevents mothers' blood from attacking their unborn babies. Over 60 years, he has donated more than 1,100 times. More than 3 million doses of Anti-D containing his blood have been issued to Australian mothers. When he made his final donation at 81, he put the challenge out there for someone to break his record. (Read more 👉 Australian Red Cross Lifeblood)

🇺🇸 Phoenix, Arizona
Movers Help Rescue Missing Toddler: ‘Such Humble Dads but They’re Heroes’
Kevin Place was grabbing his morning coffee at a gas station when a security guard mentioned he'd just spotted a child matching an active Amber Alert. Place pulled up the alert on his phone. Everything lined up. Within minutes, his crew from Camelback Moving maneuvered their 30-foot trucks behind the suspect's car, boxing it in until police arrived 90 seconds later. Two-year-old Kehlani Rogers was safely recovered. Every man on the crew has been hailed a hero. (Read more 👉 The Washington Post)

🇺🇸 Egg Harbor, New Jersey
Forget Yankee Candle, This Company has Hired Disabled Americans for 20 Years, Changing Their Lives for The Better
Family-owned candle company A Cheerful Giver has been providing meaningful employment to adults with special needs for over two decades through a partnership with nonprofit CODI. The employees place the wicks in every candle the company pours – no pressure or quotas - just purposeful work and a paycheck at the end of each day. The candles have built a loyal nationwide following, with fans swearing the scent beats the big brands. But what makes them stand out isn't how they perform – it's who makes them. (Read more 👉 Good News Network)

🇭🇷 Zagreb, Croatia
Croatia Declared Completely Free of Landmines After 31 Years
Three decades after the end of the war, Croatia has officially cleared every known minefield in the country. The effort removed nearly 107,000 mines and 407,000 pieces of unexploded ordnance. Interior Minister Davor Božinović called it not just a technical achievement but a moral one – safer families, more farmland, stronger tourism, and the fulfillment of a promise to victims and their families. (Read more 👉 HRT [English version])

🇺🇸 Ohio, USA
Two Women Found a Newborn in a Shopping Cart in 1972 – 53 Years Later, She Found Them
In the summer of 1972, Rita Marshall and Darlene Gilleland were leaving a movie theater when they noticed a rustling paper bag inside a shopping cart pushed against their car. Inside was a newborn baby girl, just hours old. They called police and stayed with her all the way to the hospital. The baby was adopted and grew up to become a music teacher named Pearl. When Ohio opened sealed adoption records, Pearl's birth certificate listed her birthplace as "Westgate Shopping Center." And a determined local historian tracked down the two women for an emotional reunion. (Read more 👉 SunnySkyz)

🇺🇸 Knoxville, Tennessee
After Years Of Helping Kids, Dolly Parton Now Has A Children’s Hospital In Her Name
East Tennessee Children's Hospital has officially been renamed Dolly Parton Children's Hospital, honoring decades of quiet, relentless support for kids. Through her Imagination Library, she already sends 3 million free books a month to children worldwide. She donated $1 million to fund research that helped produce the Moderna COVID vaccine. And now her name will greet every family walking through the doors of a hospital that's pledged since 1937 never to turn a child away. "I can't do it all myself," she said – and then invited everyone else to join her. (Read more 👉 SunnySkyz)

🇺🇸 Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Bride With Cystic Fibrosis Goes Viral for Dancing at Her Wedding – While Doing Her Lung Treatment
Dannika Evans, 20, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at six. She knew she'd need to do her airway clearance treatments on her wedding night – so rather than slip away to a back room, she strapped on her oscillation vest, stuck a nebulizer between her teeth, and hit the dance floor surrounded by everyone she loves. Her TikTok of the moment racked up 2.2 million views. "CF doesn't stop no party," she captioned it. Her message to other patients: "Cystic fibrosis can take, take, and take – but you can fight back." (Read more 👉 People) And watch the video below.

A unique, sometimes quirky, but always eye-catching photo feature each week.

When a black kitten named Dobby first went viral, half the internet refused to believe he was real. Fair enough – he has four ears.

But, dear readers, it is real. Thanks to a rare genetic mutation, the seven-month-old from Hoover, Alabama, sports an extra set of smaller ears in front of his regular ones, along with a pronounced underbite and a stubby, curled tail. His foster mom, Stephanie Brown, a board member at Kitty Kat Haven & Rescue, found herself in an unexpected position: proving her cat isn't AI-generated.

"We did have to clarify that he's not AI, amusingly," she said.

But behind the double takes is a bigger story. Brown has made it her mission to use Dobby's internet fame to shine a light on pets with disabilities and differences – animals that often get overlooked in shelters. She previously adopted Phoebe, a cat with cerebellar hypoplasia (known as "Wobbly Cat Syndrome"), and sees Dobby as another chance to shift how people think about "imperfect" pets.

Dobby does need dental surgery to shorten his lower canines, which currently protrude into his upper palate. His GoFundMe had already hit 60% of its $3,000 goal within days, and Brown has been brainstorming creative fundraisers – including Dobby merch and "painting with Dobby" sessions.

"I'm all ears," she joked.

Once Dobby recovers from his April surgery, he'll be available for local adoption. Until then, he's busy making air biscuits, purring in Brown's arms, and proving that different is beautiful.

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Daylight saving time kicks in this Sunday (March 8), and that lost hour can throw your body off for up to a week. The fix? Start shifting your bedtime 20 minutes earlier each night between now and Sunday. Get outside in the morning light to help reset your internal clock, skip the late-afternoon coffee, and keep naps short if you need them. Your body adjusts faster when you ease into it rather than white-knuckling through Monday on fumes. Longer evenings are coming – a little prep now means you'll actually enjoy them.

— Dalai Lama

A group of flamingos is called a "flamboyance." Which, frankly, is the most accurate collective noun in the animal kingdom.

1869 Dmitri Mendeleev presents the first periodic table of the elements to the Russian Chemical Society

1876 Alexander Graham Bell receives a patent for the telephone in the US

1899 Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) is patented by Felix Hoffmann at the German company Bayer

1965 One of the most popular musical films of all time, "The Sound of Music," starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, premieres (Academy Award for Best Picture - 1966)

2024 LeBron James becomes the first player in NBA history to score 40,000 regular-season points as his LA Lakers slip to a 124-114 defeat to Denver Nuggets in Los Angeles

Below you can find a proverb.

The letters have been converted to their location in the alphabet.

For example: CAT = 3 + 1 + 20 = 3 1 2 0

1 2 1 2 1 7 8 2 0 5 1 8 9 1 9 2 0 8 5 2 5 1 9 2 0 1 3 5 4 9 3 9 1 4 5

Answer at the bottom of the newsletter

A girlfriend who loves game nights received the ultimate prize when she removed her blindfold playing a gameshow experience to find a ‘will you marry me’ puzzle and her boyfriend on one knee.

*Studies show that watching heartwarming videos can boost your mood. So sit back and start your weekend positively - doctors orders!

🧠 Brain Teaser Answer

Laughter is the best medicine.

Reasoning

Laughter = 12 + 1 + 21 + 7 + 8 + 20 + 5 + 18

is = 9 + 19

the = 20 + 8 + 5

best = 2 + 5 + 19 + 20

medicine = 13 + 5 + 4 + 9 + 3 + 9 + 14 + 5.