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A Special Delivery of Love & Friendship

Jan 11, 2019

Stranger Drives 2,300 Miles So He Can Reunite Beloved Dog With Boy Recovering from Surgery
Story by McKinley Corbley/GoodNewsNetwork.com

This young boy was recovering from cancer when he told news reporters how much he missed his dog back home – and without hesitation, a total stranger volunteered to reunite them.

8-year-old Perryn Miller and his parents had been visiting family members in Utah for Christmas when the youngster started having headaches. His parents brought him to the emergency room only to hear that their son had a brain tumor as a result of stage 4 glioblastoma multiforme, a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer.

The very next day, Perryn underwent a 7-hour surgery to have the tumor removed. Though the operation was successful, he now faces several months of chemotherapy and radiation – but his parents are unsure of where he will be receiving the treatment.

The Millers are originally from Wilmington, North Carolina. Since their home was destroyed by Hurricane Florence last year, they have been living with local family members while they rebuild.

So while the Millers are staying in Utah for Perryn’s recovery, the boy expressed how much he missed his dog: an 8-month-old German shepherd named Frank.

News reports of Perryn’s longing for his canine companion traveled across social media until it caught the eye of former long-haul trucker Bob Reynolds.

Reynolds was so moved by the tale, he volunteered to drive Frank all the way from North Carolina to Utah. The trucker then traveled 2,300 miles across the country in just 52 hours so he could deliver the joyous pup into Perryn’s awaiting arms.

“It’s been a whirlwind. It’s been hard. But it’s been overwhelmingly awesome at the same time,” Perryn’s father Jacob Miller told CBS News.

Though Perryn still has a long road to recovery, his family is confident that having the beloved pup at his side will hasten the healing process. In the mean time, a family acquaintance has been raising money for the Millers’ medical bills on GoFundMe – and the page has already raised over $40,000.

They still don’t know if they will be returning to North Carolina for the rest of Perryn’s treatment, but Reynolds has already volunteered to repeat the entire road trip just to bring Frank home again in the future.

Gratitude and the Gift of Color

Nov 21, 2018

After living his entire life with colorblindness, one Northern California man was brought to tears by a generous gift from his coworkers that allowed him to finally see life in full color.

Jeff Dishmon, a correctional deputy who manages a work-study program at the Humboldt County Correctional Facility, received a pair of specialized glasses Nov. 14 from his longtime coworker Samantha Freese. A fellow correctional deputy, Freese has worked alongside Dishmon for eight years, and the two had become close, calling one another “grandpa” and “granddaughter.”

Dishmon’s colorblindness had “sometimes been a source of frustration for him and others around him,” the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office said, so Freese and other coworkers pitched in to buy him glasses designed to help those with colorblindness see color.

In footage shared by the sheriff’s department, both Dishmon and Freese were visibly emotional before he even put the glasses on. “(It’s) a different world,” Dishmon said through tears as he stared into the distance, spellbound by the landscape.

Freese then introduced Dishmon to a set of purple, green, blue, red and yellow balloons to test out his new specs, and the two longtime coworkers shared an emotional hug.

“You’re unbelievable. Thank you so much. Thank you, everybody,” he said, adding that he was excited to watch the sunset with his wife.

During a subsequent phone call with his wife, Dishmon broke into tears as he talked about his gift.

“You wouldn’t believe this place. This whole place is lit up. The whole world is lit up!” he told her.

The glasses Dishmon received were EnChroma glasses. The glasses, which retail for several hundred dollars, have optical lenses designed to selectively block certain wavelengths of light that contribute to colorblindness.