After a revealing photo of 15-year-old Amanda Todd was passed around online, the teen couldn't escape widespread bullying -- even after switching schools.
On October 10, like 14-year-old Jamey Rodemayer last month, she posted this chilling note card video to YouTube.
Then she committed suicide.
"Grown-ups killed my kitty, my best friend," begins 8-year-old Rayden Sazama's letter to his local newspaper:
My kitty's name is Toothless. ... Last week he didn't come in at night. ...
On Wednesday after work my dad went to the animal shelter as it was closing. ... They let my dad in to look at the cages, and there was Toothless! ... The lady at the shelter said it would be OK and told him to come back the next day and we could get Toothless. ...
My dad went back the next day to get our kitty and they told him they didn't have any long-haired black cats. ... The same lady that told my dad to come back the next day said she was sorry. She had forgotten to leave a note to tell the people my dad would be there for Toothless and they had just killed my cat that morning. She had just forgotten to write a note to save a member of my family. They killed him and I don't know why. ...
Now I don't know what to do. My cat Toothless is dead; the people that killed him didn't even give him to my dad so we could bury him. What do I do now?
Rayden Sazama
Poor lil' Rayden. Read the letter in its devastating entirety here.
For 10 years, Randy Scott's family had taken comfort in the belief that he had been killed instantly when United Airlines Flight 175 flew into Two World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
But Randy had scrawled a message on a piece of scrap paper and tossed it from the tower:
84th floor
West Office
12 people trapped
"The Note," as his family now calls it, floated to the ground amidst the wreckage of Ground Zero, eventually making its way to the medical examiner's office, where DNA and handwriting linked it to Randy.
Randy's wife and three daughters learned of its existence in August 2011.
"I spent 10 years hoping that Randy wasn't trapped in that building," Denise, 57, said Friday from a front room in her Stamford home with two of her three daughters, Rebecca, 29, and Alexandra, 22, at her side.
"I thought he was killed instantly," Rebecca interjected.
"It was so close to impact," Alexandra concluded. [...]
In a steady tone, their mother explained the power of the note. "You don't want them to suffer. They're trapped in a burning building. It's just an unspeakable horror. And then you get this 10 years later. It just changes everything."
Popular YouTuber Eric McLean has posted 108 videos since he revealed to the world in 2009 that he was fighting leukemia.
Now, after 10 years of living with cancer, the 28-year-old's options have run out -- McLean has begun hospice and is preparing to die.
This is his final video:
My doctor says I won. He says I won. I got to believe him. There's nothing else I could have done. I fought to the end. I never said no. Every time we wanted to try a new experimental drug, I stood up to the plate. I swung my bat as hard as I could. Ballgame's over, guys. With that, I'm going to say "bye" for the very last time. I love you all.
[dailydot]
Chinese diver Wu Minxia took gold in the 3m synchronized springboard in London this week, becoming the first woman in history to win three consecutive Olympic golds.
But shortly after she finished competing, Minxia's father reinforced China's win-at-any-cost mentality when he dropped a couple of bombshells on his daughter via the Shanghai Morning Post: Both her grandparents had died over a year ago, and her mother had battled breast cancer for eight years.
Wu called us after her grandmother died, I gritted my teeth and told her: "Everything's fine, there aren't any problems."
Minxia's parents found such lies were "essential" to ensure their daughter could keep focused on her training. She'd left home at 16 to live at a government-sponsored diving facility.
We never talk about family matters with our daughter. We accepted a long time ago that she doesn't belong entirely to us. I don't even dare to think about things like enjoying family happiness.
[deadspin]
Sad news out of the animal kingdom this morning -- earlier this month, fisherman in China witnessed a dolphin mom "battling to keep her dead calf afloat" for what appears to have been several days.
Fisherman Luo Lieqiangre, who witnessed the dolphin mourning, said he and tourists watched as the calf fell off its mother's back several times. (Here's the requisite video. Heads up -- it's slightly graphic.)
"The sea was rough when we saw the dolphins," he said.
The dead animal had a gash on its belly about a foot long, likely from a boat propeller.
"Its mother still stayed with it and carried it day and night, which has touched all of us and the tourists," Lieqiangre said.
[arbroath]
Shane Bitney Crone posted his devastating video of love and loss, "It Could Happen To You," online in May on the anniversary of his partner Tom Bridegroom's death.
Since then, it has been viewed more than 2.7 million times, and inspired some 50,000 comments on YouTube and Facebook.
Now it's just nine days away from receiving the funding needed to turn the couple's touching story into a feature-length documentary -- Bridegroom: An American Love Story.
Director Linda Bloodworth Thomason first met the couple at a gay wedding ceremony in Palm Springs:
That night, a couple of unforgettable young men named Shane and Tom joined my table. I learned they were Designing Women fans, madly in love and literally brimming with all their big plans for an exciting life together. Sadly, that possibility ended when Tom was killed in an accident last year. When I heard the news, I was haunted by the sheer weight of Shane's loss. Even though I barely knew them, their good-hearted demeanors and earnest love had made an indelible impression on me.
She saw Crone's video a few weeks ago and "was deeply touched. And angered. I called Shane [and] told him I wanted to make a documentary that would tell his and Tom's love story from beginning to end."
[dailydot]
Tony Nicklinson suffered a massive stroke in 2005 that left him with locked-in syndrome -- he is completely paralyzed and unable to speak, but his mind was unharmed.
Now, the 57-year-old has become the first person to tweet using only the movement of his eyes:
Hello world, I am tony nicklinson, I have locked-in syndrome and this is my first ever tweet.
Nicklinson, who lives in the U.K., will ask the high court Monday to argue that a doctor should be allowed lawfully to end his life. He says his current state is "dull, miserable, demeaning, undignified and intolerable."
Follow him @TonyNicklinson. (Loving husband and father. Rugby fan. Twitter novice with locked-in syndrome.)
[gizmodo]
Ryan Kennedy was diagnosed with ependymoma, a rare form of brain cancer, in 2007, when he was 4. Now Ryan, at 9, is living out the most adult decision a person can make -- he quit all his cancer treatments and chose to die at home.
Ryan's disease attacks the central nervous system, and caused him to walk into walls and vomit frequently. Since his diagnosis, his treatments have included four rounds of chemotherapy, two bouts of radiation, and seven surgeries. Ryan's most recent operation, last August, left the right side of Ryan's face paralyzed, and that's when he decided to wave the white flag.
When doctors proposed another surgery in February, Ryan refused, telling his parents with certainty, "I'm done with this." He just wanted to "live the rest of his life."
Ryan's final wish was to go swimming, so the whole family took a vacation. Now Ryan is spending his last days at home in hospice care. He has almost died -- twice -- and he's shared tearful goodbyes with his brother and sister.
Ryan's 10th birthday is May 24, but doctors don't expect him to live that long.
[theweek]
In 1988, Nicholas Winton's wife revealed to the BBC his long-kept secret: He'd saved 669 children from the Nazis at the dawn of World War II through his organization of the Czech Kindertransport. (This clip is from a BBC program that honored the "British Schindler" by inviting some 80 of the children he saved to surprise him in the audience.) In all, more than 5,000 people owe their lives to Winton.
In the more than two decades since the media got wind of his humanitarian exploits, Winton has been knighted, had a minor planet named after him, been commemorated by two statues -- one each in Prague and London -- and been the subject of three films and a play.
Winton still wears a ring given to him by some of the children he saved. It is inscribed with a line from the Talmud, the book of Jewish law: "Save one life, save the world." He celebrates his 103rd birthday this week.
[reddit]
In the saddest story you'll read today, the wife of Capt. Bruce Kevin Clark witnessed his death Monday while the couple were video-chatting via Skype. "At the time of the incident, the family was hoping for a rescue and miracle, but later learned that it was not to be," said Bradley Taber-Thomas, Clark's brother-in-law. "Although the circumstances were unimaginable, Bruce's wife and extended family will be forever thankful that he and his wife were together in his last moments."
Clark was a U.S. Army nurse stationed in Afghanistan who had been awarded the Army Commendation Medal, Military Outstanding Volunteer Service, Medal National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Army Service Medal. Clark was described by his commander as "awesome," "a professional," and "a great asset, leader, and friend," and he noted that Clark "made long days and nights a lot shorter."
Clark is survived by his wife and two daughters, ages 3 and 9. His cause of death is under investigation.
[cbs]
Who can make it through all 19 of these heartbreakers with nary a tear? Only someone without a soul. "That first video should've been batting clean-up instead of lead-off," one Reddit user said. Challenge accepted.
[reddit]
A 17-day-old ear-less bunny named Til, who was expected to become Germany's next celebrity animal a la Knut the polar bear and Paul the Psychic Octopus, died tragically this week when he was accidentally stepped on by a TV cameraman.
"No one could have foreseen this," said Uwe Dempewolf, director of the zoo in Limbach-Oberfrohna where Til was set to be unveiled in a special press conference. "Everyone here is upset. The cameraman was distraught."
Speaking with the German newspaper Bild, the cameraman said Til was hiding under some hay, which is why he didn't see him. Dempewolf offered that at least the bunny didn't suffer, as the cameraman's misstep was "a direct hit."
Zoo officials are now considering having Til stuffed so that he may be able to enjoy in death the fame he never got to know in life.
