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CNN 5 Good Things
How about a break — for your ears? At CNN, we know the news can be a lot to take in. So each week, 5 Good Things offers you a respite from the heavy headlines and intense news cycle. Treat yourself to something fun and uplifting every Saturday as we share the bright side of life from all over the globe.
The Heart Transplant that Connected Two Families
CNN 5 Good Things
Apr 5, 2025
Chicks of America’s favorite bald eagle couple have been named. How a school superintendent in PA gets stringed instruments in students’ hands for free. A teen heart transplant recipient's push for organ donation awareness. These 90-somethings found a new way to fight loneliness and stay connected. Plus, lost wedding photos took an incredible journey back home.
Episode Transcript
Krista Bo
00:00:01
Hey there, need a reason to smile? Well, I've got five. Let's get into it. At one school district in Pennsylvania, students are learning a whole new way to make music. Plus, a powerful storm carried some priceless memories across the state. Luckily, they got into the hands of the right people.
Bonnie Hemman
00:00:18
I feel like we're here to help each other, and that's what I wanted to do for them.
Krista Bo
00:00:23
From CNN, I'm Krista Bo, and this is Five Good Things.
Krista Bo
00:00:33
If you're on the hunt for a new reality show, check out the one starring a power couple in California, navigating love, survival, and parenthood, feathers and all. I'm talking about Jackie and Shadow. They're a celebrity bald eagle couple that the internet's really been rooting for.
Sandy Steers
00:00:50
We've had at times over 100,000 people watching at the same time. It allows you to see nature in its everyday life and at the same time open yourself to connecting to nature and it just warms my heart that people are so connected to them.
Krista Bo
00:01:07
'Sandy Steers is the executive director of Friends of Big Bear Valley. The nonprofit has been live streaming the 145-foot high eagle's nest for almost a decade on its YouTube channel. It has over 600,000 subscribers who've seen Jackie and Shadow go through their fair share of ups and downs, since their first season together in 2019.
Krista Bo
00:01:29
Since 2022, Sandy says they've lost five eggs and one chick. But now they're proud parents of two healthy eaglets that hatched in early March. A big win for the endangered species in the state.
Sandy Steers
00:01:41
They look like gray balls of fluff, and their wings are getting bigger very quickly. They're getting along. They're snuggling even, and every once in a while they have a bop, but everything's going great.
Krista Bo
00:01:55
To name these chicks, Friends of Big Bear Valley launched a fundraiser. $5 got you one name entry, $10 for three, $25 for 10, that kind of thing. From 54,000 submissions, 30 names were chosen. Names like Sky, Talon, Swift, Liberty, Bell. And this week, local elementary school kids got the final say.
Sandy Steers
00:02:16
'The bigger chick is named Sunny, S-U-N-N Y, and the smaller chick is named Gizmo. We had 469 students vote from third, fourth, and fifth grade. We included fourth and fifth because when they were in the third grade, there were no chicks that they got to vote on. So we included them, and that's the names that got the most votes.
Krista Bo
00:02:40
In the next few weeks, Sandy says the eaglets will be spreading their wings and exploring what life's like outside their nest with help from mom and dad.
Krista Bo
00:02:48
If you want to watch this family with feathers for yourself, the link is in our show notes, or you can head to their website, www.friendsofbigbearvalley.org.
Krista Bo
00:03:00
'Want to hear what a 3D-printed violin sounds like?
3D Violin Practice
00:03:03
Yes! Alright, you guys ready? Yeah. Ok
Krista Bo
00:03:10
Elementary school students from a small district south of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania are practicing for their spring recital next month.
Laura Jacob
00:03:17
The violin is so hard and it takes years for you to get a pretty sound out of it. At first it's really scratchy and it's difficult, but over time they really, they nail it. I'm really proud of them.
3D Violin Practice
00:03:32
Well done, well done.
Laura Jacob
00:03:35
We've put violins into kids' hands for free by 3D printing them on our own and ensuring that children have the access to any type of musical instruments that they're interested in learning.
Krista Bo
00:03:48
Superintendent Laura Jacob is the maestro behind this unique music program at the California Area School District in Southwest PA, where a third of students live below the poverty line.
Laura Jacob
00:03:58
instrumental rental places require a credit check. And a family might not initially pass that credit check and so then a child wouldn't have access to instruments, and so the 3D violin option really created an ability for us to put stringed instruments in kids hands, build our own orchestra for half the cost that it would be for say the district or for families if they were to rent.
Krista Bo
00:04:24
'Any K-12 student can join, and they get to help design and 3D print a custom violin made from corn-based plastic in three days' time for about 50 bucks a pop. All paid for by grants from the Grable Foundation.
Laura Jacob
00:04:37
They can choose whatever color they want. So we have hot pink violins, we have green violins. We have black and gold violins for the Steelers, which the kids absolutely love. And we just add real violin strings to it. And then we just added the wooden bridge to it
Krista Bo
00:04:54
Beyond music, Laura says this program helps students tap into STEM skills so they can tune up for the future.
Laura Jacob
00:05:00
I think it opens up the possibilities for kids to better understand what they can do in the world. Even if it's not just going to be music, it could be a different pathway.
Krista Bo
00:05:14
Addison McArthur lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. She turns 14 next week. It's pretty sweet that her birthday's in April because it's also National Donate Life Month. And she's been an organ donation advocate for years already.
Addison McArthur
00:05:30
On May 8, 2011, which is Mother's Day in Canada that year, my heart surgeon called mom and he was like, I have a Mother's day present for you. And it was a new heart.
Krista Bo
00:05:42
'When she was just a few weeks old, she got a life-saving heart transplant from another infant, a baby girl named Audrey, who died of unknown causes. A year later, Addison's mom, Elaine, sent a thank you note to Audrey's mom, Felicia Hill.
Elaine Yong
00:05:57
It was something I always knew that if I could meet the donor family, I would want to.
Felicia Hill
00:06:05
It was so amazing to hear from the mom that gets to raise her daughter. The letter was great, but I wanted a picture. I wanted a hug I hoped for. Just anything more.
Krista Bo
00:06:17
So two years later, Addison, her mom, and her dad, Aaron, met up with Felicia.
Meet up
00:06:22
Hi, how are you?
Meet up
00:06:23
Great, how about you?
Meet up
00:06:25
I'm good.
Krista Bo
00:06:26
The McArthur's brought a stethoscope, so Felicia could hear Audrey's heart beating in Addison's chest.
Meet up
00:06:35
Thank you! For you to wear tomorrow.
Meet up
00:06:36
Do you know who that is?
Meet up
00:06:38
Audrey.
00:06:38
That's right. Awww. Yeah!
Krista Bo
00:06:41
'And Felicia brought Addison a t-shirt with Audrey's picture on it. The families have kept in touch ever since.
Felicia Hill
00:06:47
I do call her a friend. More, actually, family.
Elaine Yong
00:06:51
I don't know if there's a word to describe our relationship because there is no definition that really fits it. It's more special than a friend. She is like family.
Krista Bo
00:07:01
In 2018, Felicia went to Vancouver to watch Addison compete in the Canadian Transplant Games.
Meet up
00:07:07
It was really cool and it felt really good that she could see how much the gift of life has really helped me.
Krista Bo
00:07:17
And for years now, when Addison wins a medal at a competition, she sends it to Felicia. This is the note that Addison sent Felicia along with the gold medal she won at the 2023 World Transplant Games in the 50 meter freestyle.
Felicia Hill
00:07:31
'It says, I just want you to know that I think of Audrey almost every day. And I think that me and Audrey are like two minds in the same body. I think it like a we - we did this together. We won this medal together. Love, Addison and Audrey.
Krista Bo
00:07:51
Felicia will be with Addison at the next World Transplant Games in Dresden, Germany this summer. Our girl CNN's Eryn Mathewson will be competing then too, so we'll have to check back in.
Krista Bo
00:08:02
If you're interested in becoming an organ donor, you can register at your local DMV or online at organdonor.gov.
Krista Bo
00:08:12
People around the world are living longer these days. In fact, the World Health Organization says most people can expect to live past 60 years of age. And by 2050, it predicts the number of people 80 and older will triple. Alberto Chab thinks a lot about seniors who are living longer. He's 97, lives in Buenos Aires, and was tired of feeling lonely.
Krista Bo
00:08:34
'So with the help of his granddaughter, he posted a video. asking other 90-plus-year-olds to get together and talk about their life experiences. He says he got over a thousand responses.
Alberto Chab
00:08:52
That little video created a tsunami, 1,500 emails. I mean, there was a very real need for people, for seniors to get together and talk to each other. I touched on a very necessary point, which is why people from all over Latin America wrote to me, even from Canada.
Krista Bo
00:09:09
Eventually, Alberto and a group of five men and women started meeting up every two weeks. They discuss a range of topics, from accomplishing life goals to the candy they used to eat when they were kids.
Alberto Chab
00:09:23
Just say everything that comes to mind, it's never going to be absurd, because whatever happens to one of us, having a car crash or going to the eye doctor, a similar situation will arise for the other.
Krista Bo
00:09:35
'A 26-year-old journalist named Guadalupe Camurati heard about the group and also got involved.
Guadalupe Camurati
00:09:42
From the first minute I saw them, I was kind of excited. It touched me. I said to Alberto and the people who were there, this has to be done digitally. For me, we have to make a podcast.
Krista Bo
00:09:54
And so they did. They started a podcast called 90 and Counting, or Noventa y Cantando in Spanish. The first season launched in 2024, and now season two is in the works. Alberto says he thinks the podcast is having a positive impact on members of the group and the listeners, because it gives them more stories to tell their loved ones. And it also shows you're never too old to learn a new skill.
Alberto Chab
00:10:19
I'm still learning at 97. I still have so much to learn.
Krista Bo
00:10:25
When a tornado scattered pieces of one couple's past, strangers almost a hundred miles away stepped in to bring part of it home. That's next.
Bonnie Hemman
00:10:38
So my husband found this laying just about right here as he drove by to go to the winery.
Krista Bo
00:10:45
Bonnie Hemman from Missouri spotted random wedding photos scattered across her front lawn like leaves. She had no idea who the smiling couple was or how the pictures had gotten there, but she had soon learned that they had flown into her yard from nearly 100 miles away.
Krista Bo
00:11:02
Last month, the tornado ripped through Poplar Bluff, Missouri with 138 mile per hour winds, destroying thousands of homes, including Darby Rusum's. She and her husband lost nearly everything outside their basement. But somehow, photos from their wedding 16 months ago, traveled through the storm and landed at Bonnie's feet.
Bonnie Hemman
00:11:26
I just think that God placed it here because he knew I could find the person it goes to. So Bonnie posted the pictures on Facebook, asking if anyone recognized the bride. Meanwhile, about 50 miles from Darby's town, another stranger found more of her wedding photos and shared them online too.
Krista Bo
00:11:46
In less than three hours, people started tagging Darby friends and soon enough, the mystery was solved.
Bonnie Hemman
00:11:52
I feel like we're here to help each other and that's what I wanted to do for them.
Krista Bo
00:11:58
Darby was overwhelmed by the kindness from strangers. Not only are the photos being returned, but she said so many people have offered to help her and her husband clean up and bounce back. That's so sweet.
Krista Bo
00:12:12
All right, that's all for now. Join us tomorrow for the next edition of One Thing. National parks are a target of DOGE's cuts. CNN's David Rind talks to park workers about the impact on visitors, wildlife, and the history of public lands.
Krista Bo
00:12:28
Five Good Things is a production of CNN Audio. This episode was produced by Eryn Mathewson and me, Krista Bo. Our senior producers are Felicia Patinkin and Faiz Jamil. Matt Dempsey is our production manager. Dan Dzula is our technical director, and Steve LIchteig is the executive producer of CNN Audio. We get support from Joey Salvia, Haley Thomas, Alex Manasseri, Robert Mathers, Jon Dianora, Leni Steinhardt, Jamus Andrest, Nichole Pesaru, and Lisa Namerow. Special thanks to Devyn Byers and Wendy Brundige. And thank you, especially, for listening. Take care, till next time.
