for ur reading pleasure since today i'm too lazy to study and too hyper to sleep! =)
haha, last paper on 24th!! (so long more to go wei!)
Boobs Overcharged.
A shopper in the UK was been overcharged when buying fruit and vegetables in a supermarket after the cashier's breasts rested on the weighing scales.
The shopper only realised the problem when she questioned the £1.95 (RM9.80) price of a single green pepper at the store, according to the Daily Mail reports.
Confirmed the top management of the store: "The young lady concerned was taken aside and the matter was sorted out."
"We have now adjusted the chair. We also checked the till receipt to see if anyone else had been overcharged."
Apparently, the problem occured because the cashier's seat was too low.
"When the customer asked the supervisor what had caused the problem on the way out of the store, he told her the cashier's boobs had been resting on the scale."
The cashier concerned has personally apologised and described the embarassing incident as "upsetting".
Source: www.digitalspy.co.uk
Fat boy saved by body fat
A 15-year-old student, who fell from the ninth floor of his apartment in Hong Kong, was saved - by his body fat.
A new species of lizard has become a legend in its own lunchtime after being identified by scientists from the menu of a local restaurant in the region of Vietnam where it lives.
Specimens of the lizard are served up grilled with salad in restaurants of the Mekong Delta in south-west Vietnam, which led to the discovery that it was a species new to science.
A study of the lizard has revealed that it consists entirely of females who reproduce by a form of cloning called parthenogenesis, which is not unknown among reptiles.
Scientists suspect the species is a hybrid of two other closely-related lizards that live in the same area.
The new lizard, called Leiolepis ngovantrii, is named after scientist Ngo Van Tri of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology who came across live specimens of the species stored in a tank in a restaurant in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province.
His suspicions were aroused by the fact that all the individuals he saw in the restaurant seemed to be female because similar lizards living in the region are known to exhibit a strong sexual dimorphism - males and females have distinct colour differences.
Dr Van Tri emailed pictures of the lizard to two herpetologist colleagues, Lee Grismer of La Sierra University in Riverside, California, and his son Jesse Grismer of Villanova University in Pennsylvania, who both suspected that what they were looking at was a new, all-female species of lizard.
The two scientists hopped on a plane to Ho Chi Minh City and called the restaurant to "reserve" their dish.
They then hired motorbikes and spent two days riding to the restaurant where the owner said he had the lizards waiting for them.
"When we finally got there, this crazy guy had gotten drunk and served them all to his customers," said Lee Grismer in an interview with National Geographic News.
The two scientists hired some local boys to go out scouting for fresh specimens and very soon they had more than 60 individual lizards, all female.
A scientific report on the species, published in the journal Zootaxa, confirmed that it was a new species that reproduced by cloning.
"It's an entirely new lineage of life that was being eaten and sold in restaurants for food. But it's something that scientists have missed for hundreds of years.
It's not that they're not known, locals know all about them. It's just that they're not known to scientists," Dr Grismer said.
DNA tests have confirmed that the lizards are all females and that they are related through the maternal line to another local species, Leiolepis guttata.
The scientists believe that L ngovantrii probably arose as a new species as a result of being a hybrid between L. guttata and an as-yet unidentified species that acted as the male line.
The resulting offspring were unable to reproduce sexually but were still able to clone themselves from unfertilised egg cells, a process known as parthenogenesis.
Several members of the reptile class are also known to engage in asexual reproduction, especially when placed under environmental stress.
The new species lives in an area that lies between two ecological habitats, scrub woodland and coastal sand dunes, which may have helped the hybrids to survive, Dr Grismer said.
"Species that do really well in one habitat or the other will occasionally get together and reproduce to form a hybrid," he said.
Source: Independent/ nzherald.co. nz
A 10-day-old baby girl died after being placed in a washing machine as it went through an entire spin cycle.
The newborn's mother Lyndsey Fiddler put her daughter into the washing machine along with a pile of laundry.
The tiny Maggie-May Fiddler was inside the top loading washing machine for up to 40 minutes before being discovered.
A relative who called in to see Fiddler found her passed out and Maggie May missing.
She also heard a strange sound from the washing machine and when she opened the door found the crumpled body of Maggie mixed with the clothes.
In a frantic call to emergency dispatchers 26-year-old Fiddler is heard saying: "My baby is dead."
She can then be heard arguing with her aunt Rhonda Coshatt who is heard on the call saying: "No I did not kill your baby, you did."
The gruesome death in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, left many of the emergency crews and police who responded to the incident in tears.
A veteran police chief, who has witnessed multiple murders and gangland shootings, said it was the most tragic crime scene he has ever investigated.
Police have charged Fiddler with second degree manslaughter after initially arresting her on drug charges.
They had been called to her flat on Thursday where they found the dead baby still inside the washing machine.
An investigation revealed it had gone through a full-spin cycle before she was discovered.
Bartlesville Police Chief Tom Holland said Coshatt had called in to see Fiddler, who has two other boys , to see how she was coping with her newborn daughter
Family members had been concerned about Fiddler because of her past drug use.
Earlier this year they had tried to get her parental rights revoked before the birth of her third child.
The young mother had been arrested in April for taking drugs when she was four months pregnant.
She is suspected of being hooked on crystal meth and taking the drug the night her daughter died.
Holland said Coshatt walked into a grim scene.
"The mother was asleep and she had trouble waking her and heard the washer out of balance, clanging, so went to lift the lid so it would stop and in the washing machine, saw the baby," Holland said.
Fiddler's two other boys, aged four and three, were taken into care by social workers.
The infant's father, Benjamin Trammel, said he can't believe his girlfriend deliberately killed their daughter.
"Inside my heart, I can't believe Lyndsey would have hurt our little girl. I don't believe it in my heart to be honest with you," Trammel said.
Paramedics had desperately tried to revive the newborn baby after she was pulled out of the washing machine, but she was already dead on arrival at hospital.
Paramedic John Houser,who worked on the baby, said: "Terrible. I don't even know how to describe it."
Fiddler has a long criminal history with arrests for assault, driving without a licence and not having her two older children in car seats.
Police chief Holland said the investigation in continuing with many of his men deeply affected by what they saw.
He said a veteran detective taking crime scene photos of the dead baby at the hospital had to step outside because he was overcome with emotion. - www.dailymail.co.uk
The Shanghai Wedding Trade Association said the practice disrespects the institution of marriage and warned it would press the government to ban any studio that takes such photos, the Shanghai Daily reported.
"We don't advocate such wedding photographs as they are out of keeping with the conservative traditions of Chinese people," the association's vice president He Lina was quoted as saying.
"Weddings should be holy ceremonies, so we hope young people can show respect."
Unlike in the West, Chinese wedding photos are normally taken months before the ceremony and show couples posing in Western and Chinese outfits.
Some studios have begun offering couples the option of portraits of them wearing nothing at all or with strategically placed sheets or other objects covering their bodies, the newspaper reported.
Lawyer Liu Chunquan told the newspaper that there was nothing illegal about taking naked portraits, but said anyone who spreads such photos in the public domain could face pornography charges.
However, some samples of purported naked wedding photos have been posted on the internet, prompting a debate over privacy and the wisdom of posing nude.
Fans of the photos say they capture a couple's deep love and intimacy, the newspaper wrote.
Source: rte.ie
Swedish researchers at the Karolinska Institute studied data from nearly 6,000 people who were prescribed the drug, isotretinoin, between 1980 to 1989. The medication has been commonly prescribed to treat serious acne since the 1980s.
The scientists compared the patient information to hospital discharge records and death registers from 1980 to 2000. According to the records, 128 of the people surveyed were admitted to a hospital after a suicide attempt.
"Severe acne is not a trivial condition," wrote Anders Sundstrom and colleagues. "It is associated with an increased risk of attempted suicide."
Experts found the number of suicide attempts increased between about one and three years after the start of the treatment. But the highest risk appeared to be within six months after the treatment ended. Treatment typically lasted several months, with some patients needing repeated therapy, the report said.
The scientists could not say whether it was the condition or the treatment that is causing the suicide attempts among those using the drug. They even suspect that patients whose acne improved after treatment might still be upset if there were no major improvements in their social lives.
Sundstrom and colleagues emphasized that acne-related suicide attempts was a rare event: there was about one suicide attempt for every 2,300 people taking the acne drug. Among young adults in the U.S., there are about 13 suicides per every 100,000 people. Experts estimate that for every suicide, there are about 11 attempts.
"All patients with acne of a severity for which isotretinoin is (needed) should have psychosocial factors and suicidal intent monitored," wrote Parker Magin and John Sullivan of the University of Newcastle and University of New South Wales in Australia, in an accompanying commentary. "Given the extended period of risk, families of patients may also have a role in this monitoring."
The study was paid for by the Swedish Research Council and was published Friday in the medical journal BMJ. - AP
A one-legged father of 88 children, 64-year-old Daad Murad Abdul Rahman will marry 18-year-old Aisha in Jaipur after Eid Adha (Hari Raya Haji) on Nov 17.
Speaking to Emirates24.com, Rahman said: "The wedding was arranged by his Indian doctor. Meher (money bridegroom pays the bride's father) has been fixed at Dh20,000 (RM 16, 847) and the nikkah (wedding] will be held in Jaipur."
Rahman, who lives in Ajman and Manama in UAE, has 50 boys and 38 girls. He lost one leg in an accident several years ago.
The eldest son Tariq is 39 years of age and the youngest is a few months old. "I will stop marrying when I have 100 children. I hope to achieve that with this marriage."
The sexagenarian could not conceal his excitement when asked about his new bride.
"I'm thrilled about my wedding. She is a pretty girl. I have seen her photograph."
"I speak to her over the phone. I have applied for visa to visit India for the marriage. Most probably, I will leave for India after Eid."
"Every marriage is a celebration in our family as children get new clothes, sweets and gifts. We will have to cut at least four sheep for the festivities.
I will bring the new bride to Ajman a few weeks after the marriage," he added.
Rahman takes pride in the media coverage he receives. First featured in Emirates Today in 2007, his growing family was later on 'Big Families' an international TV programme.
"My new wife is impressed because she has already seen me on TV channels. Several TV people have come to my house to interview me and shoot my family members," he said.
"We have just celebrated one Eid and the family is getting ready for the next Eid. The new bride will add more flavour to the festival mood in my family," he added.
Rahman gets pension from the UAE Armed Forces, financial aid and other benefits such as free homes from the government.
His family comprising 127 members live in seven homes spread across different emirates. Most of his children are employed in good positions (UAE Armed Forces, police, etc). One of them is a businessman in the UK.
Rahman says he has been married 15 times. However, he has only three wives at present and the rest are divorced. Some of his ex-wives, however, still stay with him.
Source: Emirates247.com
The father believes his son was sleepwalking during the incident
A 15-year-old student, who fell from the ninth floor of his apartment in Hong Kong, was saved - by his body fat.
Doctor said the layer of fat in the teenager's body managed to "protect" the internal organs when he landed on the roof of a bridge.
"Luckily his organs were not injured," doctor said, adding Wong Wai On had regained consciousness and is stable.
Wong, nicknamed Fatty, had fractured bones and scratches on his hands.
He was said to have suffering from sleepwalking since he was four-year-old.
His father believed Wong had sleepwalked again and fell from the apartment in Sha Tin on Friday night.
He denied that the incident was a suicide attempt.
Source: Ming Pao, HK
Source: Ming Pao, HK
New lizard species found - on restaurant menu
A scientific report has confirmed that it is a new species which reproduces by cloning
Specimens of the lizard are served up grilled with salad in restaurants of the Mekong Delta in south-west Vietnam, which led to the discovery that it was a species new to science.
A study of the lizard has revealed that it consists entirely of females who reproduce by a form of cloning called parthenogenesis, which is not unknown among reptiles.
Scientists suspect the species is a hybrid of two other closely-related lizards that live in the same area.
The new lizard, called Leiolepis ngovantrii, is named after scientist Ngo Van Tri of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology who came across live specimens of the species stored in a tank in a restaurant in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province.
His suspicions were aroused by the fact that all the individuals he saw in the restaurant seemed to be female because similar lizards living in the region are known to exhibit a strong sexual dimorphism - males and females have distinct colour differences.
Specimens of the lizard are served up grilled in restaurants of the Mekong Delta in south-west Vietnam
The two scientists hopped on a plane to Ho Chi Minh City and called the restaurant to "reserve" their dish.
They then hired motorbikes and spent two days riding to the restaurant where the owner said he had the lizards waiting for them.
"When we finally got there, this crazy guy had gotten drunk and served them all to his customers," said Lee Grismer in an interview with National Geographic News.
Dr Lee Grismer and his son, Jesse Grismer (left) hired local boys to catch the lizards for them
A scientific report on the species, published in the journal Zootaxa, confirmed that it was a new species that reproduced by cloning.
"It's an entirely new lineage of life that was being eaten and sold in restaurants for food. But it's something that scientists have missed for hundreds of years.
It's not that they're not known, locals know all about them. It's just that they're not known to scientists," Dr Grismer said.
DNA tests have confirmed that the lizards are all females and that they are related through the maternal line to another local species, Leiolepis guttata.
The scientists believe that L ngovantrii probably arose as a new species as a result of being a hybrid between L. guttata and an as-yet unidentified species that acted as the male line.
The resulting offspring were unable to reproduce sexually but were still able to clone themselves from unfertilised egg cells, a process known as parthenogenesis.
Several members of the reptile class are also known to engage in asexual reproduction, especially when placed under environmental stress.
The new species lives in an area that lies between two ecological habitats, scrub woodland and coastal sand dunes, which may have helped the hybrids to survive, Dr Grismer said.
"Species that do really well in one habitat or the other will occasionally get together and reproduce to form a hybrid," he said.
Source: Independent/ nzherald.co. nz
Ten-day-old baby dies in washing machine
Ten-day-old Maggie-May Fiddler was found in the washing machine.
The newborn's mother Lyndsey Fiddler put her daughter into the washing machine along with a pile of laundry.
The tiny Maggie-May Fiddler was inside the top loading washing machine for up to 40 minutes before being discovered.
A relative who called in to see Fiddler found her passed out and Maggie May missing.
She also heard a strange sound from the washing machine and when she opened the door found the crumpled body of Maggie mixed with the clothes.
In a frantic call to emergency dispatchers 26-year-old Fiddler is heard saying: "My baby is dead."
She can then be heard arguing with her aunt Rhonda Coshatt who is heard on the call saying: "No I did not kill your baby, you did."
The gruesome death in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, left many of the emergency crews and police who responded to the incident in tears.
A veteran police chief, who has witnessed multiple murders and gangland shootings, said it was the most tragic crime scene he has ever investigated.
Police have charged Fiddler with second degree manslaughter after initially arresting her on drug charges.
They had been called to her flat on Thursday where they found the dead baby still inside the washing machine.
An investigation revealed it had gone through a full-spin cycle before she was discovered.
Bartlesville Police Chief Tom Holland said Coshatt had called in to see Fiddler, who has two other boys , to see how she was coping with her newborn daughter
Family members had been concerned about Fiddler because of her past drug use.
The baby's mother Lyndsey Fiddler has been charged with second degree manslaughter.
The young mother had been arrested in April for taking drugs when she was four months pregnant.
She is suspected of being hooked on crystal meth and taking the drug the night her daughter died.
Holland said Coshatt walked into a grim scene.
"The mother was asleep and she had trouble waking her and heard the washer out of balance, clanging, so went to lift the lid so it would stop and in the washing machine, saw the baby," Holland said.
Fiddler's two other boys, aged four and three, were taken into care by social workers.
The infant's father, Benjamin Trammel, said he can't believe his girlfriend deliberately killed their daughter.
"Inside my heart, I can't believe Lyndsey would have hurt our little girl. I don't believe it in my heart to be honest with you," Trammel said.
Paramedics had desperately tried to revive the newborn baby after she was pulled out of the washing machine, but she was already dead on arrival at hospital.
Paramedic John Houser,who worked on the baby, said: "Terrible. I don't even know how to describe it."
Fiddler has a long criminal history with arrests for assault, driving without a licence and not having her two older children in car seats.
Police chief Holland said the investigation in continuing with many of his men deeply affected by what they saw.
He said a veteran detective taking crime scene photos of the dead baby at the hospital had to step outside because he was overcome with emotion. - www.dailymail.co.uk
Naked wedding pics - the latest craze in China
A trade association for wedding photographers in China is calling for a ban on naked portraits of newlyweds, a new trend among the country's young couples.
Being photographed nude is the new trend among China's newly-wed couples
"Weddings should be holy ceremonies, so we hope young people can show respect."
Unlike in the West, Chinese wedding photos are normally taken months before the ceremony and show couples posing in Western and Chinese outfits.
Some studios have begun offering couples the option of portraits of them wearing nothing at all or with strategically placed sheets or other objects covering their bodies, the newspaper reported.
Lawyer Liu Chunquan told the newspaper that there was nothing illegal about taking naked portraits, but said anyone who spreads such photos in the public domain could face pornography charges.
However, some samples of purported naked wedding photos have been posted on the internet, prompting a debate over privacy and the wisdom of posing nude.
Fans of the photos say they capture a couple's deep love and intimacy, the newspaper wrote.
Source: rte.ie
Acne-prone people are more suicidal
People with severe acne may be at higher risk of attempting suicide, a new study says.
Swedish researchers at the Karolinska Institute studied data from nearly 6,000 people who were prescribed the drug, isotretinoin, between 1980 to 1989. The medication has been commonly prescribed to treat serious acne since the 1980s.
The scientists compared the patient information to hospital discharge records and death registers from 1980 to 2000. According to the records, 128 of the people surveyed were admitted to a hospital after a suicide attempt.
"Severe acne is not a trivial condition," wrote Anders Sundstrom and colleagues. "It is associated with an increased risk of attempted suicide."
Experts found the number of suicide attempts increased between about one and three years after the start of the treatment. But the highest risk appeared to be within six months after the treatment ended. Treatment typically lasted several months, with some patients needing repeated therapy, the report said.
The scientists could not say whether it was the condition or the treatment that is causing the suicide attempts among those using the drug. They even suspect that patients whose acne improved after treatment might still be upset if there were no major improvements in their social lives.
Sundstrom and colleagues emphasized that acne-related suicide attempts was a rare event: there was about one suicide attempt for every 2,300 people taking the acne drug. Among young adults in the U.S., there are about 13 suicides per every 100,000 people. Experts estimate that for every suicide, there are about 11 attempts.
"All patients with acne of a severity for which isotretinoin is (needed) should have psychosocial factors and suicidal intent monitored," wrote Parker Magin and John Sullivan of the University of Newcastle and University of New South Wales in Australia, in an accompanying commentary. "Given the extended period of risk, families of patients may also have a role in this monitoring."
The study was paid for by the Swedish Research Council and was published Friday in the medical journal BMJ. - AP
64yr old man set to wed 18yr old girl
UAE's 'superdad' is all set to tie the knot again, with the aim of fathering 100 children before 2015.A one-legged father of 88 children, 64-year-old Daad Murad Abdul Rahman will marry 18-year-old Aisha in Jaipur after Eid Adha (Hari Raya Haji) on Nov 17.
Daad Murad Abdul Rahman with one of his younger children
Rahman, who lives in Ajman and Manama in UAE, has 50 boys and 38 girls. He lost one leg in an accident several years ago.
The eldest son Tariq is 39 years of age and the youngest is a few months old. "I will stop marrying when I have 100 children. I hope to achieve that with this marriage."
The sexagenarian could not conceal his excitement when asked about his new bride.
"I'm thrilled about my wedding. She is a pretty girl. I have seen her photograph."
"I speak to her over the phone. I have applied for visa to visit India for the marriage. Most probably, I will leave for India after Eid."
"Every marriage is a celebration in our family as children get new clothes, sweets and gifts. We will have to cut at least four sheep for the festivities.
Daad Murad Abdul Rahman surrounded by some of his wives and children
Rahman takes pride in the media coverage he receives. First featured in Emirates Today in 2007, his growing family was later on 'Big Families' an international TV programme.
"My new wife is impressed because she has already seen me on TV channels. Several TV people have come to my house to interview me and shoot my family members," he said.
"We have just celebrated one Eid and the family is getting ready for the next Eid. The new bride will add more flavour to the festival mood in my family," he added.
Rahman gets pension from the UAE Armed Forces, financial aid and other benefits such as free homes from the government.
His family comprising 127 members live in seven homes spread across different emirates. Most of his children are employed in good positions (UAE Armed Forces, police, etc). One of them is a businessman in the UK.
Rahman says he has been married 15 times. However, he has only three wives at present and the rest are divorced. Some of his ex-wives, however, still stay with him.
Source: Emirates247.com
Teen mum who threw baby out of window
An El Salvadoran teenager accused of throwing her newborn baby out a window in Boston, US, was a victim of rape, her defense attorney said Monday.Eva Flores, 18, pleaded not guilty to assault and battery on a child and wanton and reckless behaviour.
"She revealed to investigators that she gave birth to the baby in the bathtub of her home on Sept. 20 but had not told her mother she was pregnant."
Eva Flores pleaded not guilty to child-abuse charges
Defense attorney Francisco Napolitano told the court Flores became pregnant as the result of being brutally raped in El Salvador.
Her attacker threatened to kill her and her family if she told anyone, he said.
Prosecutors have yet to determine if Flores’ claim is true.
"Our duty is to speak for this victim in this case," said Jake Wark, spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley.
"There can be no justification for inflicting such serious injuries on so innocent a child."
The newborn boy, who landed face-down "screaming and crying" in an alley,suffered a skull fracture, brain bleeds and seizures.
He is now in a state-run medical foster-care programme.
Police found part of the umbilical cord in the tub's drain pipe and bloody clothes, sheets and towels in a white plastic bag under Flores' bed, Joseph said.
Source: Boston Herald
Duck with Marilyn Monroe hairdo
The duck with a Marilyn Monroe hairdo
Marilyn Monroe
While the screen legend went to great lengths perfecting her style, this bird’s look is entirely natural.
Shule said in an interview, "When I saw the hairstyle I thought I was seeing things."
"I had to chuckle. It looked as though it was wearing a wig that was ready to fall off."
Source: Mumbai Mirror
Rich man's son begs 'for fun'
The man kneeling down and begging for money on the street
A man was spotted begging for money on a street in Xinghua, China, wearing a grey suit, jeans and a pair of leather shoes.
The man was kneeling in front of a supermarket, telling passers-by that he had not eaten for two days.
"I have used up all my money to treat my ailing mother at the hospital," he cried.
The man, wearing spectacles, then begged the public to give me some money to buy food.
However, no one responded to him because they were suspicious of the well-dressed man.
At this juncture, a septuagenarian gave him five yuan (RM2.30) and said: "A real man cannot easily kneel down, you stand up and go buy some food."
The man bowed and repeatedly thanked the elderly woman as she walked off.
After taking the money, the man continued begging on the street.
Passers-by were puzzled as to why he did not buy food since he claimed he had not eaten for two days.
A man dragging the
Then, they were even more confused when another well-dressed man arrived and dragged the "beggar" into an Audi A6 car and sped off.
As the passers-by were discussing what they had seen, a woman revealed that he was from a rich family and his father is a developer.
The woman said the man is married, and added it was not the first time he hd begged on the streets.
She said: "When the man's family asked why he did such a thing, he replied: 'For fun!'"
Source: Xinhua
She said: "When the man's family asked why he did such a thing, he replied: 'For fun!'"
Source: Xinhua
A heart-warming love story
Yuan tapping Dong in the forehead after he lost a poker game at his home
Love remained unattainable dreams for Dong Zhijun and Yuan Wanyu from China until they got to know each other over a year ago.
Dong, a 23-year-old from a remote county named Tai'an in Liaoning Province, was born with congenital rickets.
Suffering from the tragic disease, Dong - dubbed "Mini Boy" or "Shorty" - is only 80cm tall. He spent most of his childhood in bed since he was prone to fractures.
Dong encourages Yuan before her first cosmetic surgery at the hospital
Several years of hard work paid off. He became a savvy in website construction and Internet technology.
Now he is a founder of four websites and an operation supervisor of seven websites and he has been recruited as an IT clerk by an information services company.
He also set up a vegetable plantation and provided green vegetables for local residents and city dwellers.
The story of Dong conquering physical and social challenges spread beyond his hometown and tugged at the heartstrings of Yuan, a girl in Guangdong Province.
Yuan, 21, was accidentally burnt and suffered great disfigurement when she was one.
She survived but lost the fingers in her left hand and her nose was burned off. For 20 years, Yuan had been unable to close her eyes due to the disfigurement.
Financial difficulties forced Yuan to give up her dreams of going to college and the discrimination caused by her features and physical defects also caused the high-school graduate to lose many job opportunities, throwing her into despair.
In 2009, Yuan - who was dejected after several unsuccessful job interviews - found a confidante in a head-hunting website for the disabled.
That confidante happened to be Dong.
Sharing the same fate, Yuan found herself geting a crush on Dong and gradually accepted him as her Mr Right.
"He is a very kind man," she said.
Dong feeding Yuan the dishes she cooked for him
In early April this year, Dong confessed his feelings to Yuan.
"I love her from my heart and I will warm her heart all my life," he said.
Yuan was deeply touched by Dong's sincerity and soon moved to his home in Liaoning.
Dong took all his savings and brought her for cosmetic therapy.
Their love gave them not only hope but help.
After finding out the couple's story, Shenyang Xiehe Cosmetic Hospital decided to waive 100,000 yuan (RM46,240) in surgical fees.
"To me, she is the holiest and most gorgeous girl in the world," Dong said.
"I will marry her after she completes all the surgeries so that she can finally put on a beautiful wedding dress.
"No matter what happens, Wanyu and I will face up to it together."
Source: Xinhua
The boy who has not eaten any food
Toby with mum Suzanne, dad Andrew and sisters Lily and Isobel. Pic from The Sun UK.
Tiny Toby Waller has no idea what most foods taste like - he has never taken a bite of a biscuit, chewed on cake or a chunk of chocolate. The chirpy lad simply cannot eat. He is allergic to ALL FOOD.
It means 21-month-old Toby's throat burns and becomes swollen whenever he swallows food.
Mum Suzanne, 37, says: "I made him a Thomas The Tank Engine cake for his first birthday party in February - all the children squealed when I brought it in, except Toby, The Sun of UK reported.
"Then as the other tots were eating jam sandwiches and chocolate fingers Toby quietly looked on.
"Even though he was only one, he knew he'd be ill if he ate any of the party food."
Shortly before his first birthday Toby was diagnosed with eosinophilic oesophagitis (EO).
The rare condition affects one in 2,500 children and is caused when the immune system wrongly attacks foods as a foreign body or a parasite - something which they think should not be there.
This leads to the upper digestive system becoming inflamed, causing vomiting, acid reflux, nausea and food aversion.
Toby is also allergic to dairy, wheat, soya, pollen, dust and an array of other things - these are the things his eosinophils, a type of white blood cells, think are attacking his body.
The cells are normally found in the blood system but Toby is quite unusual in that he also has them in his stomach.
Full-time mum Suzanne, who lives in Halifax with her partner Andrew Percival, 34, an IT consultant, daughters Lily, seven, and Isobel, four, says: "Toby was born when I was 38 weeks pregnant. I breastfed him but within a week, he repeatedly threw up his milk." Initially Suzanne thought the problem was reflux, which Lily suffered from when she was young.
The condition leads to partially digested food or liquid being regurgitated back up the oesophagus. She assumed that, like Lily, Toby would grow out of it when he moved to solid food. But to her dismay, things actually got worse.
"At 16 weeks old, Toby suddenly began to have screaming fits. He could screech hysterically for up to two hours at a time.
The birthday boy with the cake he could not eat. Pic from The Sun UK.
"When I rushed him to hospital, I was made to feel as if I was an over-anxious mum. His screaming fits were dismissed as colic.
"When he was five months I tried him on solids but he'd choke, gag and vomit them back up."
Medics at Sheffield Children's Hospital tested the acid levels in Toby's stomach over 24 hours, which revealed he had reflux problems.
But the docs suspected there was more going on in his little body.
Further tests showed high levels of eosinophils in his oesophagus and tummy as well as in the usual place in his bloodstream. Suzanne was horrified when she was told this caused Toby to suffer awful burning sensations in his throat, making him sick or giving him diarrhoea.
She recalls: "I was relieved we finally had a diagnosis but as the months progressed, and we approached his first birthday, he wasn't crawling or rolling over and I knew he didn't have the strength.
"At 25 weeks old, he weighed 16lb 9oz and when he was one year old, he was 17lb 5oz - he'd put on less than a pound in six months."
Worried that Toby was getting weaker by the day, medics inserted a feeding tube up his nose and down to his tummy to try to get more food into him without hurting his oesophagus.
Immediately, he started to gain weight and began crawling and doing the normal things a baby his age should do. But he still wasn't getting enough vital nutrients.
In May 2010, medics inserted a permanent tube into his stomach which feeds him a small dose of special milk every hour for ten hours through the night. The special amino acid-based formula milk is stripped of everything he is allergic to and just contains nutrients.
His daily diet now consists of a pot of pureed fruit for breakfast, lunch is a stage one baby food pot of something savoury that contains no wheat or gluten, and his tea is the same again. And he takes 14 medications per day.
Suzanne says: "As I feed the girls fish fingers and chips, his little hand will grasp some of the food.
"He'll suck the fish but won't chew it. It's the same with pizza, he'll suck the crust but will not chew it or swallow any. Even plain boiled rice, which he loves, makes him sick. We tried him with stage two baby food and he gagged.
"Today Toby weighs 22lb - my daughters were 24lb at the age of one. He is two in February but has just gone into clothes for babies aged nine to 12 months old.
"Despite all this, he is a lovely, happy child and everyone who meets him can't help but think he is a gorgeous little bundle."
Toby's condition is incurable but doctors hope it will become less severe as he gets older.
And Suzanne reveals she is also optimistic for the future. She says: "The doctors say it's going to be a long road - we've got to now introduce one food at a time.
"But he's such a sunny lad, we know we'll all cope." -
www.thesun.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment