Real Life Stories – 16th April

This week, the internet is awash with inspiring and curious stories, from the cook and janitor who cared for 19 abandoned pensioners to the lecturer who claims to have found fairies. We look at these and one more story in our

University lecturer claims to capture images of fairies

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A lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University claimed he captured fairies dancing in the sun over the course of two years. John Hyatt, who is the Director of Manchester Institute for Research and Innovation in Art and Design, took the photos in the Rossendale Valley, Lancashire, and he insists he hasn’t altered the images in any way. He’s even letting people decide for themselves, allowing the images to be put on display in The Whitaker Museum in Whitaker Park in Rossendale. The exhibition, called Rossendale Fairies, will be held throughout the spring, so you can decide for yourself.

Janitor and cook look after 19 abandoned pensioners in California

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Senior care home Valley Springs Manor, in Castro Valley, California, was closed after officials found staff and owners were guilty of many health and safety violations in October 2013. Whilst all the care staff left, janitor Miguel Alvarez (who had just joined the staff three weeks earlier) and cook Maurice Rowland (pictured above) stayed behind with the 19 residents. After they were unable to find the contact details of residents’ families, they realised it was up to them to look after the abandoned pensioners.

Lifelong friends Miguel and Maurice fed, clothed, bathed and generally cared for the residents for two days, taking turns napping in rocking chairs to maintain their energy.

After Miguel (below) called emergency services many times over the 40-hour period, emergency workers finally arrived to move the residents to hospital wards or to release them into the care of their families.

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Since that day, Maurice and Miguel have been feted by government officials, international newspapers, various organisations and many individuals. They have received certificates, commendations, offers to appear on TV shows, job offers and cash donations to compensate them for their unpaid work. Of course, they never expected that support when they made the decision to stay: “I felt bad for the seniors, so I helped them,” Miguel has said.

Man proposes to his wife after he lost his memory

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It seems like something out of a Hollywood film, but it really happened to Damian Hammond. Two years ago, Damian was making his way to work when he suffered from crippling memory loss. The result of stress and trauma, the memory loss caused Damian to forget everything from childhood memories to where he worked. His wife Cathy realised he was missing, and soon police tracked him down to a local hospital.

When she first came into his hospital room, Damian of course didn’t recognise her. It wasn’t until she showed how their jigsaw puzzle wedding rings fit together that he understood that they shared some sort of connection.

He told his story to Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford on This Morning, when he turned to Cathy and said this: “I love her. I love her with all my heart… and I just wanted to ask you something – will you re-marry me?” Naturally enough, his wife, who has been working with him ever since to help him regain his memories of their children’s’ births and other family memories, said yes.

These real life stories of heroism, love and the unexplained certainly provide food for thought. So what do you think? Are fairies real? Would you have stayed behind to care for vulnerable pensioners? And if you had it to do all over again, would you get re-engaged to your partner? Let us know in the comments.