Real-Life Stories That Inspired and Captivated Us in 2016

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Real-Life Stories That Inspired and Captivated Us in 2016

End 2016 on an uplifting note! Us Weekly rounded up 10 of the most inspiring and captivating real-life stories that went viral this year. Read about people who changed lives, defied odds or gave the world some reminders of kindness that it needed to hear. 

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Real-Life Stories That Inspired and Captivated Us in 2016

End 2016 on an uplifting note! Us Weekly rounded up 10 of the most inspiring and captivating real-life stories that went viral this year. Read about people who changed lives, defied odds or gave the world some reminders of kindness that it needed to hear. 

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An oncology nurse adopted her patient’s son

Oncology nurse Tricia Seaman, who works at PinnacleHealth Hospital in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, took in her patient Tricia Somers’ son after she passed away from cancer. After knowing each other only 10 days, the terminally ill single mom asked if Seaman would raise her 8-year-old son, Wesley. When Somers passed away in 2014, the Seamans, who also have four children ages 12 to 20, became his legal guardians. “He’s so fun. He’s so his mom,” Seaman told Us. “We’re so much better for knowing them both.” She detailed her whole story in her book, God Gave Me You: A True Story of Love, Loss, and a Heaven-Sent Miracle, which was released in May.

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An Applebee’s waiter’s random act of kindness inspired another kind gesture

Kasey Simmons, a waiter at an Applebee’s in Little Elm, Texas, was waiting in the checkout line at Kroger supermarket when he noticed the woman ahead of him had been crying. He decided to pay for the stranger’s $17 worth of groceries and gave her his contact info, along with an offer to come by his workplace for a coffee or dessert on the house to talk.

The next day, Simmons received a $500 tip on a 37-cent bill for a flavored water. A note on a napkin read, “On behalf of the Sullivan family, I want to thank you for being the person you are. On one of the most depressing days of the year (the death of my father, 3 year anniversary) you made my mother’s day wonderful. She has been smiling since you did what you did.” 

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A woman got pregnant by IVF after her husband’s death

Kristen Tripson lost her husband, Sam, to stage IV lymphoma, but the couple had frozen embryos before he passed away. “It was always our plan — regardless of what happened — that they would have a chance at life,” she wrote on Instagram.

The 34-year-old soon found out that she was pregnant. “It’s hard to process, but just having a chance to meet another one of Sam’s children, it just blows my mind,” Tripson, who is also mom of Jack and Alice Ann, told Us prior to giving birth. She welcomed a healthy baby girl, Lillian Belle, on October 23. 

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This eighth grader had a big heart

Josette Duran’s son Dylan requested that his mom pack an extra lunch to bring to school every day — but not because he was hungry. “Dylan explained that there was a boy who sits by himself and eats only a fruit cup,” the Albuquerque, New Mexico, mom told Us. From that day forward, the eighth grader came to school with two lunches. “It just became normal,” she said. Duran later learned that the boy’s mom had lost her job and couldn’t afford lunch for her son.

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A 9-year-old girl proved you can do anything if you set your mind to it

Milla Bizzotto completed a 24-hour obstacle course designed for U.S. Navy SEALs. The BattleFrog Xtreme challenge consisted of running 36 miles, swimming an 8-kilometer course and 25 obstacles, six times each. “My biggest challenge with her is trying to get her to train less,” her father Christian Bizzotto told Us. “She does in real life what kids are trying to do on a video game.”

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This model showed that Instagram pics aren’t real life

Model Iskra Lawrence, who is all about body positivity and shuns Photoshopping, shared two side-by-side selfies taken on the same day to prove that thigh gaps are easy to fake. In one photo, she has a wide gap, while in the next, her thighs are touching. “I’ll be the first one to tell you pics are all about good lighting and angles,” she wrote. “Always remember social media’s not real life never let anyone else’s pics make you feel insecure about yourself.”

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A teacher stopped giving homework

Parents at Godley Elementary School were overjoyed when second grade teacher Brandy Young sent out a letter saying that there would be no homework for her students this year. “Homework will only consist of work that your student did not finish during the school day,” she wrote. “Research has been unable to prove that homework improves student performances. Rather, I ask that you spend your evenings doing things that are proven to correlate with student success. Eat dinner as a family, read together, play outside and get your child to bed early,” the letter read.                                

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This woman reminded us love isn’t about an expensive diamond

Rachel Pedersen defended her engagement ring against critics who said that its size didn’t match her financial success in a post that went viral and resonated with so many women. “Friends and family often ask me when I’m going to have it upgraded. … After all, it doesn’t represent the level of success we are achieving,” she wrote. “Wait a minute. … Since when did the size of someone’s ring become an indication of success?! For me, the ring is SO much more. My ring symbolizes a whirlwind, storybook, ‘make you sick’ love story … I say small, only because it pales in comparison with how big his love is, even now, after years of marriage.”

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A son took his mom to prom for the cutest reason

Trey Potter took his mom, Melissa Roshan, to his high school prom to give her an experience that she missed out on. As a teen mom, Roshan had to drop out of school and work to earn money for Trey while getting her GED. “Seeing all my friends around me go to prom … was incredibly difficult,” she told Us. “[Trey’s prom night] was one of the greatest moments of my life.” 

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A couple adopted four kids on the same day

Jeremy and Kaley Carling were unable to have kids of their own so they pursued adoption. But after supporting a woman emotionally and financially through a pregnancy, she changed her mind about giving up her child after giving birth. But their heartbreak has a happy ending: On August 11 they received a call from social services that biological sisters Haven and Indie were up for adoption, and another call about a birth mother who wanted to place her twin girls with the Carlings. They decided to adopt all four kids. “I always felt like we would end up with the children that we were supposed to wind up with,” Kaley told Us. “Now that they’re here, I believe that more than ever.”