Though a lot of news this year was bad and ugly, 2014 had its share of heartwarming moments.
These six stories from across the United States tugged at our heartstrings — we hope they touch you too.
True Love Story: The Life of Don and Maxine Simpson
It’s a true love story that sounds like a Hollywood movie: Don and Maxine traveled the world together, adopted two boys along the way and eventually settled down.
They were married for almost 62 years and everything was done together. After a long life, the Bakersfield, California couple died just four hours apart.
Marine reunites with best friend
U.S. Marine Corps veteran Matt Foster was reunited with his best friend, military dog Mick, at Denver International Airport after a year-long separation. Foster and Mick served together in Afghanistan.
Little Man and the pursuit of happiness
Before he grew gray hairs and began using a wheelchair, Ethan Arbelo was a fifth-grader at Orange River Elementary School in Florida, an 80-pound kid who liked swimming and play-wrestling his mom. She called him her little man.
Ethan's mom, Maria Maldonado, remembers looking it up on her phone as soon as they got the diagnosis for anaplastic astrocytoma grade III. Around 70 kids are diagnosed with the same disease each year. Most patients only make it two to five years after diagnosis.
Ethan’s journey is documented in this multi-part series.
Mission Critical: A broken soldier's way home
As our nation's longest war winds down in Afghanistan, thousands of military families can thank an elite group of U.S. Air Force medical providers for bringing their critically-wounded loved ones home alive. Those doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists were trained at the University of Cincinnati's Medical Center in a program largely modeled after the civilian hospital's life-saving methods.
Cincinnati TV station WCPO followed the military medical workers to Afghanistan's Bagram Airfield, where one team would be called on to save a man's life.
Special delivery in Buffalo: Baby born in snow storm
Anthony Marchioli of Buffalo, New York is the father of two beautiful girls, Imogin and Athena. Like most people in the Buffalo area after November’s unprecedented snowstorm, he was cooped up in his house and looking for something to do.
He walked 3 miles to a friend’s house to get a ride to Home Depot, rented a tractor to start digging out his neighbors and drive it home. But when he got close to his house, he didn’t know there would be a surprise waiting for him.
“Coming down Cumberland, had a little trail going two houses from mine, look up there's my wife in the middle of the street, ‘What are you doing? You're insanely pregnant? Why are you even out of the house?’”
She answered: "My water broke!"
378 people consecutively 'Pay It Forward' at Starbucks Drive-Thru
A woman started an act of kindness chain that lasted for hours at a Starbucks drive-thru in St. Petersburg, Florida.
