After devoting much of her life to judo, 98-year-old Keiko Fukuda has earned a black belt -- the martial arts highest honour.
According to The San Francisco Chronicle, Sensei Keiko Fukuda was the first woman, and one of only four people to be awarded a tenth-degree black belt.
As a young girl living in Japan, Fukuda studied calligraphy, flower arrangement and tea ceremony. But after enduring discrimination, she plunged into judo and never looked back.
In the documentary Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful, Keiko describes, through jubilant tears, judo as her "marriage". "This is when my life destiny was set."
She isn't the only granny tackling her bucket list by stealth. Keiko's accomplishment follows news of an 82-year-old skydiving grandma and a 99-year-old Nintendo playing nanny.
At the risk of sounding maudlin, you're never too old to chase a dream, Yummies.
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According to the Post & Courier, when Raymond Johnson was diagnosed with breast cancer in July, he was refused coverage under the federal Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Act. Why? Because in order to be covered, patients have to be diagnosed via specific early detection programs — and those programs are only open to women.
"Cancer doesn't discriminate," said Johnson, "so this program shouldn't discriminate." Although the South Carolina Dept. of Health and Human Services is behind him, uninsured Johnson is relying on non-profit aid for chemo.
While just over 2,000 men get breast cancer every year in the States, the figures are too low to warrant regular screening, as they are for women (either too young or too old) who fall outside of the scope of the Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Act.
But surely anyone with cancer deserves (paid) treatment? Until universal health care is implemented in the US, Mr. Johnson will no doubt keep cropping up all over the country.
Oh, Canada! God keep our land -- and healthcare -- glorious and free...
So Irish actor and all around bad boy, Colin Farrell showed his soft side in a recent interview on Letterman. He opened up while on the late night show, revealing that his son suffers from a rare condition known as Angelman Syndrome (AS).
Affecting only one in 30,000 children, the condition is often misdiagnosed as a form of cerebral palsy. Strangely, one symptom in particular led doctors in the right direction.
"It was actually when a doctor saw how happy he was," Farrell explained. "He was like, 'Does he always smile this much?'"
Odd that joviality should be an indicator of an underlying medical problem. Other tell tale signs of AS include delays in fine motor skills and speech.
At four years old, mini Farrell has just started to walk and doesn't yet talk. Seeing your child fail to reach basic developmental milestones must be heartbreaking. Though you wouldn't know it in this interview with Farrell, who spoke proudly about his happy-go-lucky son.
He then urged the audience to check out the AS website and dig deep. Respect to this stoic and ever delicious dad.
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