Crossing the Atlantic by rowboat, and more

Crossing the Atlantic by rowboat

Paul Ridley of Stamford, Conn., has rowed across the Atlantic Ocean in 88 days, making him the third—and youngest—American to do so. Starting from the Canary Islands on Jan. 1, Ridley, 25, rowed up to 12 hours a day, completing the 2,950-mile voyage in Antigua on March 29. The trip, undertaken to raise awareness and money for cancer research, was dedicated to the memory of his mother, who died of the disease in 2001. “My hands may be blistered, my seat is sore,” Ridley blogged from the middle of the ocean, “but I love the journey.”

Dog receives prosthetic limb

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A mutt named Cassidy who lost his right rear leg below the knee is doing just fine with a new prosthetic limb. Picked up off the street, he was due to be euthanized by New York City officials when Steve Posovsky, a dentist, learned of his plight from a local TV show. After adopting Cassidy, Posovsky searched for someone who could give him an artificial limb; finally, he found Dr. Denis Marcellin-Little, a North Carolina veterinarian, who crafted a prosthesis of titanium, carbon fiber, and rubber screws. “He can walk for hours,” said Marcellin-Little. “He’s a happy dog, and that’s about as good as it gets.”

Kidney transplant leads to reconciliation

Jim and Bernadette Tobin of Hull, Mass., married in 1965, raised two daughters, and acrimoniously divorced in 1992. Seven years later, Jim fell ill with polycystic kidney disease and needed a transplant. It turned out that Bernadette was a perfect match. So she donated one of her kidneys, beginning a long process of reconciliation. Last week, 10 years after the transplant, they remarried. “You’ve already gone through ‘in sickness and in health,’” explained Bernadette, “so you know each other a lot more.” To which her husband added, “And you don’t want to lose each other again.”