The week's good news: November 15, 2018

1. Poems written by Houston residents inspire colorful community murals

A Houston neighborhood is now home to 12 special murals that merge art with poetry. The Gulfton neighborhood is one of the most diverse in Texas, with residents coming from more than 40 different countries. Many are immigrants, and Dr. Aisha Siddiqui created a nonprofit called Culture of Health — Advancing Together (CHAT) for those in need of a strong support system. "This land of opportunity is great but daunting for people," Siddiqui said. Art is "a universal language," she added, and "helps make people take ownership of communities." To bring art to Gulfton, CHAT partnered with several nonprofits to launch the Gulfton Story Trail Mural Project. Community members wrote poems about the neighborhood, and local artists then selected their favorites and painted murals based on the poetry. The colorful murals "make it more welcoming," Siddiqui said, and give people "the sense that someone cares for them."

The Houston Chronicle

2. Doctors are stumped by California man's brain tumor vanishing without surgery

Paul Wood and his doctors were all caught off guard when, the day before he was scheduled to have brain surgery, it was abruptly canceled due to a medical mystery. Several months ago, the Lodi, California, resident was having excruciating headaches and difficulty walking. His doctor sent him to a neurosurgeon, who thought Wood was perhaps suffering from a brain bleed, but a radiologist spotted signs of a tumor. Surgery was scheduled, but when he went to see the doctor for a pre-op appointment, the suspected tumor was gone. It was "a miracle," Wood told CBS Sacramento. Specialists do not know why the tumor disappeared without treatment. "Sometimes things happen that we can't explain," said Woods' physician, Dr. Richard Yee.

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CBS Sacramento

3. After playing the same lottery numbers for 27 years, North Carolina man wins $1 million prize

Persistence paid off for Benjamin Sinclair. The Winston-Salem, North Carolina, resident has played the same lottery numbers for 27 years. He told Inside Edition he only buys a ticket when "the jackpot gets above a certain amount," and that's why he purchased a Powerball ticket for the Oct. 27 drawing. When he checked the numbers, Sinclair couldn't believe the digits he had been playing for nearly three decades were a match for the night's drawing. "I had to look at the numbers several times to make sure," he said. "It feels great to win." Because Sinclair did not have the winning Powerball number, his prize was $1 million. He chose to take the lump sum option, and walked away with a cool $705,011.

Inside Edition

4. Army doctor finds a clever way to surprise his pediatrician wife after coming home early

After spending five months deployed in Africa, Joshua Splinter found out he was going to get to return to the United States early, and thought the perfect homecoming should involve surprising his wife. Alice Splinter is a pediatrician, and Joshua, a family physician for the Texas Army National Guard, had a friend set up an appointment, using a fake name. When Alice entered the exam room, she expected to see a new face, but instead saw a familiar one. "It took a second for me to take it in," she told Inside Edition. "I honestly almost passed out." After he came home but before he saw his wife, Joshua made sure to pretend he was still in another time zone, afraid he might tip her off. It was "a great surprise," Alice said. "I'm happy to have him home."

Inside Edition

5. Woman follows her instinct, and ends up saving the life of a hiker

Nancy Abell tried to get Katharina Groene to turn back, but with 150 miles to go on her solo hike along the Pacific Crest Trail, Groene wanted to see her adventure through. Abell met Groene last month in Washington, after Groene had walked 2,500 miles northward from the Mexican border. It was late in the season, and Abell was concerned because Groene didn't have snowshoes. She couldn't stop thinking about the German hiker, and when forecasters said to expect two feet of snow in the mountains, Abell called the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office, explaining that Groene might be in trouble. Officers launched a search, and soon found her — with frostbite. Rescuers said it's likely she would have died within a day. Groene told CBS News one reason she went on the hike alone is because she had lost her "faith in humanity." Thanks to Abell, it's back in "a really big way."

CBS News