It wasn’t all bad
■■ A delivery driver saved a toddler’s life when she fell from a Hanoi apartment building this week. Nguyen Ngoc Manh was sitting in his car when he heard a child crying and bystanders screaming. Looking up to see a 2-year-old dangling from a 12th-floor railing, and reminded of his own daughter, he ran over and climbed onto a metal roof below the child. The roof was crooked and Manh lost his footing, but he lunged forward and caught her just in time. “I’m here now,” he told the girl, who was carried to safety with only a dislocated hip.
■■ A refugee fighting to stay in the U.S. won $620,000 on the World Poker Tour. Ilyas Muradi, 32, was born in Afghanistan amid devastating unrest. His family fled to Pakistan, then to Indiana. As an adult, Muradi was twice held in ICE detention. To pass the time, he began playing poker with fellow detainees. Soon, “whenever I had any chance to play, I was playing,” he says. This January, he flew to Florida to play at the Lucky Hearts Poker Open, beating out 1,572 other players for $620,000 in prize money. “If you want to get something you’ve got to go get it,” said Muradi. “Anyone’s dream can come true.” For now, Muradi’s immigration status remains in limbo.
■■ Emily Johnson’s doctor advised her to get vaccinated before flying from Austin to Ohio for an urgent open-heart surgery procedure, but Johnson could not secure an appointment in Texas’ overwhelmed system. Desperate, the 68-yearold asked for advice in her local Nextdoor group. Soon a message appeared from Christy Lewis: “I am scheduled for the vaccine this morning at 10:45 a.m. If you can make this appointment, it’s yours.” The women went together to the clinic and requested a shot for Johnson instead of Lewis. “I still cannot believe a total stranger would do something like that,” said Johnson.