More than 25 years ago, Saroo Brierley lived in rural India. One day, he played with his brother along the rail line and fell asleep. When he woke up and found himself alone, the 4-year-old decided his brother might be on the train he saw in front of him — so he got on.

That train took him a thousand miles across the country to a totally strange city. He lived on the streets, and then in an orphanage (孤儿院). There, he was adopted by an Australian family and flown to Tasmania.

As he writes in his new book, A Long Way Home, Brierley couldn’t help but wonder about his hometown back in India. He remembered landmarks, but since he didn’t know his town’s name, finding a small neighborhood in a vast country proved to be impossible.

Then he found a digital mapping program. He spent years searching for his hometown in the program’s satellite pictures. In 2011, he came across something familiar. He studied it and realized he was looking at a town’s central business district from a bird’s-eye view. He thought, “On the right-hand side you should see the three-platform train station” — and there it was.” And on the lef-hand side you should see a big fountain” — and there it was. Everything just started to match.

When he stood in front of the house where he grew up as a child, he saw a lady standing in the entrance. “There’s something about me,” he thought-and it took him a few seconds but he finally reminisced about what she used to look like.

In an interview Brierley says, “My mother looked so much shorter than I remembered. But she came forth and walked forward, and I walked forward, and my feelings and tears and the chemical in my brain, you know, it was like a nuclear fusion (核聚变). I just didn’t know what to say, because I never thought seeing my mother would ever come true. And here I am, standing in front of her.”

6 . As the lyrics to Taylor Swifs hit song “Bad Blood” go: “Cause, baby, now we got bad blood. You know it used to be mad love.” It'’s a song about falling out of friendship, but to 14-year-old Hallie Barnard, who was born with a rare blood disorder, the song holds a much deeper meaning.

At just 15 months old, Barnard was diagnosed with Diamon Blackfin Anemia, or DBA, and she spent most of her life in and out of the hospital. The Swiftie said she relied on the singer to bring her joy.

The only way to survive DBA is with a bone marrow transplant (骨髓移植)and Barnard was desperate for one. But she knew thousands of other patients are, too. So, a few years ago, she decided to do something about it, creating her own foundation: Hallie’s Heroes. “It started selfishly as just trying to save my life, but then we realized there were so many other children out there that needed a bone marrow transplant,” she said. “So, so far we've tested 8,000 people and found over 300 matches.”

After a 9-year wait, Bamard got her own match —through her own foundation. But more obstacles stood between her and normal life as a kid. The blood disorder led to a cancer diagnosis: osteosarcoma. She received surgery to cut the cancer out of her leg at MD Anderson in Houston.

The recovery was dificult, but Hallie said she stayed hopeful. “My survival instinct just kicked in. I was trying to do anything that I could to survive. So, of course, it was scary but in my mind, I was just thinking that I wanted to be at my sister's future weddings. I wanted to play games and run again,” she said.

Her survival instinct-combined with Taylor Swift helped her through her operation, where doctors cut her cancer out, and reattached her foot and ankle to her upper leg to work as a knee.

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