inspirational

When the Internet uses its powers for good, the results are incredible.

It’s been an difficult year for Angela McElhiney, an understatement to say the least. Her 15 year-old son Nathan committed suicide in October. To remember him, she cherishes a video of Nathan singing “Wayfaring Stranger,” taken one month before his death.

via A Promise to Nathan

However, because the video was taken in a high school gymnasium, the audio quality is poor to say the least, muffled by the audience’s restless noise.

"It was such a bad recording and I just wanted to be able to hear him better," Angela told CNN. "Right now, I feel like it's very therapeutic because I feel like it's the journey he's taking.”

So Angela turned to Internet. After posting the video to Reddit, she asked if anyone could help fix the audio or, at the very least, begin the path to cleaning it up. An hour later, she started getting new mixes with cleaner audio.

via MrKain134

In total, she received about 20 versions of the clip.

"I never expected so much kindness and so many people taking time out of their day," she said. “We can't express our gratitude enough.”

However, as CNN reported:

The first Christmas without Nathan has been hard for McElhiney and her family and this has been a welcome distraction for her. She tried to thank everyone who responded to her post, but fell behind when the number of comments grew into the thousands.

Four years ago James Young suffered through a tragic, life-threatening accident when he lost his arm and leg after falling in between two train carriages. The subsequent days were a dark time for Young, but he sought solace through a true passion of his--gaming. Young would play his Playstation 4 using his right arm and teeth in a feat of true dedication.

As fate would have it, Konami eventually featured an ad calling upon all interested gamer amputees to enter a raffle of sorts, in which the selected applicant would receive a prosthetic inspired by Konami's Metal Gear Solid. Young was fortunate enough to be selected, and even offer up his two-cents on the prosthetic's design.

The carbon-fiber limb is controlled by muscle signals from Young. He can shake hands, lift groceries, and pick up small objects like coins. Young has already taken the initiative to start up his own fundraising campaign, with hopes to further improve upon the technology for future users (an example being the arm weighs 10 lb, requires harness and gel, and can't be worn all day).