Young Gymnast Inspires Worldwide

Sasha Paskal was six years old when a Russian missile strike in Ukraine’s Odesa region led to the amputation of her left leg and put her in a medically induced coma for 15 days. She had been training in rhythmic gymnastics since early childhood, and seven months after learning to walk again with a prosthetic, she was back on the competition floor. She won her first event back.

Now 10, Sasha recently completed a five-continent Dance of Freedom Tour, performing in Paris, New York’s Times Square, Rio de Janeiro, Nairobi, and Tokyo. She won gold earlier this year at Romania’s Carla’s Rhythmic Cup and was awarded the “Future of Ukraine” state honor by President Volodymyr Zelensky in 2025. Her biggest dream is to compete in the Paralympic Games if rhythmic gymnastics is added to the program.

Her mother, Maria, has been by her side throughout. “She’s unbreakable,” she said. “What she’s doing comes from her, and we support her.”

“My passion for sport is bigger than my loss,” Sasha said.

Young Reader Helps Shelter Pets

Eleven-year-old Nehemiah Turner has spent the past two years visiting the Jacksonville Humane Society with his grandmother and reading to the dogs and cats waiting for homes. He recently became the first child in the shelter’s Pawsitive Reading program to reach 100 volunteer hours.

Nehemiah said the sessions are calming for both him and the animals, and he hopes the quiet attention helps them get adopted faster. One dog in particular, Hopper, became his favorite. Nehemiah read to him during every visit until Hopper was finally adopted after nearly 400 days in the shelter.

He still remembers his very first reading session, with a dog named Auggie. “I started to read to him, and after we had to leave, I started to cry,” he said, “because I didn’t want to leave the humane society.”

Nehemiah is heading into sixth grade as a straight-A student. The shelter’s CEO said his dedication reflects the program’s core belief: “Generosity breeds joy.”

Boy’s Butterfly Study Stuns Scientists

Jo Nagai started raising swallowtail butterflies at his home in Kobe, Japan, as a second grader. When he released them into the wild, he noticed they would linger and sometimes fly right back to him. It made him wonder whether the butterflies could remember experiences from their caterpillar days.

To find out, the boy wrote a four-page letter to Dr. Martha Weiss, a Georgetown University entomologist who had studied memory in moths. What followed was a years-long collaboration between a world-renowned scientist and a grade schooler working from a makeshift lab in his house. Jo trained caterpillars to avoid the scent of lavender, then waited to see if the learned behavior survived metamorphosis. It did. The adult butterflies overwhelmingly avoided the scent after undergoing complete metamorphosis inside the chrysalis.

Then came the bigger discovery. Jo bred those butterflies and tested their offspring, and then their grandchildren. Without ever receiving any training themselves, subsequent generations also avoided lavender. At 10 years old, Jo had produced evidence suggesting transgenerational inheritance of the learned behavior in a 33-page research paper and presented his findings at the International Congress of Entomology in 2024.

“I really want to prove it’s possible that my butterflies can remember what they learned as a caterpillar,” Jo had written to Dr. Weiss early on. “I don’t want to give up now.”

The following stories are featured exclusively on The Feel Good Flyover Podcast. Clicking the link will take you directly there:

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➤ Nervous about rejection, one 11-year-old went door to door with a pitch most kids wouldn’t dare make. (Hear Details)

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➤ First steps are a milestone one family feared would never come after their newborn was diagnosed with the most severe form of spinal muscular atrophy. At 17 months old, following a newly approved higher-dose treatment, their little boy stood up and walked. (See Photos)

➤ Wangalla, an orphaned baby elephant at Kenya’s Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, has found an unlikely best friend in Bumpy, a rescued baby hippo. The inseparable pair spend their days playing and napping side by side while they grow strong enough to return to the wild. (Watch Video)

➤ Four Saint Joseph’s University graduates launched a “Kind Stranger” project offering free or pay-what-you-wish help around Philadelphia, from house cleaning to moving assistance. Since launching, they’ve completed more than 15 jobs and received nearly 200 requests. (Full Story)

➤ A retired doctor celebrated his 90th birthday on the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, becoming the oldest person ever to climb Africa’s highest peak. His team marked the moment with cake, song, and dancing at about 19,000 feet. (See Photos)

➤ Something felt off when an Illinois teenager passed a car sitting in a ditch on his way to work, so he turned around and found a woman unconscious inside the still-running vehicle. First responders said if he’d arrived 20 minutes later, she likely wouldn’t have survived. (Full Story)

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A 100-year-old stranger enjoys the Disneyland trip of a lifetime, showing how one act of kindness can create a truly unforgettable day.

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“I went up there with my book, and I sat down with this dog named Auggie. I started to read to him, and after we had to leave, I started to cry, because I didn’t want to leave the humane society.”

— Nehemiah Turner, 11, recalling his first visit to the Jacksonville Humane Society’s Pawsitive Reading program.