Man Finds Kidney on Facebook

Share Light #8 is a Man Finding a Kidney on Facebook.

Jeff Kurze found out his kidneys were failing and in desperation his wife turned to Facebook to find an organ donor for her husband.  One of her nominal acquaintances on Facebook, Comedian Ricky Cisco, read about the situation and volunteered to donate his kidney.   Surgery took place on March 30, 2011 in Detroit, Michigan.

The following are online news articles on this situation.

• ABC News
• USAToday.com

The rest as they say is history.  A young man has a kidney and new lease on life thanks to the bringing together of people through social media.

Share Light raises awareness of sharing you can believe in.

How Facebook Helps Parents of Children With Autism

Share Light #7 is Facebook Helping Parents of Children with Autism.

Facebook has groups that can be very helpful to people going through similar challenges. One such group with common struggles is the Autism community. Autism is one of the fastest growing disorders in the world and it now impacts 1 in 88 children (Source).

Recently, allfacebook.com shared a post on How Facebook Helps Parents of Children with Autism. Parents of children with autism can give and receive helpful information and social connections with experts and other parents through these various groups on Facebook. There are 10 autism groups mentioned in the article with a direct link to their Facebook page (Source).

Share Light raises awareness of sharing you can believe in.

Graphic: The Autism Ribbon graphic is courtesy of Design by Raven Muse.

Cancer Patients Tweeting Through Chemo

Share Light #6 is Cancer Patients Tweeting Through Chemo.

Social Media provides the instrument to connect diverse people from all around the world.  One way this can be helpful to people is when they are confronted by serious medical issues.  The Huffington Post published an article on how Twitter is helping cancer patients get through chemo.   The article is found on the Internet at www.huffingtonpost.com/halle-tecco/twitter-therapy-cancer-pa_b_501351.html.

The social support that cancer patients can find on Twitter is amazing. Patients can find out from others more about what to expect and how they can hold on to hope through a difficult situation.

Share Light raises awareness of sharing you can believe in.

YouTube Launches Tool to Search Missing Person Appeals after Japan Disaster

Share Light #5 is YouTube Helping Fidn Missing Persons after Japan Disaster.

On March 11, 2011, the country of Japan was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami, followed by nuclear plant failures.  In response to this world disaster, on March 18, 2011, YouTube launched a tool to help people find missing people after the disaster in Japan. YouTube gathered video messages from victims in shelters that were taken by Japanese television stations and grouped them in a specific YouTube Person Finder Channel.  

For more information on how this social media was used to help in this tragedy visit these links.

• YouTube Blog on Person Finder
• Google Article on YouTube Person Finder
• Techland Article on YouTube Person Finder

Share Light raises awareness of sharing you can believe in.

Photo: The YouTube Logo is in the Public Domain.

Dane Cook Uses Twitter to Find Lost Dog

Share Light #4 is Dane Cook Uses Twitter to Find Lost Dog.

On June 11, 2011, actor Dane Cook lost his dog named Beast in West Hollywood, California.  He posted a picture of his dog on Twitter along with his email address.  He also used his Twitter account to solicit volunteers in the local area to help canvas for the dog.  After two hours Cook's dog was found.  He then used Twitter again to offer gratitude for everyone's help.    

News articles on this incident may be found at the following links:

• CBS News
• MSNBC

Share Light raises awareness of sharing you can believe in.

Donnie Wahlberg Helps Find Kidney Via Twitter

Share Light #3 is Donnie Wahlberg Helping Find a Kidney Via Twitter.

Donnie Wahlberg, a singer with New Kids on the Block, found out that one of his fans was searching for a kidney for a little girl. He read it about it on Twitter and decided to Retweet the story.  After the news got around Twitter via Wahlberg's fans (he has 185,000 of them), six viable kidney donors were found for the girl named Bobbette Miller. In June, 2011, Bobbette Miller had successful surgery. Check out the online stories below for more information on this exciting story.   

• NY Daily News
• Associated Press
• CBS News
• July 6, 2011 Update on a Setback After Kidney Surgery

Share Light raises awareness of sharing you can believe in.

NYPD Mines Social Media

Share Light #2 is the NYPD Using Social Media.

The NYPD (New York Police Department) is using social media to beef up crime prevention.  Rocco Parascandola writes, "The NYPD has formed a new unit to track troublemakers who announce plans or brag about their plans on Twitter, MySpace and Facebook."  This is indicative of a growing realization that criminal plans or "bragging" are sometimes advertised on social media and it calls in this era for law enforcement to have a presence there. Social Media is being approached as a place like anywhere else in the world, where the potential for investigative clues about crimes can be found.

Here are some links to some news stories on the formation of this new unit at the NYPD.

• NYDailyNews.com (Rocco Parascandola) 
• CBSNews.com (Devin Brown)
• Huffington Post

Share Light raises awareness of sharing you can believe in.

Returning Items to Tornado Victims

Share Light #1 is Facebook Being Used to Return Items to Tornado Victims.

A group on Facebook has created a page to try to find the owners of personal items discovered after the tornadoes hit the Southeastern United States in the Spring of 2011.  The series of a dozen tornadoes killed over 300 people in 6 southern states.  The Facebook page is called "Pictures and Documents found after the April 27, 2011 Tornadoes."  Two articles on this happening may be of interest.

• Doug Gross of CNNTech has written a news story called "Facebook page seeks to return items to tornado victirms"
• Andrea Bennett from Liberty Mutual's Responsibility Project has written a blog post called "Lost and Found in the Storm"

As of today there are 101,390 people that like this Facebook page and there are still new items being posted such as a lost stray dog found in a community near the devastation.

Share Light raises awareness of sharing you can believe in.