When four-year-old Finlay suffered a stroke （中风）as a baby and developed cerebral palsy, a disease usually caused by brain damage, doctors said he'd have to stay in a wheelchair in his entire life. But amazingly, he has managed to prove them all wrong with the help of a young duck.

Finlay's breakthrough came when his mother Becci, 29, took in a tiny yellow duck named Ming-Ming, after a farmer friend told her it was going to be killed because of its injured leg.

"When Ming-Ming lay down or sat down, his leg was right up near his head and he was unable to walk," Becci explains." I was trying to find a vet who knew about ducks. At first I didn't think he'd make it-I felt very sorry. "

After an extensive search, Becci found a suitable vet, who fitted the young duck with a tiny splint（夹板）. It began to move around the house as its leg strengthened.

As the little duck made an amazing recovery, something else like a miracle occurred. Young Finlay-whose condition affected his brain's ability to send signals to his body-was so impressed by his new pet's progress that he began copying his steps, saying, “I walk like the duck, Mummy.”

Becci was so overjoyed that she couldn't believe her eyes. "Finlay has been having physical therapy his whole life but he never really responded until we got the duckling, "she says. "As soon as Ming-Ming began walking, so did Finlay. I was full of pride. "

Now Finlay can walk five meters at a time with the help of a walker and he loves walking slowly with his best friend. "Finlay is now much stronger and it's great to see him walking. I've told him that if he works hard, one day he'll be able to take Ming-Ming for walks on the street. That is what he's really working towards," Becci says, smiling. "I'd been told Finlay might never be able to walk. It's amazing to watch my child taking steps gradually thanks to Ming-Ming.”

Deaf Date

As a man who’d been almost stone-deaf since birth, meeting women was something out of Christian Brown’s comfort zone. They may have smiled, but from their eyes, and replies, he knew he was not making much sense to them.

Now he was shown to a seat in the restaurant. He took a deep breath and looked at his watch. 7:55 p.m. His advisor and psychologist, Susan, had arranged a blind date for him with a lady called Stephanie. She’d told him nothing about her, just that she was attractive, divorced and in her early forties.

But he trusted Susan. Over the past three years, she’d helped him gain social skills and a measure of confidence. Looking in the mirror, he recognized his good looks, despite the hearing aids behind both ears.

A woman with a white stick and sunglasses passed his table, aided by a waiter. “Are you Christian?” The woman enquired.

Christian read the lips of the woman, presumably Stephanie, as she stood at the table. “Are you Christian Brown? May I join you?” From the way she felt the table and edged around it, he realized she was blind. He quickly said, “Yes, by all means.”

Stephanie had likewise been told very little about Christian. Susan had said he had a good heart, and that was what she now needed most in a man.

Christian admired her high cheekbones and perfect teeth. He felt a strong attraction building and told himself to relax, to let her feel at home with him. To his surprise, a waiter brought her a plastic-coated card, covered in small dots.

Stephanie felt it with her fingertips. “May I have Chicken Vindaloo and Tarka Dahl, please?” She smiled in Christian’s direction, “I like things spicy!”

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned. It was Susan, all smiles at seeing the two of them together. She gestured in sign language to him, whilst speaking it out loud for Stephanie’s benefit. “Hello, Christian, are you alright?”

Stephanie felt a kiss on her cheek and Susan’s hand on hers, and a whisper in her ear.

“Are you OK with Christian?”

They both smiled at Susan, one seeing, one unseeing, one hearing, one unhearing, realizing that this wise woman was trying her best to bring much-needed romance into both of their lives. Neither wanted to object.