On the outside, 12-year-old Luna seems like your average kid. It's not until you get to know her that you learn that Luna is anything but average.

Born with a heart defect (缺陷)called dextrocardia, Luna has had three open-heart operations and continues to pursue her interests in art and fashion. But when Luna was approached by athletic shoe company Saucony to design a shoe for sale across the country, it came as quite a surprise.

“This is so incredible. I got to use my art and creativity for something new that I'd never thought I'd be able to design,“ Luna said. She is one of six patients from Boston Children's Hospital ( BCH) who have partnered with Saucony to design their own shoe to launch the Shoes with Soul campaign.

“Rather than just a donation, we wanted to create an experience and a moment that would not only raise money, but also awareness to highlight all the amazing work that's being done at BCH,“ says Chris, Saucony's vice president. “Specifically, we wanted to give some of the BCH kids an opportunity to share their story and their talents with the world. ”

Luna's design is fashion. ^u On the tongue ,they digitalized one of my drawings, and then on bottom it's a really bright pink color, and on the inside ,the sole of the shoe is actually another drawing I did of a sunset,“ she said. "Thinking about kids everywhere around the world wearing my shoe is amazing. It blows my mind.”

The income from the shoe sales will benefit the Boston Children's Hospital Cardiac Fitness Program, which encourages kids to “find your possible" through personalized exercise programs tailored for each individual patient's heart condition.

“It feels really good to help people and it's really something I can relate to,“ says Luna. “The advice I would give a kid or someone like me is never give up. There are a lot of kids out there with your condition and you're not alone.”

When I was a high school student,mathematics looked like a big barrier(障碍)for me and several of my classmates. Mr Iyer, a strict maths teacher,was also our class teacher. He always stuck to his discipline(纪律). We had to arrive on time. pay undivided attention to his lectures, and dared not to ignore any of his homework.

Even so, as our class teacher, we got to know him better. Noticing some of us couldn’t sit still and seemed restless one day as the mid-term exams approached, he stopped solving a mathematical problem to ask us why. “There’s too much to do,” we sighed. “We’re afraid we’ll never manage to finish our revision before the exam.” “Nothing is impossible.” Mr Iyer told us. “This classroom is on the second floor. Do you have a problem reaching here?” We reacted with blank stares.

“No,you don’t!” he said, answering his own question. “You have a staircase(楼梯)to help you climb up to this level. No one expects you to make it in two giant leaps(跳跃). You simply take one step at a time. Any task can be solved if you focus on the immediate action to be taken. The rest will take care of itself if you keep at it. One step at a time. That’s the secret.” Then he wrote down an old motto on the blackboard—the longest journey starts with a single step. Having heard his staircase analogy(比拟), we understood why he asked us the question and we saw him in a new light.

Most of my classmates scored distinctions(成绩优异)in maths. And I went on to become an English teacher. To this day, whenever I pass on Mr Iyer’s invaluable advice to my own students, they brighten up at the prospect of a lighter academic burden.

It’s not easy to die when you are only fifteen.

Those were the words that began the story I heard from Robert White, a North Carolina factory worker. He and his wife were visiting their daughter Lee in the hospital, as they did every evening, but Lee had already accepted her fate.

This particular evening, she seemed calm, but suddenly she said, “I always dreamed of falling in love, getting married, having kids… but above all I would have liked to work in a big marine park with dolphins. I’ve loved them and wanted to know more about them since I was little. I still dreaming of swimming with them, free and happy in the open sea.”

She’d never asked for anything, but now she said with all the strength she had, “Daddy, I want to swim in the open sea among the dolphins just once. Maybe then I wouldn’t be so scared of dying.”

It seemed like an absurd impossible dream, but she, who had given up just about everything else, hung on to it.

Robert and his family talked it over and decided to do everything they could. They had heard of a research center in the Florida Keys, and they phoned them.

“Come at once,” they said.

When they arrived at Grass Key, Lee didn’t want to rest for a minute and begged her parents to take her straightaway to the dolphins. It was an unforgettable scene. Robert took her out toward the dolphins, Nat and Tursi, which were playing about thirty feet away from them. At first they seemed distracted and uninterested, but when Lee called them softly by name, they responded without hesitation. Nat came over first, raised his head and gave her a kiss on the end of her nose. Then Tursi came over and greeted her with little high-pitched squeaks of joy. A second later they picked her up with their mighty fins and carried her out to sea with them.

“It feels like I’m flying!” cried Lee, laughing with delight.

Lee’s family hadn’t heard her laugh like that since she became ill. They could hardly believe it was true. But there she was, gripping Nat’s fin and challenging the wind and the immensity of the ocean. The dolphins stayed with Lee for more than an hour, always tender, always attentive, never using any unnecessary force, always responsive to her wishes.

Maybe it’s true that they are more intelligent and sensitive creatures than man. What was certain was that those marvelous dolphins understood that Lee was dying and wanted to comfort her as she faced her great journey into the unknown. From the moment they took her in hand, they never left her alone for a second. They got her to play and observed her commands with the sweetness that was magical. In their company, Lee found for one last time the enthusiasm and the will to live. She was strong and happy like she used to be. At one point she shouted, “The dolphins have healed me, Daddy.”

The next day she was too weak to get out of bed. She didn’t even want to talk, but when Robert took her hand she squeezed it and whispered, “Daddy, don’t sad for me. I’ll never be afraid again. The dolphins have made me understand that I have nothing to fear.”

Just before dawn, Robert’s little girl died in his arms a few minutes later. They only realized her suffering was over because her body became colder and heavier.

They cremated her as she wanted and went out the next day to scatter her ashes in the ocean amongst the dolphins. They were all crying—not only Lee’s family, but also the sailors on the boat who had taken them out into the bay. And then, suddenly, through their tears, they saw the great arching silver shape of Nat and Tursi leaping out of the water ahead.

As Robert recounted, “They had come to take our daughter home.”