June 25, 2026

Charlie the Cow Saved, AI Spots Pancreatic Cancer Early, and More

Show Notes
Transcript

Johnny Mac shares five good news stories: Charlie the Cow, raised in a Florida 4-H program, was at risk after a weigh-in found him too skinny, but animal lover Leslie raised funds (including paying out of pocket) to buy and transport him to Bell Family Farm sanctuary in Polk City with help from donor Sarah; researchers at the Mayo Clinic developed an AI model that detects early signs of pancreatic cancer on CT scans up to three years before typical diagnosis and performed three times better than human radiologists; high school girls on a Duke of Edinburgh Award hike in Australia built an improvised stretcher and carried an injured hiker, Thomas, for hours; a family helped their son Axel set a Guinness record by sending a six-inch rainbow Slinky down 53 stairs; and a live frog found in a bag of lettuce was released into a local dam.

00:11 Saving Charlie the Cow
01:33 AI Spots Pancreatic Cancer
02:29 Hikers Rescue Injured Man
03:48 Slinky Staircase Record
04:37 Frog Found in Lettuce

5 Good News Stories is a daily podcast with five positive, uplifting news stories to brighten your day. New episodes every day. Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Part of the Caloroga Shark Media network

John also hosts Daily Comedy News

Unlock an ad-free podcast experience with Caloroga Shark Media! For Apple users, hit the banner which says Uninterrupted Listening on your Apple podcasts app.

Subscribe now for exclusive shows like 'Palace Intrigue,' and get bonus content from Deep Crown (our exclusive Palace Insider!) Or get 'Daily Comedy News,' and '5 Good News Stories’ with no commercials! Plans start at $4.99 per month, or save 20% with a yearly plan at $49.99. Join today and help support the show!

Get more info from Caloroga Shark Media and if you have any comments, suggestions, or just want to get in touch our email is info@caloroga.com

WEBVTT

1
00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:09.960
Calaroga Shock Media. Hey there, I'm Johnny mag with five

2
00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:12.720
good news stories. Good news for Charlie. The cow was

3
00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:15.480
kind of close Chorlie as a young black and white

4
00:00:15.480 --> 00:00:18.000
cow with fluffy ears. He was raised through a local

5
00:00:18.039 --> 00:00:20.920
four age program in Florida. Charlie had a good life

6
00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:23.320
by livestock standards. He was raised by hand, trained to

7
00:00:23.320 --> 00:00:25.600
be gentle brushed and groomed for competition, but at a

8
00:00:25.640 --> 00:00:28.960
recent way in Charlie came in too skinny to continue

9
00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:32.079
with the program, and in the livestock world that typically

10
00:00:32.119 --> 00:00:35.520
means one thing, yeah, you know. However, Leslie is a

11
00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:38.880
committed animal lover. She came across charlie situation on social

12
00:00:38.920 --> 00:00:41.520
media in early March and started to do something about it.

13
00:00:41.799 --> 00:00:44.039
She needed at least fifty five hundred dollars to buy

14
00:00:44.119 --> 00:00:46.479
him out of the livestock trade and transport Charlie to

15
00:00:46.520 --> 00:00:49.799
a sanctuary called Bell Family Farm in Polk City. She

16
00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:52.560
named him Charlie after the two thousand and four hurricane, because,

17
00:00:52.560 --> 00:00:54.560
as she put it, he was facing the biggest storm

18
00:00:54.600 --> 00:00:56.719
of his life. She launched to go fundme, went hard

19
00:00:56.759 --> 00:00:59.479
in social media, and then this is the best part.

20
00:00:59.679 --> 00:01:02.840
She the cow. Some media appearances. Charlie showed up on

21
00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:05.400
local TV stations in a morning radio show. He became

22
00:01:05.400 --> 00:01:07.879
a local celebrity. By the end of March, she still

23
00:01:07.879 --> 00:01:09.840
didn't have enough money, so she paid the difference out

24
00:01:09.840 --> 00:01:11.920
of pocket herself, just to keep Charlie safe while she

25
00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:15.519
kept fundraising. Late April, a woman named Sarah donated her

26
00:01:15.519 --> 00:01:18.159
truck trailer in her own time to transport Charlie to

27
00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:21.480
the Bell family farm. The Bells told local news charlie

28
00:01:21.560 --> 00:01:23.799
stories remarkable. He managed to cross paths with all the

29
00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:26.400
right humans in our incredible community. He would recognize his

30
00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:30.239
unique worth. Charlie has an expected lifespan of another fifteen

31
00:01:30.280 --> 00:01:32.680
to twenty years. The GoFundMe still open if you want

32
00:01:32.680 --> 00:01:35.879
to contribute. This next story is one of the probably

33
00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:38.159
one of the best that I feel like we've done

34
00:01:38.239 --> 00:01:44.359
on this program. AI is detecting pancreatic cancer years before diagnosis.

35
00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:46.319
I don't know if you know pancreatic cancer. That one

36
00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:49.799
is nasty and quick. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic have

37
00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:52.560
developed an AI model that can detect early signs of

38
00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:55.760
pancreatic cancer on CT scans up to three years before

39
00:01:55.840 --> 00:01:59.840
patient would typically be diagnosed. That is amazing. Pancreatic cancer

40
00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:02.599
as a five year survival rate of just thirteen percent.

41
00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:05.760
Around eighty percent of patients aren't diagnosed until the disease

42
00:02:05.799 --> 00:02:08.680
has reached an advanced stage. There's no routine screening for it.

43
00:02:09.080 --> 00:02:11.960
The typical symptoms stomach pain, sudden weight loss usually don't

44
00:02:11.960 --> 00:02:14.280
show up until the cancers already spread to other organs.

45
00:02:14.680 --> 00:02:17.360
The Mayo Clinic team built their AI model by feeding

46
00:02:17.360 --> 00:02:19.759
its CT scans from patients who had originally been screened

47
00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:22.719
for other conditions and were later diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

48
00:02:23.159 --> 00:02:25.560
The result, the AI model was three times better than

49
00:02:25.599 --> 00:02:29.360
human radiologists at identifying the early warning signs. This is fantastic.

50
00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:32.919
In Australia, a group of high school girls were out hiking.

51
00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:35.520
They were four days into the Duke of Edinburgh Award

52
00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:39.319
hike through warm Bungle National Park. What a great name.

53
00:02:39.400 --> 00:02:42.439
They came across a man named Thomas. Thomas had slipped

54
00:02:42.439 --> 00:02:44.560
on the trail and broken his leg. He'd been struggling

55
00:02:44.599 --> 00:02:47.240
for a while. A couple nurses had passed by wrapped

56
00:02:47.240 --> 00:02:49.400
a bandage on it, but then he fell again. He

57
00:02:49.439 --> 00:02:50.919
and his friend had no idea what to do next?

58
00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:53.719
Then the girls showed up. Now. The Duke of Edinburgh

59
00:02:53.719 --> 00:02:56.280
Award is an international program for young people built around

60
00:02:56.360 --> 00:03:00.479
outdoor skills, physical challenges and volunteer service. These students trained

61
00:03:00.479 --> 00:03:03.520
for exactly this kind of scenario. Boy, that's lucky. Outdo

62
00:03:03.560 --> 00:03:06.240
our educators Amanda and Marty pointed out that the group

63
00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:09.159
had practiced this same rescue situation a few years earlier

64
00:03:09.240 --> 00:03:11.840
during an earlier hike. Marty said, when I called out

65
00:03:11.840 --> 00:03:13.240
to the girls and told them our plan was to

66
00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:14.960
help this gentleman, they were so excited. There were a

67
00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:16.919
lot of comments like, wow, we've trained for this all right.

68
00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:19.520
What did they do? They built a stretcher on the spot.

69
00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:22.639
They used tarp poles and a hammock. Zephanie said, we

70
00:03:22.680 --> 00:03:24.479
placed my hammock over the top. Then he laid down

71
00:03:24.520 --> 00:03:26.400
on that and we all positioned ourselves on the outside.

72
00:03:26.400 --> 00:03:28.919
Would count three seconds and lift them up together, then

73
00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:31.680
would walk for sixty seconds, then rest for fifteen seconds

74
00:03:31.719 --> 00:03:34.639
and rotate that kept that up for two hours. Wow,

75
00:03:35.159 --> 00:03:37.479
Zephanie said, the patch just seemed to get longer and longer.

76
00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:39.520
You don't realize how four three and a half kilometers

77
00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:42.800
is until you're shuffling along carrying someone. Thomas said, I'll

78
00:03:42.800 --> 00:03:45.080
never forget it. It absolutely means the world that they

79
00:03:45.080 --> 00:03:47.199
were able to offer the assistance they did. Him forever

80
00:03:47.319 --> 00:03:50.400
grateful for them. All Right, we have a new world record,

81
00:03:50.439 --> 00:03:53.080
and this one was a five year old's idea. Joe

82
00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:55.680
and Christelle took their son Axel to attempt to get

83
00:03:55.759 --> 00:04:00.400
us world record most stairs descended by a slinky. Dad

84
00:04:00.479 --> 00:04:02.400
said her sun axles at the age wherever they needs

85
00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:04.919
to be the biggest, fastest or most extreme version of itself.

86
00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:07.840
He recently discovered slinkies and knew how'd to attempt the record

87
00:04:07.879 --> 00:04:10.000
before Sonactually he wanted to know the record for most

88
00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:11.759
stairs to send him by a slinky. When we looked

89
00:04:11.759 --> 00:04:14.960
it up, and so the existing record was thirty stairs,

90
00:04:15.039 --> 00:04:18.279
it seemed beatable. Yeah, that seems really beatable. The family

91
00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:21.120
selected a six inch rainbow slinky for the attempt. I

92
00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:23.160
had that one, that's the plastic one. I like that one.

93
00:04:23.480 --> 00:04:26.800
They set it down fifty three stairs, nearly double the

94
00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:29.800
previous record. I feel like that's where like I feel

95
00:04:29.839 --> 00:04:31.560
like I go to like a baseball stadium and do

96
00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:34.319
like three hundred stairs at my delusional I probably am,

97
00:04:34.399 --> 00:04:36.600
And then again, I'd rather the five year old have

98
00:04:36.600 --> 00:04:40.079
the record than me. And good news for Greg the Frog.

99
00:04:40.360 --> 00:04:43.199
You see, a man came home with a bag of lettuce.

100
00:04:43.240 --> 00:04:45.680
Have you figured this out yet? The man opened the

101
00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:47.959
bag of lettuce and in the lettuce was a frog,

102
00:04:48.759 --> 00:04:52.360
luckily a live frog. His roommate Laura said, he's the

103
00:04:52.360 --> 00:04:54.480
most casual guy ever. He's like, bro, I got a lettuce.

104
00:04:54.480 --> 00:04:56.480
This is like a frog in my lettuce. Greg the

105
00:04:56.519 --> 00:04:59.959
Frog was released into a local dam along with the lettuce.

106
00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:03.319
The food market issued a statement calling this an isolated

107
00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:07.480
incident and the situation's totally under investigation. I hope Greg

108
00:05:07.480 --> 00:05:09.199
the frock is having a nice day. And those are

109
00:05:09.199 --> 00:05:11.079
your five good news stories for today. You have a

110
00:05:11.079 --> 00:05:11.439
good one.