Hey there! Need a reason to smile? Well, I've got five. Let's get into it.

It makes me feel so good to just see the kids strive to do better and if I can make that difference, I will never stop.

A deli owner in Staten Island turns snacks and hundred dollar bills into serious motivation for kids.

So you have this tremendous need, you have this remarkable new technology. And you pair these things together. In a way that creates a solution, which is kind of incredible.

'From high-tech robots to gene-edited pig organs, we'll show you what's possible for the future of organ transplants that can save countless lives. From CNN, I'm Krista Bo. And this is 5 Good Things.

'Okay, if this story doesn't inspire you to either learn or brush up on your CPR, I don't know what will. So on Easter weekend in Jefferson County, Alabama. Samantha Tucker was watching her 15-year-old son, Evan, try out for a travel baseball team. CNN affiliate WBRC reports that while the players were doing drills, Evan was standing near the outfield behind second base when the unthinkable happened.

I guess I just thought that he had gotten hit by a ball. And I jumped up and then I heard somebody say like he's having a seizure. So. I took off running.

Only, it wasn't a seizure. Evan's heart had stopped, and he went into cardiac arrest. It was sheer panic.

It was sheer panic, like shock actually. I didn't know what to do. I just kept talking to him.

That's when a stranger ran into the outfield. Not a nurse, not a doctor, just another mom named Johnette Wilmot.

I learned CPR in high school when I was 17. And I've never had to use it. 40 years.

With Evan turning blue, Jeanette started compressions and said she kept going for eight minutes. Humming the Bee Gees stayin' alive the whole time to keep the recommended pace of the compressions. He was rushed to the hospital and spent several days in a coma. But now he's awake and recovering.

Miracles happen and and my son If it hadn't been for Jeanette, my son would not be here today.

I got my report card, man. Madison! It's better than ever. Madison! Yo, yo, look look look. Hello, my name is Brian and I'm going to show you my report card. Brian, let's go, man. I'm like, I wanna show you my report card. Brandon, how you doing?

At a Staten Island bodega. Good grades can earn kids way more than bragging rights.

So Grades for Grabs is... When the kids get good grades, they get to grab whatever they want. Just to push them to greatness.

That's the initiative started by Wail Alselwi, part owner and manager of Zach's Finest Deli and Grocery.

All these kids is smart kids, all these kids, they just lack motivation. They just need someone to believe in them.

He says part of the reason he cares so much is because he's a dad himself. It began in 2023 with a simple bet with one of his regular customers who was 12 years old at the time.

'Yeah you got it yep uh-huh let me see open it open it.

He came straight to me and he's like... I told you I was gonna do it, I told y'all I was going to do it.

That's what I'm talking about, let me see what's your average.

You know, he was so hype and I was so happy for him.

Alright, alright, alright. So what do you want? An Oreo milkshake. You want an Oreo milkshake? Yeah! That's it? I got you.

'Now, Wail says at least 100 kids have brought their report cards to him, maybe more. Hit a 90 plus average. That's a $100 bill, snacks, a t-shirt, and even free time at a local gaming spot. Score between 80 and an 89? Take whatever snacks you want. And if kids either show improvement, get perfect attendance or student of the month. Whale says they still get rewarded.

One kid from 67 in math he went to 97, one kid from 55 in history He went to 95 and it's not even about perfection and to get that 90 plus average. It's about progress to me than anything, you know?

'At first, Wail paid for it all out of pocket. But as his videos of the kids went viral, with parents' permission of course, he started a merch line for financial support, sporting his TikTok handle, @Islandock. Ock, by the way, is slang for the guy behind the counter of a bodega or deli. Then by popular demand, he set up a GoFundMe. Which has raised over $53,000. So, while the snacks are certainly salty and sweet, Wail thinks the real reward for kids is the recognition.

It's like through the videos that I do, it's like a message through the whole world. They feel like they are celebrities. It's just they love when someone recognize them and acknowledge them, you know? Like it makes me feel so good to just see the kids strive to do better and if I can make that difference, I will never stop. I'm going to keep going.

Every year, there are about 100,000 people on the national transplant list. And federal data shows nearly 2,100 of those are children under the age of 18. So when Lyndsey Englestad learned that children in Colorado needed liver transplants, she didn't hesitate to donate.

I went to my husband's office and said, I'm going to donate my liver. And he started laughing. He thought I was. Not serious.

'But she was. The University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora has the second largest program in the country for non-directed livers that go to both adults and children recipients. Non-directed just means someone donates an organ to a person they don't know. In 2023, the hospital started using robot technology to do transplant surgeries, which is considered to be a new and less invasive option that requires less recovery time than traditional transplant surgeries. Dr. Trevor Nydam says it's one of four transplant centers in the country that uses robots to do these kinds of surgeries.

I was. The second robotic donor. For livers in Colorado at that time. So it was pretty exciting.

And Lindsay was surprised that her recovery time was faster than even she expected.

I didn't even notice a difference. I forget that I've had surgery a lot of times.

Getting the donor back to a normal functional status, normal activity, used to take. Several weeks to even a couple months. And we're seeing our donors, you know, ride their bike. You know, do landscaping. As close as three weeks out from. Uh, the operation.

'Dr. Nydam says making things easier for living donors could mean more organ donations and more life-saving transplants. And Lindsay says there's another huge benefit to the program.

In my case with my recipient. They were nine months old. They had never even gotten to experience anything outside of the hospital. And so to know that they're running around and being a hopefully a typical terrible twos right now it's It's just really... Really heartwarming.

'So while robotic surgeries like Lindsey's may be changing how transplants are done. There's another breakthrough that could be a game-changer for organ availability, period. CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta spent years reporting on the bright future of xenotransplantation, where doctors transplant gene-edited pig organs into humans to save lives. From inside the labs and pig farms to the operating room itself. His new CNN documentary called "Animal Pharm" with a pH explores the experimental technique from start to finish.

Observing this ultrasound, that is an ultrasound of a pig kidney inside Tim, something that very few people ever get to see. And it looks exactly like a human kidney, so... Let me see how the blood flows.

'First of all, I just want to say this is one of the best parts of being a journalist. We get to see things that are. Firsts. Things that very few people ever get a chance to see. It's a story of a problem. That a lot of people know about. It's a story of 100,000 people waiting for an organ transplant, 17 of whom die every day. And one thing that we learned early on is that even if everyone was a donor and said I will sign my organ donation card You probably still wouldn't have enough donations and that's because according to some of the doctors. Fewer than 1%, or around 1% of people who die, die in a way... That their organs would actually be useful for transplantation. So another solution was necessary and that's what this documentary is really all about. It's called Animal Farm. P-H-A-R-M which I thought was a kind of clever play on words. But, you know, this in many ways is about the animals. Who? Through remarkable science, these pigs are genetically modified. And basically you modify their genome to be more compatible with humans. And this is CRISPR technology, something that didn't exist when I was in medical school. But now not only does it exist, it can actually work to make pig genomes. Much more compatible with human genomes. And as a result the organs in those pigs. Very compatible with humans. And you save lives. You know, eventually it'll probably get better and better to the point where you could. Make personalized organs for people. But these are all incredibly positive steps towards solving the Oregon shortage crisis. And I got a chance to spend a lot of time with the only living recipient right now. Of a genetically modified pig kidney transplant.

I'm not a hero. I'm just a regular joe who happened to get a pig kidney.

A guy named Tim Andrews, lives in Concord.

I was given some numbers. That it would be like seven years before I got a kidney. And I would probably die five years on dialysis.

We just had a wonderful time talking about life, talking about his decisions, talking about. How he... You know, decided to go ahead and get a pig kidney transplant and what life was really like.

Did you have any doubts along the way?

You know, there's always doubt with it, but I'm like. This is my chance to do something.

You'll get to see that as well, so... Very excited about this. Hope you get a chance to watch it.

Thanks, Sanjay. So be sure to tune in to Animal Farm, which premieres this Sunday, May 18th at 8 p.m. eastern on CNN.

'Up next, the at-home tool that has the American Cancer Society believing it could potentially eradicate a certain kind of cancer.

'Ladies, getting screened for cervical cancer just got a lot more comfortable and accessible. For the first time ever in the US, the FDA has approved an at-home self-collection device for cervical cancer screening. It's called the Teal Wand, which does the same job as an in-office pap smear or HPV test, but just from the privacy of your own home. HPV, or the human papillomavirus, is the virus that causes most cervical cancer. So how it works is you request the kit online, meet with a provider who writes the prescription for the kit, then collect your sample at home, pop it in the mail, and a clinician reviews your results.

One thing we know in this country, we need to find better ways to screen patients. The current way of having to go to your physician, having to get a referral is just simply going to leave too many people without screening.

So Dr. William Dahut With the American Cancer Society says this tool could save lives because early detection is key.

'We do know that really cervical cancer is a cancer that can be eliminated. With a combination of HPV vaccination as well as screening. You really need both. Unfortunately, most of the people who have a diagnosis of cervical cancer. Or either folks who have not been screened at all or are behind on their HPV screening. I really think it has the potential. To find the pre-cancer lesions in cervical cancer, eliminate those and ultimately eliminate cervical cancer.

Teal Health starts shipping kits in June. First in California, but they have plans to expand nationwide. The company says insurance coverage is in the works. And for those uninsured, pricing will be announced soon. CDC data from 2021 show about one in four adults are behind on screening, So this could be a game changer.

Alright, that's all for now. Join us tomorrow for the next edition of One Thing. Host David Rind speaks to an owner of a baby supply company to learn how challenging it's been to keep up with President Donald Trump's tariff whiplash. 5 Good Things is a production of CNN Audio. This episode was produced by Eryn Mathewson and me, Krista Bo. Our senior producers are Felicia Patinkin, Faiz Jamil, and Dan Bloom. Matt Dempsey is our production manager, Dan Dzula is our technical director, and Steve Lickteig is the executive producer of CNN Audio. We get support from Joey Salvia, Haley Thomas, Alex Manasseri, Robert Mathers, Jon Dianora, Leni Steinhardt, Jamus Andrest, Nichole Pesaru, and Lisa Namerow. Special thanks to Amanda Seeley and Wendy Brundage. And thank you especially for listening. And if you like the show, please consider giving us a good rating or review wherever you listen to podcasts or share it with a friend or a family member. It helps us spread the good vibes. Take care, till next time.