Global News Podcast - The Happy Pod: From rescue to romance

Episode Date: February 15, 2025

How a plea to fly a dog to the US ended in marriage. Adri Pendleton and Niklas Stöterau fell in love after he came to the rescue. Also: a son who's saved his dad's life, twice; and helping the homeless through tennis.

This is the Happy Port from the BBC World Service. I'm Bernadette Keough and in this edition... I'm going to try to get through this without crying too much. Please watch this whole video. ...how a cry for help on social media led to love and marriage. I got a man who's completely obsessed with me. I love it. And a wife who's the same way.

Yes. Also saving your who's the same way. Yes. Also saving your dad's life twice. I want to live now, having my dad around. Life is not promised, so I'm not going to worry about what could or couldn't happen. I need to live for now. Joshua gave stem cells when he was 12 and has now donated a kidney. How learning to cook at home is saving people money and improving their health.

And a chance encounter that led to a project using tennis to help homeless people. He kind of said to me, hey, I've seen you on telly, would you play tennis with me? He played like Ken Rosewell and Rod Laver. He was amazing. Rod Laver, he was amazing.

As couples around the world have just been celebrating Valentine's Day, we're starting with the truly modern transatlantic love story. It has everything. An American with a broken heart, an elderly dog, a German pilot in shining armour and a happily ever after in Switzerland. And as Nikki Cardwell reports, it all began with a tearful plea for help on social media. I'm going to try to get through this without crying too much. Please watch this whole video. In November 2023, in utter desperation, Adri Pendleton went on TikTok to ask for help. Originally from California, she'd been living in the Netherlands with her boyfriend for six years, but they'd broken up.

All I want is to go back home. But my dog is now 15 years old and she has had epilepsy for a few years, so I will not even consider putting her in the cargo hold of an airplane. And I'm not leaving her behind. I have had her since I was 15 years old. Her border collie was too sick to fly in the cargo hold. But according to the airlines, too big for the cabin. This is how Adri Pendleton met Niklaus Drutifall.

I did not think that I had any options, so I thought maybe someone on TikTok would have ideas, maybe an airline would make an exception for us something. I certainly was not expecting to end up on a private jet. Your chance that, that I saw that video. Yeah. I was just scrolling on TikTok to be honest. And, uh, I came across the video. I guess the, the algorithm was saying, Oh, there's something with airplanes in it.

You must like that. And dogs, you have a lot of dogs on your feet. Airplanes and dogs. So yeah, the video came up on my page and just left a comment. Yeah, like message me on Instagram. You know, maybe we can make something happen there. Even though it was not to California, but at least it was, you know, across the Atlantic. Over the ocean. Yeah, which is arguably the most difficult part of that journey. I think.

Yeah. I was getting so many messages. I almost missed it. I didn't see it until like a day after he had left the comment. And at first I thought it was something worth looking into. I didn't get my hopes up because, you know, a lot of people have a lot of ideas and I was just pursuing any avenue that I could. Once it started to seem more like it was actually going to be a real thing

that could work out, I was slightly nervous. But we, you know, we checked him out. We looked him up. I was sleuth. Yeah, you were very thoroughly investigated by both myself and my friends and family. I mean, we were chatting on Instagram pretty much right away and very quickly noticed that, you know, we sort of had a few interests in common and just, you know, vied well, I guess, over text. So almost a couple months that we were just chatting before the flight. A month and a half, almost two months, I think. Yeah. We both kind of, I think, thought that, you know, once we went our separate ways,

that was kind of going to be it. But then, but then it wasn't. I made the first move on January 5th. So that would have been like two days. Yeah, that was two days after. Yeah. I invited him out to California for a date. Yeah, that was two days after. Yeah, I invited him out to California for a date. Yeah, it was exciting. It's definitely like, yeah, that is something worth pursuing, I think.

I am quite outgoing. I was like, I like this guy. I'm not I don't play games, though. So I'm just gonna let him know that I like him. And if he likes me back, great. If not, well, I, you know, I tried. So time we were talking, we started video calling every day. I got a job offer here in Switzerland. Due to that, yeah, it was pretty clear for us that we wanted to live together as well. So we decided to talk to an immigration lawyer. And she basically said, if you want to live together here, your best bet is to get married. So we decided, okay, well, if that's, you know, what, what we got to do to, to be together, then that's what we're going to do. We're going to get married.

Some friends, they said, yeah, but if you talk to yourself a year and a half ago, you definitely wouldn't expect your current self to be living in Switzerland. Married. Married with a dog. Yeah, it feels great. He is currently looking at me as if I hung every single star in the sky. I got a man who's completely obsessed with me. I love it. And a wife who's the same way. Yes, it's mutual.

Adri Pendleton and Niklas Truthevá. And if you have an unusual or dramatic story about how you met your other half, we'd love to hear about it. Send us an email or a voice note to globalpodcast.bbc.co.uk Now to love of a different kind that's led to a son saving his dad's life twice. When David Andrew developed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, his 12-year-old son Joshua donated bone marrow that helped him beat the disease. Now, 10 years later, Joshua has also given his father one of his kidneys. Joshua and David, who are from London, are both recovering well and spoke to Stephen Nolan, starting with that first life-saving donation when Joshua

was a child. Stephen Nolan – Definitely looking back at it now, it was quite an ordeal to go through, but I think that's only because I'm aware of what it was now, whereas when I was younger, I was a bit naive to all the machines up going on. You're just not as privy to life, so you don't really understand what's going on as much. I was also used to dad being hooked up to stuff so much, and it wasn't too scary in that sense. I think the scary part was if it didn't work because this was the last chance and if this

didn't work, I was going to lose my dad. So I think that was kind of the tough part was being able to stomach the fact that if it doesn't work, it's not my fault. And what did it feel like David, back then, your 12 year old son helping to try to save your life? It was daunting because, you know, like Josh said, you just didn't know if that was going to work. And I always said to him, if it doesn't work, it's not your fault. It's, it's just, you know, one of those bad luck stories in life. On the flip side is, you know, we come

out the other side is, you know, we come out the other side and he worked. He saved your life not just once, but twice. So tell me what's happened more recently. Unfortunately, one of the side effects of chemotherapy and the stem cell transplant that I had that failed was that it caused damage to my kidneys. So yeah, so we always knew that it was going to kind of come to the point of me having to give or somebody having to give him a kidney. I'd said from the start kind of three or four years ago, I'll do it. I've already done one. I'll do another one for you. Like that

wouldn't be a problem. I'll happily do that for my dad. So I always knew I wanted to give him the kidney, but it was just what could happen later on down the line. One of the risks is high blood pressure. I mean, I've got high blood pressure in the family, but it's not something that I'm bothered about because I want to live now. So living now means having my dad around and having my mom around with me and, you know, being able to have takeaways and watch a film together and mess about and listen to music and just do what we normally do. So I'm not bothered about what could happen in the future because we already know ourselves from his first diagnosis that life is not promised. So I'm not going to worry about what could or couldn't happen. I need to live for now. And right now I wanted to give him a kidney and have a good time with him.

David, what a beautiful thing your son is doing for you. The obvious question is, were you ever in any doubt of taking it from your son in case he needed both kidneys in later life? Yeah, that was definitely a concern of mine. And, you know, if push comes to shove, I think at the end of the day, I was probably more apprehensive about him giving me the kidney, knowing that he already had saved my life once before. I mean, according to the consultants and the nurses, you can live a normal life with one kidney. But you're right, I was a bit more apprehensive, but

you know, Josh wanted to do it. How do you say thank you in this situation? That would be five times a day. Does he? Well, yeah, I mean, you know, I've always said to my son, he knows how much I love him, I always tell him that anyway. You know, I can't ever put into words, it's just not possible. I think he just knows about the way I am with him.

This gift he's given me is just immense. And thank you will never be enough. As long as I can be being there for him in his older years, that's probably the thank you he's going to get really. He knows how I feel. It's just an incredible sacrifice he's made. But I think it's probably the last sacrifice he'll need to make. So there's a lot that's been happening other than just the kidney transplant. And I think the last year has taught us that, you know, there's so much more to life than, you know, work or, or money or any of these external things that you stress and worry about. And I think we've slowed down a lot as a family and just gone, you know what, we're just going to enjoy our time together. And if that means sitting on the sofa and having a boring Sunday, then we're going to do that because, you know, that's the time

that we'd rather spend with each other. I've always had, like, my parents, luckily, to be there and steer me and teach me and tell me when I'm wrong, tell me when I'm doing something right and encourage me and I'm grateful in that sense, just as much as dad's grateful that, you know, he's had a second chance of life. Joshua Andrew and his dad, David. We all know that eating the right foods and avoiding the wrong ones can make a huge difference to our wellbeing. But with food prices rising around the world, it can be difficult to maintain a healthy diet, especially if you don't know how to cook nutritious meals from low-cost ingredients.

So a project here in the UK is teaching people to do just that, and organisers say those taking part can save around $1200 a year. Myra Anubi spoke to Alicia Weston who started Bags of Taste. People in poverty are eating the worst diets and they are getting sicker younger and we know that diets are the single largest cause of health inequalities in the UK. Alicia had originally run cooking workshops for a charity to try and encourage people to prepare their own meals. They were great lessons, really great and social, and people were benefiting in many

social ways, but they were not changing what they ate at home. Alicia found out that people didn't know how to cook the kinds of meals that they'd like to eat, and they also couldn't afford to experiment. And takeaways, while more expensive, were convenient and reliable. So what we do now is we deliver all the ingredients to their door because ultimately behaviour change starts with actually changing your behaviour at home. Now a key part of the programme includes being part of a WhatsApp group that has a nutritionist as a mentor.

In the group, participants connect and motivate each other to cook. I was invited to join the programme to see how all this works. Hi, can I have a moment? I was invited to join the program to see how all this works. Doorbell rings. Hi, can I help you? Yes. Thank you. I got a box filled with free groceries. I also got stuff like new measuring spoons, a nice sharpener,

and crucially three simple recipes to try at home. My daughter and I had a go at cooking these meals together. Let's read. The first thing we're going to have to do is? Chop the onions. Okay. Do you want me to do that because I know you don't like chopping onions? Yeah, sometimes I cry. We made a chickpea and mushroom pilaf and a pasta dish. And for two weeks we stayed in touch with other participants on our WhatsApp group

and shared pictures of our meals. My nine-year-old was also able to follow all the cooking instructions. I was keen to speak to someone who had gone through the whole programme before to see if it had made a difference. Errol is in his 50s and he lives in East London, a place called Hackney. Errol graduated from the course last November. I was more addicted to the microwave, dealing with ready meals and stuff like that. It was very expensive. You get one little meal and you see how small they are,

and you eat that meal and you're still hungry. So I've got to make a choice, either pay the bills or starve yourself. I always want to know about this cooking. I've always watched like food shows, but obviously with my dyslexia, I had problems reading the ingredients or understanding the ingredients.

And so I thought, let me take a chance and try to do these recipes. I had little short videos that showed you what to do. And did you get any other support like from a mentor? Well, yeah, the mentor on there who's running the course. So you always knew that you've got someone to reach out to if you felt stuck. So when I made my first spaghetti sauce and stuff with the carrots and all the herbs and spices and all, I thought oh my goodness me, I made this. So I was enjoying myself every time I came on the group and I showed a picture of my meals, I was like yeah this one tickled my taste buds, this is the one. I can hear it in your voice, I can tell you now you really

enjoy it. When I was just testing the food out on my partner, how it cooked and stuff, she's like, oh wow, this is like restaurant food. You're cooking like a restaurant. It does kind of boost your confidence, doesn't it? Yeah, it does, it does. I feel more comfortable in the kitchen and you start doing your own thing and you think, ah. So if I'm coming to your kitchen now,

what is your signature dish? I would go for the masala, chickpea masala. I'm sold. I like a little bit of spice, you know, your signature dish. I would go for the masala, chickpea masala. I'm sold. I like a little bit of spice, you know. Errol is just one of the 14,000 people who've taken part in the programme so far. And Alicia says that their short-term intervention has an important long-term outcome.

So when they graduate the programme, we post them more recipes. We did a long-term follow-up six months after doing the course and what we saw was that 86% of participants who had not been cooking regularly before were cooking more. We had one woman, she was about 90 years old and when she received her certificate she told us that she'd never had a certificate before in her life and she was going to frame it. Alissia Weston. And you can hear more about this and other schemes helping those on low

incomes on People Fixing the World, wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Coming up in this podcast. It's the soul of the country. So in five years from now it'll be massive, it'll be huge, it's already gaining so much traction, so I'm excited to see what the next five years holds. Why Gaelic is growing increasingly popular in Ireland. Now to a chance meeting that led to an unlikely friendship and ended up changing hundreds of people's lives. Australian Louise Pleming played tennis professionally in the 1990s and still travels the globe as a commentator and elite coach. But during Covid she volunteered

at a soup kitchen where she met a homeless man called Brian Turton. Brian had always dreamt of a professional tennis career and even played on the circuit in Australia in his late teens. But after developing mental health problems, he found himself living on the streets. Their friendship led to Louise setting up the charity Rally Forever, which uses tennis to help people get back on their feet and gave Brian work as a coach. Their friendship featured in an ABC documentary. First time we hit together, I don't know whether she was surprised I hit the ball so well or we hit well together and enjoyed each other's company.

There was something about him, he was homeless and had his sleeping bag there and yet here he was on the tennis court and his passion for tennis just blew me away. Louise spoke to my colleague Katie Smith. He kind of said to me, hey I've seen you on telly commentating and he said what are you doing here and would you come and have a coffee with me? After lunch, and I sat down with him and Brian opened up this little black bag of two 1970s Jimmy Connors tennis racquet.

And there was three balls in that racquet bag. And he said, would you play tennis with me? And I said, of course I would, no problem. He said, I've got no one to play with me. He said, I play against the wall every day. He said, I hit 200 balls against the wall. What are we playing next week? Monday, 6am. He played like Ken Rosewill and Rod Laver. He was amazing. He was chipping and slicing and I had the best time. And I think I had more fun than he did, but I could see he just was

so passionate about his tennis. We kept playing tennis for quite a few months and then the journey just became kind of incredible. He became my very first Rally Forever certified tennis coach and it just changed his life because he'd spent many years in mental homes, hospitals, jails. And now he felt really special. He felt like he was doing something he loved, but he could be something other than that homeless guy. So a truly life-changing moment, actually.

I think even some of your family members were slightly worried that you were going to meet this guy that you didn't know. And there is those kind of, I suppose, stigmas and barriers that need to be broken down. Yeah, absolutely. And yeah, my family were conscious and worried. And I had a lot of friends that were saying, well, hang on a minute, you know, through our friendship and our time together. And he's definitely had his challenges. And in some days he came to the courts and he was angry and we always tried to talk it through and I think you know the most important thing is that

that they have someone that will listen. For someone like Brian that has been had his challenges, his family really don't talk to him. There's no one there yet. There's so much turmoil around them him. There's no one there. Yeah, there's so much turmoil around them that they lose everyone. And for someone like Brian Lewis, have you seen complete, meaningful change now for his life? We got him into social housing. He was really going to many of our programs. We have about 11 or 12 programs now in Sydney. So he was able to go to different programs and really feel like he had a sense of purpose. He was being introduced to different people in the community. On a Monday, he started playing tennis with some doctors and lawyers and these guys loved him because he was better than them. You know, then they'd have a tea or a coffee after and he just felt like he was

Brian the tennis player and not Brian the homeless guy. And I just love to see him smile and have fun and just absolutely love tennis and love what he did. And he was cheeky as ever. Like he's such a cheeky character. He's funny. Everybody loved him. But not to say he really has had his challenges. He's going through a little bit of a challenge at the moment. He got injured. And when people stop exercising and they just stay in their room, that's

when the issues start coming back. So we, yeah, we really hope that we can getting back, being active again and, and building that self confidence again, because it's all about that social connection, it's all about getting out in the sunshine and experiencing exercising the endorphins, just the interactions, and him saying, great shot. His encouragement just lifted him so much and I just love to see that. So many people knew his journey and they loved the fact that he was on the court and he was their coach. And you can hear more inspiring sports stories on SportsHour wherever you get your podcasts. Over the last few decades the

number of people living in Ireland who can speak Gaelic has almost doubled. In fact the language app Duolingo says roughly 1 million are actively learning Irish at any given time. As well as technological advances there's been a big change in attitudes towards the language. Belfast-based graphic designer Rachel Brady runs Askaylige, a small independent business selling colourful designs adorned with Irish phrases. She's been speaking to the Happy Pod's Ella Bicknell. I'd done it a wee bit when I was in school and it wasn't until I was like my second

or third year of uni I started getting really interested in Irish culture and thought you know I'm going to go and give it a go and start learning it. I wanted to be a graphic designer and so when I was learning the language you know typical me, love stationery, when I went to go get things there was nothing out there that I thought was like modern. It was all, you know, your stereotypical shamrocks and leprechauns and it just didn't scream out to me. So yeah, I just started picking stuff and started the business Askilliga and Askilliga translates to in Irish. Yeah, it's been four years now and yeah, I've just been learning, learning as I go. I think some people will be surprised to know that Irish is an endangered language,

yet you've had this massive reception from other people from your products and from this business that you started. Yeah, yeah, it's massive and particularly in the north, the Irish language moving up here is huge and it's growing day by day and especially among young people. Since I even opened the business I've noticed there's a surge of other Irish language businesses and Irish language influencers on TikTok, Instagram, like you're talking hundreds of thousands of followers. It really does show that the revival is here and people want to see the Irish language out and about. What's the joy of learning a new language, particularly one that you personally have a connection to a history with?

You know, that's just so good about it. And with Irish, Irish is so poetic. And as I say, every day is a learning day. You know, you're always, you're always finding these new ways of expressing yourself, I suppose, in your early twenties, a lot of people would just write off, you know, your ability to learn a language, but you'd be surprised through just wee small antidotes every day or, you know, picking up a mug or putting a nice print on your wall, how much you actually learn.

Part of this is having a better connection to your ancestors, your family. And I know that you've been getting your family involved in the business. Yeah, absolutely. You grow up in Belfast, you don't see yourself as a city girl. So sometimes you can be a bit removed from your heritage and your culture without even realising it. Learning the language has definitely brought me back to that. And I suppose now I'm kind of bringing everybody along with me, like my wee granny. And she is my number one go-to for everything. She's helped me so much in the business. And you've got her packing boxes.

And I've got her packing boxes. I know it sounds terrible, but she loves it. She really does. Yeah, we always joke. I'm like, right now you can't go off on sickle me. Some people might be listening to this. Very interesting, the Irish language. So are there any choice phrases, your favourite phrases that you've learnt over the last few years that you'd like to share with our listeners? Definitely to go boogai, which means take it easy. That's definitely something I've had to learn. Just had my first baby, wee baby boy, and the Irish culture at all is very slow living.

And I just love that phrase, toka buge. It just reminds you to just take that wee step back. I'm going to try and bring some toka buge into my own life as well. Absolutely. What's your hopes and dreams for the Irish language over the next few years? It sounds like a tide is really turning. Definitely. Definitely. Our phrase is unlock the Irish language, embrace the journey because that's what it is. Learning the Irish language is a journey. And I would hope that through my products and other businesses, in five years from now, everybody knows one word of Irish and that's ultimately just the goal. It's about including people in the language that

live in Ireland that might not necessarily have had access to the language. A language that's the country's language. The country belongs to everybody. So in five years from now, it'll be massive. It'll be huge. It's already gaining so much traction and every year there's new speakers. So yeah, I'm excited to see what the next five years holds. Rachel Brady. You might have heard our interview last week with the amphibian expert who's helped breed endangered Chilean Darwin frogs at London Zoo. Well this week we wanted to tell you about another amphibian rescue project. Every spring,

a tiny army of toads, frogs and newts hops, crawls and wriggles on a perilous journey across a country road in south-west England, heading to their ancestral breeding lake. Sadly, many get squashed by cars. But now, thanks to a road closure and dedicated volunteers spending more than 600 hours on a toad patrol, the casualty rate has gone from 62% to 6%. Sheila Gundry from the conservation charity Froglife is a toad patrol volunteer. She spoke to Amor Rudgeon. What happens is the toads and the frogs and the newts, they're all heading back to their breeding ponds. They've been doing it for year after year after year. But now when we put roads in the way, then they can be carnage. What's it actually like trying

to pick up a toad? They're lovely things and they're really fascinating and they generally, they just sort of hunker down and they're okay with you doing it. That's all you do. You wear gloves, you simply just pick it up, put it in your bucket and then move it across the road. Frogs are a little bit more tricky because they tend to leap away, so you need a bit more of a technique. There's at least 50 or so tow patrollers and they have their high visor on and they have their buckets and they wander down the road and just wait for the toads and amphibians to come and they tend to come on slightly warm damp evenings. So that's the best time and sometimes it's just remarkable. There's just so many all over the place. Wherever you look there's a toad.

It's quite a nice way for people to bond with each other, isn't it? How many toads have you saved this evening? Exactly. That is a question. That is a question that we do talk about. Yes, have you seen it? Have you seen any? Where were they? Yes, so it is a nice community that go and patrol and it's so satisfying. It is when you actually think, what did I do today? Oh, I saved a life, I saved another life. So it's very satisfying. Sheila Gundry. And that's all from the HappyPod for now. But if you, like Adri and Niklas, have an unusual romance story, we'd love to hear about it. As ever, the address is globalpodcast.bbc.co.uk. This edition was mixed by Matt Hewitt and the producers were Holly Gibbs and Rachel Bulkley. The editor is Karen Martin.

I'm Bernadette Keough. Until next time, goodbye!