The Happy Pod: Christmas with the man I saved
Global News Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 8.2K Ratings
🗓️ 4 January 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A US woman whose bone marrow saved a father of three in Australia has spent Christmas with him and his family. Gennaro Rapinese, whose leukaemia was cured by the donation, greeted Cassidy Feeney at the airport in Perth with the words 'you saved my life'. Cassidy, who'd never met Gennaro before, says she decided to donate because she'd want someone to do the same for her loved ones - and believes everyone should care more about others and less about themselves. Also: How a community rallied around to help after customers left a restaurant in Montreal without paying a large bill. The owner of Mama Khan's uses his profits to run a soup kitchen and deliver free meals to those in need. The company in Sweden that's tackling loneliness by giving employees time off dedicated to working on their friendships. A chance encounter and a small act of kindness that led to a couple getting engaged. Plus a very rare pink platypus, and why millions of people around the world sing the Scottish folk song, Auld Lang Syne, to mark the new year. Our weekly collection of inspiring, uplifting and happy news from around the world.
Presenter: Oliver Conway. Music composed by Iona Hampson
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.6 | This is the Happy Pod from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:13.2 | Hello, I'm Oliver Conway, and in this edition, a remarkable Christmas meeting. |
| 0:18.9 | Meeting them in person and meeting his family and his kids and his wife |
| 0:22.7 | just really has hit home that I did save a life. |
| 0:26.6 | It's been the most amazing special Christmas that I'll ever have. |
| 0:31.7 | The woman who flew thousands of miles to meet a stranger whose life she'd saved. |
| 0:36.9 | Also, a restaurant known for helping people |
| 0:39.4 | get support from the local community in its time of need. The fact that we took a negative |
| 0:44.4 | situation and made it positive. It's amazing. You might have something that doesn't go your way, |
| 0:48.6 | but you can transform into a positive situation. And I feel like when you do good, good comes your |
| 0:52.8 | way. How giving up a seat on a train led to happily ever after. |
| 0:57.8 | I really remember getting off the train and looking back at him and thinking, what a lovely |
| 1:02.3 | man that I'll never see again. I do believe that we're meant to be together when I think |
| 1:06.8 | about everything that had to be in place for us to meet. |
| 1:10.4 | The company giving staff time off to work on their friendships and... |
| 1:15.6 | I think when you're singing Old Line Sign, |
| 1:20.4 | you can almost feel your ancestry bearing down on you. |
| 1:24.6 | And that's what the song's about. |
| 1:26.2 | It's about remembering people from your |
| 1:28.0 | past and raising a glass to them. Why, millions of us mark the new year, singing a song we probably |
| 1:33.4 | don't understand. Just before Christmas, a 27-year-old American student arrived at an airport in Australia. |
... |
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