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77-Year-Old Woman Marries Herself After Swearing Off Men

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A white dress, a veil, and a bouquet but at this wedding there was a major component missing.

A 77-year-old woman has told how she married the love of her life – herself – with no partner to echo her vows.

Dorothy Fideli tied the know at O’Bannon Terrace Retirement Home in Goshen, Ohio, on Saturday with friends and family members watching the solo ceremony take place.

The mother of three and grandmother once got married in 1965 after a quick, no-frills ceremony. However, she got divorced nine years later.

Dorothy Fideli tied the know at O'Bannon Terrace Retirement Home in Goshen, Ohio, on Saturday with friends and family members watching the solo ceremony take place

Dorothy Fideli tied the know at O’Bannon Terrace Retirement Home in Goshen, Ohio, on Saturday with friends and family members watching the solo ceremony take place
The mother of three and grandmother once got married in 1965 after a quick, no-frills ceremony. However, she got divorced nine years later

The mother of three and grandmother once got married in 1965 after a quick, no-frills ceremony. However, she got divorced nine years later

After swearing off men, the idea to marry herself came to her while she was at church.

She told Today.com: ‘I have been with myself for 40 years.

‘Something just came over me one day in church that you ought to do something special for yourself.

‘I said, you know what, I’ve done everything else. Why not? I’m going to marry myself.’

After coming up with the concept of a solo wedding Fideli asked Rob Geiger, the property manager at her retirement home, if he would perform the ceremony.

While he was initially stunned by her proposal, he slowly came around to the idea and thought it would be a good way of honoring Fideli who is ‘a very incredible woman’ and has ‘always thought of others.’

Fideli’s daughter, Donna Pennington, also loved the idea of holding a solo wedding  and she went about getting a dress, doing the catering and decorating the venue in the run up to the big event.

Like any bride on her big day, Fideli said she felt a mixture of nerves and excitement.

She explained: ‘This is something new for me. I’ve never gotten married like this before.

 

‘It’s emotional for me because this is something I’ve always wanted.’

Fideli’s wedding took place at 3pm in the retirement home’s community hall.

As she got changed into her wedding ensemble, complete with brand new white sneakers, the retiree exclaimed: ‘I never thought I would look this pretty in a bride thing.’

Retirement home manager Geiger said getting married later in life isn’t the first dream Fideli has fulfilled during her time at the facility.

Just a few years ago she taught herself to read by staying up until the ‘wee hours’ to study.

‘I read more now than I ever did, and it takes me a while to read just one page, but I keep reading until I think I got every word,’ Fideli said.

She is currently reading the Bible for the first time.

Offering hope to others who are yet to tie the knot or see their dream wedding come to light, Fideli concluded: ‘Love, love is the most important thing in this world, and if you love God and love yourself, this world will be a field of roses.

‘If it’s not in the cards… then there’s something out there that will make [you] happy… and fulfill [your] soul.

‘I’m at the point in my life where it’s about me now. My kids are all good, and my grandkids, one of them’s going to have a baby… and I have a set of triplets that’s all graduated from college. So, it’s my turn to do what I want to do.’

 

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Pope Francis to undergo intestinal surgery and will be hospitalized for several days

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Pope Francis went to the hospital on Wednesday for surgery on his intestine, two years after he had 33 centimeters (13 inches) of his colon removed because of an inflammation and narrowing of the large intestine.

The Vatican said Francis, 86, would be put under general anesthesia and would be hospitalized for several days.

Pope Francis appeared at his weekly general audience on Wednesday, a day after he went to the hospital for a checkup.

The Vatican provided no details about the medical tests Francis underwent on Tuesday at Rome’s Gemelli hospital. Francis, 86, appeared in good form, though, at his audience in St. Peter’s Square, zipping around the square in his popemobile greeting the faithful. He also had two meetings Wednesday morning beforehand, the Vatican said.

Francis spent three days at the Gemelli hospital in late March. Initially, the Vatican said he had gone in for scheduled tests, but the pontiff later revealed he had felt pain in his chest and was rushed to the hospital where bronchitis was diagnosed. He was put on intravenous antibiotics and was released April 1, quipping that he was “still alive.”

The Argentine pope had part of one lung removed when he was a young man. He also suffers from sciatica nerve pain and has been using a wheelchair and walker for more than a year because of strained ligaments in his knee.

Francis has had a packed schedule of late, with multiple audiences each day. The Vatican has recently confirmed a travel-filled August, when the Holy See and Italy are usually on vacation, with a four-day visit to Portugal the first week of August and a similarly long trip to Mongolia starting Aug. 31.

In a sign that the trips were very much on, the Vatican on Tuesday released the planned itinerary for Francis’ visit to Portugal for World Youth Day events from Aug. 2-6. The itinerary confirms a typically busy schedule that includes all the protocol meetings of an official state visit plus multiple events with young people and a day trip to the Marian shrine at Fatima.

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My son was born with bulging eyes and totally blind – but baffled doctors don’t know why

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A mother is appealing for answers over the mysterious condition which left her son with bulging eyes.

Kobi-Jai Morgan, who is registered blind, was born last March with bruising around his eyes and was unable to open them.

He spent six weeks in hospital, where doctors discovered the structure of his eyes had not fully developed but could not figure out why.

Despite appointments with specialists, medics have been left scratching their heads over what is causing his condition.

His mother, Morgan Nottingham, from Ystalyfera in South Wales, is now desperately searching for answers.

The 24-year-old’s labour was induced in last spring at a hospital in Bridgend, where she had a difficult delivery.

Kobi-Jai was then transferred to a neonatal intensive care unit at Singleton Hospital in Swansea and put on ventilation and a feeding tube.

As well as bruising around the eyes, he had a large hole in his heart and a floppy larynx — the tube that helps carry air to the lungs and contains vocal cords.

His unknown condition means his eyes are light-sensitive and he spends a lot of time in discomfort.

As a result, he sometimes scratches his eye and pushes his eyelids towards his eyebrows when they are irritated.

His mother administers four different types of eye drops to Kobi’s eyes every day and he wears specialist transparent glasses made by Cardiff University.

The 15-month-old has been to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London and visited private specialists — but still does not have a diagnosis.

However, tests show that he can see some light and shadows.

Ms Nottingham said: ‘We’ve come to terms with the fact that he might not have his vision for life. But we get looks as it is.

‘He has bulgy eyes and the bottom of his eyes scrape across his cheek. He doesn’t realise while he’s little but it’s really sad, bless him.’

Kobi-Jai can now tell his mother when his eyes are bothering him.

She added: ‘He cannot carry on with his eyes like that. There has to be someone out there that knows something.

‘This is completely new to us. When he starts going to school — you know what kids are like. He has children coming up to him already and saying: “Oh mammy he looks scary”. I want answers.’

Ms Nottingham called for more research and resources that could help Kobi-Jai.

She said: ‘At the moment we have found no blind support centres, schools or sensory classes locally. The closest specialist school is in Birmingham.

‘We want to bring more awareness and help and support other parents going through the same thing. We’re all learning.’

A fundraiser set up to support Kobi’s medical care has raised over £12,500.

Family friends have organised a 12-hour charity walk, five-a-side football tournament and bike ride in a bid to raise more funds to help with his care.

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US actor Danny Masterson found guilty on two rape counts

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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Masterson arrives at the Los Angeles court to learn his fate with his wife, Bijou Phillips

A jury in Los Angeles has found US actor Danny Masterson guilty on two out of three counts of rape.

The star of That ’70s Show, a TV series, faces up to 30 years in prison. He was led from court in handcuffs.

Three women, all former members of the Church of Scientology, accused the actor of sexual assault at his Hollywood home from 2001-03.

Prosecutors argued Masterson had relied on his status as a prominent Scientologist to avoid accountability.

The jury of seven women and five men was unable to reach a verdict on a third count after a week of deliberations, ending up deadlocked at 8-4.

One of his victims, who was raped in 2003, said in a statement quoted by the Associated Press: “I am experiencing a complex array of emotions – relief, exhaustion, strength, sadness – knowing that my abuser, Danny Masterson, will face accountability for his criminal behavior.”

Masterson’s wife, actress and model Bijou Phillips, wept as he was led away, CBS News reports. Other family and friends sat stone-faced.

Another jury in an earlier trial was unable to reach a verdict in December 2022.

Prosecutors chose to retry Masterson and this time the judge allowed attorneys to present new evidence that had been barred from the first trial.

Though the actor was not charged with drugging his victims, the jury heard testimony that the women had been dosed before he raped them.

Masterson was first accused of rape in 2017 during the height of the #MeToo movement. He responded by saying that he had not been charged or convicted of a crime, and that in the climate at the time “it seems as if you are presumed guilty the moment you are accused”.

Charges came after a three-year investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department. Prosecutors did not file charges in two other cases because of insufficient evidence and the statute of limitations expiring.

Throughout the trial, prosecutors argued that the Church of Scientology had helped cover up the assaults – an allegation the organisation has categorically denied.

At the time of the assaults, Masterson and all three of his accusers were Scientologists. Several of the women said it took them years to come forward because Church of Scientology officials discouraged them from reporting the rape to police.

Instead, they were forced to rely on the Church’s “internal justice system”, prosecutors said.

Scientology officials told one survivor she would be kicked out of the Church unless she signed a non-disclosure agreement and accepted a payment of $400,000 (£320,000), according to prosecutors.

Judge Charlaine Olmedo allowed both sides to discuss the dogma and practices of Scientology.

But Deputy District Attorney Ariel Anson told jurors during the trial: “The Church taught his victims, ‘Rape isn’t rape, you caused this, and above all, you are never allowed to go to law enforcement.'”

Throughout the trial, the defence tried to undermine the credibility of the “Jane Does” by focusing on inconsistencies in their testimony and their supposed drive to get “revenge” against their former Church.

During closing arguments, Masterson’s defence lawyer said of the survivors: “If you are looking for motives why people are not being truthful… there are motives all over the place.”

Although the Church of Scientology was not a defendant in the case, before closing arguments began, a lawyer with ties to the Church emailed the district attorney’s office to complain about the way the Church was portrayed during the retrial.

The defence also argued that the prosecution had relied heavily on testimony about drugging because there was an absence of evidence of any force or violence.

Masterson’s lawyers tried, unsuccessfully, to have a mistrial declared.

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