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Patrolman Goes Beyond the Badge to Help Save Future Father-in-Law’s Life

By CNN

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    ERIE, Pennsylvania (WSEE) — For the past eight years, Erie Police Department Patrolman Daniel Post has been dedicated to serving the community.

Since being sworn in as an officer in 2018, and spending the last six years as a member of the Police Athletic League helping mentor local youth, Dan will tell you….his compassion for others goes far beyond his badge.

“If you’re able to do something to help somebody, I say take it,” said Post. “Things are put on this earth for a reason.”

Last year, while camping with his fiancée’s family, his soon to be father-in-law Allen Rose became ill.

“When I got back, I didn’t feel right,” said Rose. “I went to the doctor and he said you need to go to the emergency room immediately.”

That’s when they received the devastating news.

“I went down, started testing,” said Rose. “That’s when I was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver.”

After being diagnosed with end-stage liver disease, Allen was placed on a national liver transplant waiting list.

“It was a live donor waiting list,” said Rose. “I had several people that volunteered to be tested.”

One of the people who tested was his future son-in-law Post, who ended up being a 100 percent match.

“I told my fiancée Jessica, I know what it is like to lose a parent,” said Post. “I lost my mother four years ago and if I’m able to give that to somebody else to allow them to have a parent, I’m going to do that.”

“I wish I could say the first feeling was relief, but the very first feeling I was nervous, because then it wasn’t just my dad,” said Jessica Rose. “It was my dad and fiancé that were going to go through this huge surgery.”

Unlike other organs, the liver can regenerate.

Without hesitation, Patrolman Post decided to donate a portion of his liver to his future father-in-law.

“There was never a moment that I didn’t want to go through with it,” said Post. “It just needed to be done.”

“I tried to talk him out of it,” said Allen. “I did, because I was more worried about him than me, to be honest with you.”

Both Dan and Allen underwent seven hours of transplant surgery at UPMC Montefiore in Pittsburgh.

After two months of recovery, both men have returned to their normal lives.

“It’s quite a dedication to have somebody do that for you,” said Allen. “I wouldn’t be here without him.”

“Knowing my dad wouldn’t be here without him, that’s the biggest thing,” said Jessica. “I think it speaks volumes to who he is and who I get to marry.”

By sharing the same organ, both men now share an eternal bond.

“Definitely a special bond,” said Post. “We were always close before. It’s an amazing feeling knowing that I can help him continue to do the things he wants to do and that’s live and be around friends and family.”

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

Your internet use may be making you crabby

By CNN
Are you feeling crabby or stressed? Or are you not keeping up with your responsibilities at work, school or in your relationships? The reason could be that you’re spending too much time online, according to research published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One.People who use the internet problematically are more stressed, have worse moods and are more likely to neglect other parts of their lives, according to the study of 900 German adults. Problematic internet use is when people use apps excessively, causing distress or impairment.“Stress and a negative mood leads to a higher temptation” to use the iInternet, said Andreas Oelker, a doctoral student at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Essen, Germany and lead author of the study. Using the internet problematically could then make things worse.The ongoing research sheds light on a problem that isn’t classified as a disorder but possibly should be, said Silke Müller, a postdoctoral research assistant at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Essen, Germany and co-author of the study. One limitation of the study is it only tracked adults, so we don’t know if the same thing happens to kids, Müller said.We know what makes us happyThe findings make sense because we know spending too much time on screens makes people unhappy, for many reasons.When we’re scrolling, we’re often not moving our bodies, which is essential for our health and happiness. Looking at screens up close for long periods is also very stimulating, which may leave us exhausted. On screens, we often switch between many different tasks — such as responding to multiple text chains and emails while scrolling social media — and that is also exhausting.We also know people are less nice to one another online than they are face to face. People because they don’t have to own up to their behavior, which can lead to online interactions that make us stressed. And people often feel less than after comparing their lives to the curated, filtered images other people post on social media.What’s more, friendships are essential for our health and wellbeing, but they tend to be best cultivated in person, not online.What are your triggers?The results suggest problematic iInternet use is similar to eating disorders, addiction and obsessive-compulsive disorder, Parin Kamdar, a Princeton, New Jersey-based licensed clinical psychologist, said in an email.That makes the problem difficult to treat because “these urges often function at a subconscious, habitual level,” so you may already be scrolling the iInternet before you’re even aware of what’s happening, Kamdar said.It helps to try to recognize your triggers, she said. Do you turn to your screen after a stressful interaction with your boss or partner? When you’re exhausted or overwhelmed?“Once a person can reliably identify the presence of the urge, they are in a much stronger position to confront the temptation,” Kamdar said.When you’re tempted, try this insteadWhen you feel the temptation to go online to cope, try to wait 5 minutes before doing so, Kamdar said. During that time, try exercising, listening to music or relaxing. Then , add another 5 minutes to your waiting period each time you’re tempted, she said.Another thing I’ve found really helps is planning blocks of screen-free time. This summer, my husband and I are taking our kids to “family summer camp,” a week at a camp in rural Minnesota where we’ll go out on a lake, ride horses and do other activities together that aren’t conducive to simultaneously scrolling.You don’t need a budget to do something like this in shorter stints. Try disconnecting your router on a weekend afternoon and play board games with your family.I always feel happier when I do these kinds of things. When I talk to parents, students and educators about how to manage their screen time, those who say they’ve overcome the temptation to be on their screens incessantly also tell me they’re happier. They’re more present in their surroundings. And they have more time for the things that make people truly happy: getting outdoors, moving our bodies, connecting with family and friends face to face and helping other people.“Although the urge may never disappear entirely, its intensity and influence diminish,” Kamdar said. “Rather than dominating attention and dictating behavior, it becomes just another thought that can be acknowledged and allowed to pass.”Therapy can help with this process, Kamdar said.Some people turn to the iInternet to cope with stress and negative feelings, but that could only make things worse. It’s better to find healthier ways to cope. Unplugging could allow you to plug in more to the things that make us truly happy.Editor’s note: Kara Alaimo is a professor of communication at Fairleigh Dickinson University and advises parents, students and teachers on how to manage screen time. Her book “Over the Influence: Why Social Media Is Toxic for Women and Girls — And How We Can Take It Back” was published in 2024.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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