Birthdays are celebrations of life. One family in Paniqui, Tarlac, however, gave the occasion a twist.

The 14-year-old child of Maricel Tolentino wished to celebrate her birthday at home. Dexcel had been confined in the hospital with kidney failure, and her mother agreed to bring her home to grant her wish.

Children were invited to the party, and the guests were given gifts of clothes, another wish of Dexcel to say thank you to the people who had prayed for her recovery, GMA Integrated Newsfeed reported.

"Happy birthday" was sung, and food was served.

Amid the festive atmosphere, Dexcel was present but in a casket as she had died the day before her 15th birthday. Nevertheless, the end of her pain, the celebration, and the fulfillment of Dexcel's wishes eased the sadness of her family.

Stranger still than a birthday party held during a wake was the burial last Saturday of a man who had died in a prison in Reading, Pennsylvania, USA.

The deceased, nicknamed Stoneman Willie, like Dexcel, died of kidney failure while in prison, ABC News reported. According to reports, Willie gave police a pseudonym, James Penn, when he was jailed for stealing money to spare his well-to-do family the shame.

When Willie died, his body was accidentally mummified in an embalming experiment at a local funeral home.  The mummy was allowed by authorities to be displayed at the funeral home to keep track of the decomposition rate and in the hope that someone would identify him.

Last week, it was decided the experiment was over, and it was finally time to give Willie a proper burial. All the time he had lain in state at the funeral home, he had worked to unearth his identity.

It was on his burial day last 7 October that authorities revealed Willie's true identity. He was James Murphy, who died in 1895.

After 128 long years, mummified Murphy was finally laid to rest in a local cemetery.