Hey sports fan, Sam here. You may remember from our earlier post where I ‘pawticipated’ in Lutheran’s annual Heroes of Hope – National Cancer Survivors Day® Celebration event. National Cancer Survivors Day® is a celebration for those who have survived, an inspiration for those recently diagnosed, a gathering of support for families and an outreach to the community. Since mom screwed up publishing her Wednesday post on Tuesday (awk! good grief) and I’m not going to risk her messing this one up. I’ll be taking over today’s post by sharing highlights from the event. Leave important things to real professionals, I always say.
As a Knucklehead star athlete, we are expected to make an appearance on the Red Carpet stage (even if it’s black). I adjusted my cape, er…bandana and gave mom a “hurry up, let’s do this” look. Sheesh, sometimes she’s so inept behind the camera. I mean, there were oodles of others waiting their turns (translation: there are tons of peeps I need to visit). But then while I’m posing for mom, a lady walks up and asks for my autograph picture. Mom was kind of surprised but safe to say, that lady’s interest got my tail going.
As a member of Lutheran’s Pet Therapy program, we also celebrate survivors and their families by participating in the 1K walk. Being a ‘distinguished’ (i.e. senior) pup, I held my nose high and the tongue out long keeping up with everyone, although my preference is to stop and chat with all the folks cheering us on along the course sidelines. Hey, I gotta keep my personal skills sharp, right? I mean…it’s free ear rubs for crying out loud! What Knucklehead passes those up? Nope not happening, thank you very much.
The event began with the 10K race, followed by the 5K, and then the kid’s run. We bring up the rear with our 1K walk and there were lots of non pet therapy uprights in our group. But everyone loves watching the kid run. They are beyond adorable as they race (and sometimes toddle) down their course while the crowd cheers them on. Nothing makes my tail wag more than a bunch of kiddos running straight toward me!
No celebration at this annual event is complete without some close ups of a few of the pet therapy dogs. This is my pal, “Little One,” a former racer who now is a champion pet therapist. She has a gazillion visits under that billed cap. She and her mom recently rescued a Galgo greyhound from Spain who may be joining us once she’s all settled and becomes more socialized. Woo-hoo-another pawsome pet therapist!
Then there’s my little pal, Zoe, one adorable little Corgi who steals the show whenever she shows up. Don’t tell anyone but she gets my tail seriously wagulating-just look at that sweet face!
After our ‘race,’ we serious athletes needed to re-hydrate and I was no exception. Never fear, that’s good ole H2O in that cup. One of several.
Once fully hydrated, I was able to get in some serious visiting with other individual racers and teams. The hospital had 14 teams running in the 5K and a number of folks on those teams are peeps I frequently visit when I’m at the hospital. Such cool people, with compassion with deep caring. I woofed for the team from the Lab, called “Out for Blood.” Zoe’s human sister works there and was on the team. I always love seeing her whenever I make hospital rounds. It’s always great fun greeting dogs, uprights, little peeps and enjoying some delicious snacks after the race and then checking out the various booths with healthful products, resources and info for anyone suffering from this horrible disease. It’s a good place to network and that’s when I ran into the newest member to the pet therapy team, Axel whose photo we shared on Monday. You can see where I photobombed him here. Axel is a Black Mouth Cur and should be a great addition to our program.
Those who win their respective race receive special recognition but I like to think anyone who’s willing to lend their support to kick cancer’s butt is No. 1 in our books.
This event definitely has had even more meaning for my mom whose dear friend Cheryl, battled cancer over this past year. We’re barking our kudos on her determination and courage. We love her and she’ll always be mom’s hero!
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Over the weekend, my family celebrated my parents’ 70th wedding anniversary. Yes, 70. freaking. years! All the siblings and their spouses enjoyed a lovely celebratory get-together. Just thinking about the smiles across my parents’ faces as they looked around and saw their children, a couple of grandchildren and a great-grand and a half (one niece is expecting any day now) was beyond heartwarming. Congrats Mom and Dad!
While we made the rounds visiting with a new hospice doctor, all the nurses and a few visitors, we ended up spending a lot of time with a fairly young-looking woman and her daughter at hospice. It was almost an afterthought visit, as we’d seen so many people, Sam was petty tired and their room was full of family members paying their respects. In those circumstances, I don’t generally intrude, especially when the end is so close (according to the nurse), but when “Kate” came out into the hallway and said how much she could really benefit from a visit, how could we refuse? “Of course,” I replied, “we’d be more than happy to spend some time with you.” She indicated the patient was her husband, which totally surprised me since I erroneously thought the man in the bed was her father. A daughter came out and we all convened in the middle of the hallway. Sam seemed refreshed and eager to check them out and when the woman knelt down in front of him, he patiently gazed as deeply into her eyes as I’ve ever seen. She teared up and said how much she needed him that moment. I just smiled not knowing if there’s something I should say, or even what to say.
We probably won’t be able to respond as much as we’d like over the next few days, we will try to do our best. Thank you for all your kind comments regarding yesterday’s crazy goings on. PayPal is taking its sweet time responding to us. Mom topped off the day with a trip to the dentist to replace a crown that fell out over the weekend. Does she know how to live or what? Worse than that, I had to endure the dreaded water torture for today’s hospital rounds. Luckily I get over it when kind peeps say I’m handsome.
Since returning from Mexico I have been frequently thinking about the impact of pet therapy more than usual. While visiting south of the border, I witnessed first hand the absolute power of pet therapy on a spontaneous walk I took in the vicinity of our resort. My intention was to walk up the main roadway toward where the river flowed out into the bay. I knew from walking along the beach that near the confluence, a number of egret-like birds hung out. I was also told by a local person, crocodiles could also be found upstream. I planned on avoiding the later but hoped I could get some decent shots of the former.
When it became clear no good shots of the birds could be had without climbing down a step river bank (umm, no thanks, no photo of a bird was worth a potential encounter with a croc sighting, thank you very much). Instead, serendipity arrived in the form of a little coffee stand in the shape of…a pirate ship. ‘Argh,’ I groaned but quickly realized this little hut and companion playground held potential for a few photo opportunities. The proprietor greeted me (that’s him waving in the first photo) and we exchanged limited greetings, he only spoke Spanish and beyond ‘Hola,’ I could only smile. But I wandered around hoping to catch some locals taking a break when I saw a small boy playing in the playground area, but realized there was something special about this little boy. The boy was chasing and being chased by a small puppy who constantly dashed after this blur of a child, and the two rambunctious dervishes chased and played with each other with pure abandon. After several minutes of watching the scene, a thin slip of a young woman with a beautiful smile waved and came over to chat. She was the boy’s mother and we began a long chat about the two bundles of energy. The puppy was a Pit/Lab mix, about 4-months old which she had obtained for her 4-year old autistic son. She had gotten the dog in hopes of giving her son a companion that he might be aided by the fur companion. She related how owning this little ball of energy had made a significant difference with her son. When I revealed Sam was a therapy dog, she began asking me a jillion questions about training the new addition while repeatedly re-directing the pair away from the busy road.