She came in as a baby in 1998 with two broken wings.
Her left wing doesn't open all the way even after surgery, it was broken in 4 places . She's my baby.
Wh en Freedom came in she could not stand and both
wings were broken. She was emaciated and covered in lice.
We made the decision to give her a chance at life,
so I took her to the vets office. From then on, I was always
around her. We had her in a huge dog carrier with the top
off, and it was loaded up with shredded newspaper for her
to lay in. I used to sit and talk to her, urging her to live,
to fight; and she would lay there looking at me with those
big brown eyes. We also had to tube feed her for weeks.
This went on for 4-6 weeks, and by then she still couldn't
stand. It got to the point where the decision was made
to euthanize her if she couldn't stand in a week.
You know you don't want to cross that line between torture
and rehab, and it looked like death was winning. She was
going to be put down that Friday, and I was supposed to
come in on that Thursday afternoon. I didn't want to go
to the center that Thursday, because I couldn't bear the
thought of her being euthanized; but I went anyway,
and when I walked in everyone was grinning from ear to ear.
I went immediately back to her cage; and there she was,
standing on her own, a big beautiful eagle. She was ready to live.
I was just about in tears by then. That was a very good day.
We knew she could never fly, so the director asked me to
glove train her. I got her used to the glove, and then to jesses,
and we started doing education programs for schools in
western Washington. We wound up in the newspapers,
radio (believe it or not) and some TV . Miracle Pets even
did a show about u s.
In the spring of 2000, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma. I had stage 3, which is not good
(one major organ plus everywhere), so I wound up doing
8 months of chemo. Lost the hair - the whole bit.
I missed a lot of work. When I felt good enough, I would go
to Sarvey and take Freedom out for walks. Freedom would
also come to me in my dreams and help me fight the cancer.
This happened time and time again.
Fast forward to November 2000, the day after Thanksgiving,
I went in for my last checkup. I was told that if the cancer
was not all gone after 8 rounds of chemo, then my last option
was a stem cell transplant. Anyway, they did the tests;
and I had to come back Monday for the results. I went in Monday,
and I was told that all the cancer was gone.
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So the first thing I did was get up to Sarvey and take the
big girl out for a walk. It was misty and cold. I went to her
flight and jessed her up, and we went out front to the top
of the hill. I hadn't said a word to Freedom, but somehow
she knew. She looked at me and wrapped both her wings
around me to where I could feel them pressing in on my back
(I was engulfed in eagle wings), and she touched my nose with
her beak and stared into my eyes, and we just stood there
like that for I don't know how long. That was a magic moment.
We have been soul mates ever since she came in. This is a
very special bird.
On a side note: I have had people who were sick come up to
us when we are out, and Freedom has some kind of hold
on them. I once had a guy who was terminal come up to us
and I let him hold her. His knees just about buckled and he
swore he could feel her power coarse through his body.
I have so many stories like that.
I never forget the honor I have of being so close to such a
magnificent spirit as Freedoms.
Hope you enjoy this.
Jeff
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© Copyright 2009
10 comments
Reminds me of this video I posted here on RB...
This is an awesome blog, Rose! Thank You Very Much for sharing it with us!!!
WoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooSH!!!
This is a wonderful story to read. Very inspirational, thank you so much for sharing. Very heart warming.
WOW ... THX ROSE FOR SHARING!!!