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Saving Sadie Page 14


  “And I healed my paralyzed legs,” she said, “and I would love to offer another session with you and Sadie when we can really go deep. I would really love to help Sadie’s body, help her talk to her body, talk to her nerves, like I did, and bring in some of the angelic healers that helped me fully recover.”

  I was touched to the core. This was an extraordinary offer, and I couldn’t wait to make it happen. As Dobie’s program drew to a close, my heart and soul felt full, satisfied and at peace in a way I hadn’t felt in years. Sadie and I had worked so hard, put so much time and energy and effort into fixing her body, her physical being, that I had neglected to consider her spirit, her soul. But now Sadie had spoken directly to me, she had reached me, via Asia, and forged an even stronger bond between us than ever before.

  I slid off the couch and sat down on the floor beside Sadie, cradling her head in my lap. “Thank you, Boo-boo, for opening up and letting me into your world,” I told her as she gazed up at me with her kind, patient, guileless amber eyes. “I apologize for having doubts, for sometimes lacking faith. Now that I know how much you want to be here, how much you appreciate everything we are doing together, I promise I will stand by your side forever; I will never, ever let you down.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  Neurologists Deliver Sad News

  I must confess that I started looking at Sadie differently during the spring of 2013. She had always been more than “just a dog” to me; I had known she was special literally from the moment our eyes first met at the shelter in Kenosha and that sad little dog hijacked my heart. My need to provide almost round-the-clock, often intimate care for her had made our connection, our bond, symbiotic and unusually strong. But after our sessions with Keri Davis and Asia Voight, I had more appreciation for Sadie’s spirit, her soul, for the strong voice inside of her that longed to be set free.

  It was such a relief and so reassuring to know that Sadie wanted to live, that she loved the life I was building for both of us and didn’t feel hindered or depressed about her disabilities. Finally having that confidence made me more determined than ever to get her walking again and eventually fulfill her mission to inspire people, especially children, with special needs and other challenges.

  In our continuing commitment to trying new things and shaking up her program, in April we added to her rehab regimen the use of air splints on Sadie’s back legs. These air splints looked like a giant version of the inflatable water wings that little kids wear in the swimming pool, but these splints went from Sadie’s ankles to the tops of her legs. She had this therapy two to three times a week for twenty minutes at a time. Two people had to help Sadie do this exercise once the splints were on her legs and inflated.

  One person (usually me) would stand or kneel behind Sadie to stabilize her back while the other person (usually Jeff) stood in front of her, coaxing her to take forward steps using either a glob of frozen peanut butter on a large spoon, or her absolute favorite treat in the world, canned cat food. Most of the time we encouraged her with a “combo platter,” alternating between the two delights.

  This exercise seemed to be working! We could see that the quad muscles in Sadie’s legs were getting bigger and her hamstrings were becoming stronger as a result of using the air splints. After these sessions, we usually put her on the Power Plate for a few intervals of high-speed vibration in order to increase her muscle mass and endurance and also regenerate bone.

  The Power Plate was followed by some time spent relaxing on top of my bed inside the Soqi HotHouse Machine. This was a new device, a topical warming unit that I had recently added to the mix. The machine was a portable metal dome that uses far infrared rays (FIR) to gently warm the body and provide a feeling of relaxation and well-being. In addition, it was designed to stimulate blood circulation, accelerate the metabolic exchange between the body and blood vessels to relieve pain, and promote the healing process. Sadie loved spending time under the dome, growing drowsy as her whole body warmed and relaxed, at least until Miss Kitty and Kit Kat, those sneaky little heat-seekers, weaseled in to soak up any extra rays!

  * * *

  In March, Sadie and I had been interviewed by freelance reporter Stephanie Beecher at a friend’s house, and on April 18 Stephanie’s wonderful article ran on the front page of the Wisconsin Gazette, one of the state’s largest and best-known LGBT publications, with the headline SAVING SADIE: LEFT FOR DEAD, ABUSED DOG IS REBORN THROUGH ACTS OF GENEROSITY AND HOPE, followed by a two-page spread.

  The response to the article was fantastic, and we saw a large bump in web traffic and donations after the story ran. At first I was a bit surprised because Sadie and I had no direct or obvious connection to the gay and lesbian community, but the more I thought about it, the more sense it made: Sadie was an underdog, an outsider, a living being often judged by what others “thought” they knew about her just by looking. Sadie had endured and survived violence and prejudice in her life, and unfortunately so many LGBT people could relate to and connect with that experience on a deeply personal level.

  Sadie’s connection to the LGBT community was further solidified in June when we marched (with me pulling Sadie in her wagon) in the Pride Parade at PrideFest Milwaukee, one of the biggest LGBT festivals in the Midwest. The kindness of people was overwhelming and it seemed like just about everyone wanted to meet Sadie, talk to her, and learn more about her situation. Since attending our first PrideFest in 2013, Sadie and I have made it a point to take part in the parade every year, and we have always seen the greatest uptick in website hits, newsletter signups, and online donations in the days just after PrideFest.

  * * *

  As we approached April 24, the one-year anniversary of the day I first found Sadie and both our lives changed forever, I knew I didn’t want the day to pass just like any ordinary day; I wanted it to be special and memorable. Since I had no idea when Sadie had been born, or even knew for sure how old she was, I dubbed April 24 Sadie’s first “re-birthday,” since it marked the day she had truly been reborn into a new life, and I decided to throw a Re-birthday/Silent Auction /Fund-raising Party in honor of this major milestone.

  I wanted to mark the day in a way that would be meaningful not just for Sadie and me but also for all her friends and supporters, for all the people who had helped keep both of us afloat over this past year. Because it was going to be a big party, we needed a big venue. At first we considered holding the party at the Mitchell Park Domes, a horticultural conservatory whose three huge glass domes represent a highly visible longtime landmark on Milwaukee’s south side.

  When we found that staging the party at the Domes wouldn’t work, we instead decided to hold the party beneath the glass atrium on the concourse at the futuristic glass-and-steel Milwaukee Intermodal Station, the city’s main train and bus transportation hub on the edge of downtown. I viewed the party as a way not just to celebrate Sadie (although she was certainly worth it!) and thank all her friends and supporters, but also as a way to raise awareness and support. To that end we arranged a band for live music, games, prizes, snacks and beverages, and birthday cake (of course!) along with the silent auction.

  We went all out preparing for this party, posting messages on social media and arranging advertising. A friend even helped me hire and pay to advertise the party on rotating electronic billboards above three strategic, high-traffic spots around Milwaukee. The huge billboards, done in Sadie’s signature colors of yellow and green, included a close-up headshot of Sadie and proclaimed, “You’re Invited—Sadie’s Re-birthday Party, Sat. April 20, 11–1,” with details on the location and our URL, SavingSadie.com.

  When I drove past one of these billboards for the first time and saw Sadie’s bright, intelligent face with her deep amber eyes staring down at me, I got chills. Here was Sadie, the paralyzed dog from the shelter, the throwaway dog no one wanted, the dog for whom euthanasia was the only “kind” option. But now her message was being broadcast to thousands of people driving past each day. In just over a year
, love and hope and faith and patience had made all this happen. And to think, I thought, we are only just getting started. There are so many more great things to come. There’s nothing Sadie can’t accomplish if she sets her mind to it.

  Things were going so well, until just a few days before the event, when disaster struck and we were told that the Intermodal Station would no longer be available to hold the Re-birthday Party. We scrambled, looking for an alternate venue, worried we’d have to cancel and leave so many people disappointed. Then, amazingly, Andy Bandy, a friend’s boyfriend who owned the Lincoln Warehouse, offered to let us stage the party there.

  The Lincoln Warehouse is a gigantic, five-story, 1920s-era industrial warehouse in the trendy, gentrified Third Ward neighborhood of Milwaukee that has been converted into a modern complex with offices, workshops, and studios for artists and entrepreneurs. This may not have been the ideal location for a party; for example, guests had to take a freight elevator to reach the floor where the party was held, but we were grateful to have found a place on such short notice, and Andy went all out getting the space ready for us by cleaning, painting, decorating, and bringing in and arranging tables and chairs, all so that on the day it looked absolutely fantastic.

  We had to re-do all the flyers, send out mass emails announcing the change of venue, have the location changed on the electronic billboards, and paste notices on the windows at the Intermodal Station on the day of the party, hoping to alert everyone to the change. In the end more than sixty people showed up, the band was brilliant, the party lasted more than the scheduled two hours, and the silent auction raised much-needed money for Sadie’s care. Sadie was the star of the event, as usual, greeting her friends and fans, sitting up in her wagon, posing for pictures, and lapping up all the attention.

  For me, the best part of the whole day was when my daughter Joey arrived at the party with my granddaughter, Miranda, then aged eleven. I had invited them, of course, but I wasn’t sure if they would come. There was still some tension in the family regarding my devotion to Sadie, and I knew they didn’t approve of everything I was doing. So when Joey and Miranda walked in, my heart soared. The three quickly bonded as Sadie fell in love with both of them, casting her magic spell, wagging her tail, and giving them her trademark smile. As I watched the three of them interacting, I could only hope this was the beginning of warmer relations and much better things to come. Baby steps, I reminded myself, baby steps. The more my family sees Sadie and the effect she has on people, the more they will welcome her into the fold. If only they could find it in their hearts to love Sadie as much as I do.

  * * *

  Project Saving Sadie moved into an even more aggressive and dynamic phase that summer as we expanded her media presence and found new and exciting places to hold her meet-and-greets and other events. In May Sadie was honored to have her Saving Sadie logo placed on the back of the Muskego Police Department K9 unit’s squad car. She received this honor because she had been instrumental, along with Dr. Jodie from the Animal Doctor, in helping raise funds for the police department to obtain a dog for their K9 unit.

  Police dogs, as you may know, are often born and receive their early training in Europe and are then flown to their new homes around the world to receive further training, which can take several months, specific to the tasks they will be expected to perform as police dogs—for example, bomb sniffing, drug sniffing, cadaver dogs. Unsurprisingly, this whole process can be very expensive, often costing a local police department up to eighteen thousand dollars to obtain and fully train just one dog. So it was especially gratifying to help bring a dog to Muskego, and also so rewarding to witness all the new ways that we were finding for Sadie to contribute to the community, dipping her paws into more and more arenas.

  * * *

  In July, Sadie marked another important milestone: she started howling! From the time I had adopted her she was never much of a barker or a growler; most of our communication was through eye contact or physical connection. That was why I was so surprised the day I first heard her howl. I was driving to the bank to make a deposit and Sadie was, as usual, my attentive passenger in back, watching people and traffic and buildings flying by, when suddenly she let loose a loud, high, wailing howl, consisting of a series of jangly notes that rose and fell an octave or more before rising again to a bellowing crescendo.

  Sadie! What the heck, Boo-boo! I had to be careful not to swerve into the opposite lane of traffic. A quick glance in the rearview mirror assured me that nothing was amiss; she wasn’t howling out of pain or distress or as a warning. Perhaps she was responding to hearing something I couldn’t hear, her sensitive ears tuning in to one of those mysterious sounds beyond the range of human perception but utterly recognizable (not to mention super exciting!) to dogs.

  Once I realized that nothing was wrong, I let loose with a long, loud responding howl of my own, raising my voice until the windows of my SUV shook with the reverberations. Sadie seemed surprised but then quickly replied, matching my howl with her own, note for excruciating note.

  How silly we must have looked to the people in the cars around us! I didn’t care; I was just so thrilled that Sadie had finally found her voice. Clearly, she was growing stronger, bolder, prouder, and more confident with every month that passed. Little by little, piece by piece, she was rediscovering her identity as the powerful hunting dog she had once been. Sadie was finding and claiming the “real” Sadie that had been inside her all along, further proving that the people who insisted that she’d be broken forever could not have been more wrong.

  Howling became a habit for Sadie and me, an in-joke only the two of us understood. She would howl at sirens and other loud noises, especially when we were driving, and I loved to egg her on, tossing off a howl and expecting her to answer me with her own bigger, louder, more garrulous call, unleashing the full throaty range of her newfound voice.

  * * *

  That fall we were lucky enough to connect with Charmaine Hammond, a well-known inspirational speaker from Canada, and she had Sadie and me as call-in guests on her Think PAWsitive radio program, giving us a fantastic opportunity to develop a new following of friends and supporters north of the border. Charmaine, who was so generous with her time, quickly became a vital member of Team Sadie, becoming a champion for Sadie’s story and making Sadie part of her outreach mission.

  It continued to amaze me, how many new people I met and connected with, from so many different walks of life, and all because of Sadie. She truly made my world, my whole universe, in fact, bigger every single day. I thought I had been living a pretty great life before Sadie came along; apparently, I had no idea what I’d been missing until Sadie opened my eyes.

  * * *

  In our never-ending quest to find new and more effective treatments and therapies for Sadie, at the end of September we began what’s called “muscle testing” with Marty Johnson at Total Health. Muscle testing is a type of holistic alternative treatment that is normally done on humans but can be performed on animals as well. When performed on humans, the patient can either stand up or lie down. Then he or she holds up an arm while the practitioner holds a vial containing a vitamin or mineral near the specific body system being tested while simultaneously pushing down on the person’s arm. If the arm lacks strength and resistance and can be pushed down, then the person is lacking in the vitamin or mineral that’s contained in the vial.

  When muscle testing is performed on an animal, a human is used as a surrogate. The surrogate would place his or her hand on Sadie while the practitioner held the vial with the vitamin or mineral close to Sadie’s various body parts, then pressed on the surrogate’s arm to gauge the resistance. Depending on how the person’s arm reacted, the practitioner could determine what elements Sadie was lacking.

  I saw muscle testing as yet another way to keep Sadie in balance, making sure that she was getting the essential vitamins and nutrients that would balance and complement her special diet and her grueling therapy and exerc
ises. When I had said at the beginning that I was “all-in” where Sadie was concerned, I meant that I was all-in on the very deepest level. There was nothing I would not do for her, no road I would not go down, no idea I would not explore. She was worth it, a fact she proved to me every day.

  * * *

  Sadie and I had had such an amazing experience at the PrideFest parade that summer that I began to think about taking Sadie to Mardi Gras in New Orleans to take part in the famous pet parade. I’d never gone any farther than Madison with Sadie, a ninety-minute drive from home, but I knew that we needed to expand her horizons if we were going to gain support and spread her message beyond just southeast Wisconsin. What Sadie had to teach people about overcoming obstacles and never giving up was too important to limit it to one relatively small geographic region.

  So I began looking for flights from Milwaukee to New Orleans that accepted dogs and allowed them to travel in the cabin with the passengers rather than in a cage in the cargo hold. Sadie, because of her special needs, would never be able to cope with the trauma of being placed beneath the plane in the cargo hold, which is why I needed her at my side, so I could observe her during the flight.

  I looked into mercy flights and angel flights but they didn’t cover situations like Sadie’s. The people I contacted were invariably kind, but they would tell me, “We help disabled people, not disabled dogs,” or “We only rescue dogs from floods.” So I turned my attention to the major U.S. commercial airlines. Based on my research, it looked like they all had a forty-pound limit for dogs allowed in the cabin; heavier dogs were required to travel in cargo, and Sadie was now well over that forty-pound limit.