Nubs

Animal rescue has always been a huge part of my life. I have no idea how many wild and domesticated animals too young to survive on their own or hurt have come though our doors.

There's one in particular I'll always have a special place in my heart. It's quite the story.

I'll never forget the phone call for me to race home, my dads heart had ruptured and his lungs were filling with blood. I was in the back seat of my friends car, headed home from Nashville, he flew, I honestly wondered if I'd die in a wreck but I didn't care, I was thankful he was willing to do so to hopefully make it in time.

I made it to the Emergency room in time! My dad was unconscious but I prayed he heard me and would fight with all his might. I did also tell him if my request was too selfish and he was hurting I understood if he needed to go. My dad made it though the night! It was such an unexpected miracle!

We'd all been up all night long, exhausted, not eaten, I received a phone call, I thought a friend checking in, she told me bout this pup missing legs and the mom had rejected it.

I told her I couldn't leave the hospital, in fear I wouldn't be there when my dad passed. She drove that pup to Erlanger with a bottle and some formula.

I snuck the puppy in my sling bag and shoved my finger in his mouth to keep him from crying. He was so hungry and dehydrated he latched right onto my finger.

I honestly dreaded this situation, the reality.... I was so emotionally and physically exhausted already. I knew that the pup probably also had internal deformities as well and would probably die in my hands in the hospital and I'd have to sneak him out to burry in the bushes of the hospital.

For days we were all at the hospital praying my dad would survive. Yes days, my dad survived days. It came time for big decisions, take him off the life support, or massive open heart surgery that even if he survived odds were not good because of how much blood was in his lungs.

My dad was DNR and no drastic measures.... my mom somehow over ruled and the doctors preformed massive open heart surgery and used a pig's valve to fix his heart. Every day my dad grew stronger, and the pup got a nickname, Nubs.

Both my dad and Nubs survived their rocky situations and are both alive and so strong to this day.