Let me start by saying, this has been one of the most tumultuous years of my life. I feel like I’m plagiarizing Charles Dickens’s words by saying it’s been the best of times, it’s been the worst of times; but it really is the truth. This year I’ve watched my mom valiantly fight and eventually succumb to a battle with ovarian cancer. I lost my dad at the age of 5-days-old. As you can imagine, Mom was my heart; and we were always so close. I lost her December 10, 2002. She was diagnosed in April 2001 shortly after I had had a lumbar fusion of three vertebrae. I found myself unable to work in my former position as a physical therapist without severe pain—I had gone back to school in 1994 and graduated in 1996 to be able to be a physical therapist. I loved the work immensely and have never known more joy in a career. I was one of these people who were truly blessed to love their work. Then I find out my mom has ovarian cancer…at the time of her diagnosis it had spread to the point that her physician would have had to take 90% of her intestines to get it all. Some of you may be familiar with ovarian cancer because of the loss of a loved one or you may know one of the few survivors who had their cancer caught early. Typically, it’s a very sneaky cancer and a woman doesn’t know she has it until it is bad. Regular checkups and PAP smears do not show it. I knew at that moment when he told me how extensive her cancer truly was that I was going to lose her…not that day, but one day. The summer of 2001, I was in the pits of despair.
Enter Fall 2001 at SEPRA’s Pugfest and experience divine intervention…I met the neatest lady! Her name is Sherry. She and her husband and Pugs just so happened to be staying next door to me at a hotel outside Atlanta. She told me she had been looking for me EVERYWHERE! She even had her husband’s detective agency trying to find me! I had written an article to Pug Talk and had submitted a picture of my Pugs with gleeful faces on the way to Pugfest 2000. She saw my name and that I lived in Mississippi. She proceeded to tell me about Alabama Pug Rescue & Adoption which I didn’t even know existed! I was thrilled to no end to know that there was a Pug rescue organization within 2 - hours of me!
I had four Pugs: Mugsy, Louie, Heidi and Buster; and it had long been a desire of mine to be involved in a Pug rescue organization. When Sherry told me I needed to meet Pam Mayes, I made it my goal to meet Pam Mayes. I wanted to help…I needed to help. I needed to feel that I could be of some help in some way. Even though I helped my mom by taking her to weekly chemo, doctor’s appointments, daily shots, keeping her house, buying her groceries, doing everything I could for her, I knew I was going to lose her. I would never say it, and I never gave up hope of a miracle, but my heart knew the truth. I needed to know that in some way I could make a difference and help a life start over. The ways I’ve been able to help have been simple…assisting in transporting a Pug from a shelter to Birmingham, taking a Pug to its new home or foster care, making doggie sweaters to raise money for rescue, donating money. I, like many, failed as a foster parent and couldn’t part with my foster baby…hence Angel joined our family. She is a pure delight…a mixture of imp and angel. She was left outside on a chain because her former owner couldn’t housebreak her. Today she is very well housebroken and the most loving, grateful creature you could imagine. She has my beloved husband totally wrapped around her little paw!
In addition to being able to help these furbabies, I have been blessed beyond belief by the APRA team. Sherry and her husband Robert freely opened their home to me during the times my mother was hospitalized in Jackson, MS…one of her hospitalizations was for six weeks. I couldn’t have survived the stress of that time without Sherry, Robert and their Pugs, Koko, Teady, Princess and Maggie (Maggie is an APRA adoptee, too!). The precious other members of APRA have prayed for me, supported me with their friendship and concern, and have been there when I needed to talk. I have the best of friends in APRA because we understand each other…everyone else thinks we’re nuts for loving these little four-legged, snoring, sneezing sweeties, but we know they are angels in fur coats. All the APRA team knows that in a world of change, the love we receive from these babies is constant. The one thing I could count on during the last year, besides the love and support of my precious husband, Lee, was that my Pugs loved me—and my friends at APRA did, too! The rest of the world can be mad at you, you can have the worst day at work, but when you come home these babies will love you just the same. I’ve heard Pam say over and over that these Pugs give her more than she gives to them…it’s hard to believe that knowing what all Pam does. But it’s true. The lessons they teach us about tenacity, joy, love, appreciation…it’s incredible what a four-legged angel can teach us. I have yet to see a Pug give up their fight for life or their joy in life. They aren’t quitters and with the example they have given me, how can I be a quitter? If only we could be more like our Pugs, the world would be a better and more loving place. Thank you APRA for being my sounding board, for allowing me to help these babies in some way, and for being my friends. I don’t know what I’d have done the last year…especially the last month…without all of you. God has blessed me and taken care of me through it all…He led me to all of you.
Pughugs!
MC
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