A feel-good story

It would be so incredibly easy to write about some local tragedy, or a lengthy diatribe about the state of national and international politics, but what good would that do? We already have enough stress and strife in our lives, the news is so crappy every day, so instead I'm going to write about a lovely letter I received yesterday.

Several months ago, I'd have to say in the early spring, there was a news story about a golden retriever named Pickle, whose family could not afford to pay for his hip dysplasia surgery. We sent a donation to the surgery fund which I forgot all about until yesterday, when I received a really sweet letter from the woman who organized the donation drive. Her name is Lori Shorr and she lives in Carnation, a small town off Highway 2 in the North Cascades. She works at the animal hospital where Pickle received his treatment. Lori also raises guide dogs for the blind.

Lori's mission in life is to help others. Why? Because at the age of 31, Lori was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent chemo and radiation, only to find out that the cancer came back 4 months later, so she had to have chemo and radiation for a year!!! Her cancer was gone, but the treatment destroyed her heart. She was put on the transplant list and within 3 hours, a perfect match was found and she received a new heart. Lori wanted to give something back, so she started trying to help Pickle by making and selling bandanas. She also contacted the Issaquah Press newspaper who spread the word to all the Seattle news networks.

Lori collected $5,000 in donations for Pickle's surgery. He is a happy, healthy doggie now, and grateful to his human helper. Pickle's family has since moved to Florida and at last word, he's doing great.

While looking for a dog on PetFinders.com, Lori came across George, another golden retriever in Vancouver, BC, only 11 months old and suffering from hip dysplasia and he needed total hip replacement surgery. Lori still had $2,225 left over from the Pickle donations, so she donated it to Canada West Vet Specialists & Critical Care Hospital. Needless to say, they were absolutely thrilled with the donation.

Thanks to Lori Shorr's efforts, two sweet dogs got a new lease on life. I've tried to put some cute golden retriever puppy pictures on here but they won't upload!!