Friday, September 06, 2013

AN EAGLE KISS....................................................



Freedom and Jeff

 Freedom and I have been together 11 years this summer. 

 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.
   When 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 vet's 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 us.
 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.
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 course 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 
 Freedom.

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