The Legacy of Hero
What Hero means to me
We would still feel very privileged if everyone would copy a picture of Hero off this page and make it their profile picture on Facebook on February 14, 2012, as well as ask all of your friends to do the same. If they ask why, send them to this page. More pictures of Hero are at the bottom of this page.
It has taken us here a couple days to fully realize the effects of Sunday, in being that Hero has taken his trip North of the Rainbow Bridge.
I know that he is very happy there as well as in perfect health now and all of the other Siberian Huskies are teaching him all kinds of new things and he is jumping and playing to his little hearts content.
We here have been making all kinds of new friends all the time here in the online community especially in attempting to help Hero as much as we could.
Our Hu Dad used to be a special events coordinator with a major Pizza chain here in Ohio, and when he asked us what we thought about the idea, what could we say? Go for it! As long as you don't forget about us, and does that mean more nom noms?
And quite honestly he is amazed about all of the the positive influence that it has towards helping Hero and Alley with the bills.
We first met Hero, in stumbling across his Chip In that was put up by Alley when she first got him and needed help in getting him to the vet doctor to help him. We began to share Hero's Chip-In that Alley had posted on a Facebook Page. To us this little guy did not deserve the situation that someone threw in into at the shelter to start with, we were all upset. We were going how can you have a puppy like this and not take him to get medical help? Then allowing ourselves to think a bit deeper, we found ourselves thinking; How you you give a Christmas present such as Hero and stand by and allow him to go to the shelter because of he having seizures? When he needs medical attention! Did they not have the money or know who or where to turn? And why is he so young? He should still be with mama. We all feel that the person who gave the gift was not responsible enough, they should not have given the gift to start with. Giving a pet as a gift must have some responsibility to go along with it. With the giver as well as the person who receives the gift.
Someone did not stop and think!
If that person who gave the gift were responsible enough to oversee enough to follow up on Hero, Alley may have never met Hero. And all of us would not know about him as well.
Hero is a special kind of Siberian Husky, who needed everyone's help. And he was getting it, especially ours. He may be in L.A., California with Alley, and we may be in west central Ohio, but in trying to help him, we felt no distance at all. That was a very good feeling to us here. To this day if he were still with us we would still want to take the long trip just to see and meet this miracle.
We decided to help Hero and Alley by putting up Hero's original Chip In widget on this blog page, and attempt to help.
Our wonderful friends at FiveSibes did the same. Together we promoted Hero's Chip In together with no real communication with Alley at all. Here was Hero, it was right after Christmas and all of the Christmas Spirit was still going strong along with everyone beginning to get ready for New Year's Eve. That is one bad wrap for this fur pal. Just in a few days we saw Hero's Chip-In meet it's goal and then surpass it. We were all so happy as well as amazed we were all wooing and jumping around. It gave us such a fantastic feeling inside to see that Alley would be able to take care of Hero now.
We kept following Hero's story through Alley posting things and saw that he had been taken in for the much needed medical assistance that he needed as well as having his seizures brought under control. We were also thinking Alley would be able to save the funds to find out the cause of this little guys seizures, so he could live a normal long life and find a good loving forever home, that is, if Alley would decide not to keep him with her forever.
But unfortunately this situation was short-lived because Hero began to have seizures again. This time his seizures were getting worse and more frequent. Alley had said that he had had 8 seizures or more within a 24 hour period and that it seems that the medication that the doctor had put him on was not working.
Inside that gave us a feeling of NO!!! this cannot be happening. As things turned out, the same time a someone who was extremely persistent of wanting to adopt Hero began to put pressure on Alley because of her refusal to go forward with an adoption because of his condition and she had yet determine the underlying causes of the seizures.
We all here thought that Hero may be EPI.
Between the two things going on at the same time speaking with Alley showed us here that she was about to have a breakdown. We here decided to make a Hero Day on Feb 14th to show our support for Hero. Valentines Day to show Hero just how much everyone loves and supports him as well as Alley and give her a sense of someone is there and someone is listening in a positive kind of way. We were also thinking that if Alley needed to raise more funds Hero Day might benefit her as well as Hero to get him back into see the doctor faster.
Alley allowed a supporter of hers Kimberly to get a commissioned drawing of Hero by the artist Alisa Bradish in order to sell, as a fundraiser to get Hero in for a much needed MRI and Cat scan. And this started to be sold on Lily's Pad Pet Supplies website in Pennsylvania.
We all here LOVE our Hero Poster.
Between the two things we hoped that Alley would be able to raise the extra funds needed.
We were all extremely happy to hear it when Alley had the funds raised and Hero's appointment was made.
The doctors ended up telling Alley the results of the MRI and she relayed it to all of us, that Hero had a small pocket of fluid on his brain and that was causing the seizures, some aggression and the loss of eyesight. She also said that he needed surgery to put a shunt in to slowly drain the fluid and his young age made him a great candidate for surgery with success. Without the surgery his condition would continue to go downhill. She also told us all that there was no way that the rescue could afford the surgery, that even with the rescue discount the price would be between $7000.00 to 9000.00. Alley was very heartbroken and did not know what way to turn. We here did not like seeing Alley like this. Followers were telling her to get another Chip-In started at that time.
Alley was not capable of dealing with setting up another Chip-In after the news that she had to tell us all that night, she was devastated. She asked if anyone could set one up for her.
We told our Hu Dad that he needed to jump into the middle of this and help Alley NOW!
Hero is an Honest To God Hero in many ways because of the way he always bounces back from things and surprises everyone, even us, the way only a Hero would do. We told our Hu Dad that he is better than Underdog! He needed help!
So all of us here set up a SAVE HERO Chip-IN for Alley with the information she gave to us.
We, as well as many of Hero's followers and supporters honestly did not want to see Hero euthanized after everything he had been through with the solving the issue of his seizures so close. And that the doctors did say it should be a success and it sounded like his chances were great!
We here looked at the chances of another Chip-In for Hero succeeding and saw a good chance of it with all of the followers as well as supporters that Hero and Alley has had already going for them. The Chip-In along with the Drawings that were being sold. The only major concern being that Hero needs this surgery immediately!
With Hu Dad deciding to jump in with both feet to help Alley the best he could, by setting up the most recent Chip-In for Hero as well as trying to give all of her supporters a chance to help in more ways than just make a donation for Hero. Most people who knew about Hero had already made donations and asking for more and more would not a proper thing to do and could burden some, as well as make them feel bad about not being able to donate. So we asked everyone to please help Hero by helping us tell everyone, we need to get Hero's situation and story out to everyone, then ask them to tell everyone. We asked our friends at FiveSibes who had also been following Hero's plight to join in and so on it went. We also attempted to make a media statement up for supporters to be able to contact TV stations as well as newspapers and beyond with the assistance of FiveSibes.
Everybody was busy doing something to help the cause. Everyone was joining in and working together, there was supporters making up their own posters and putting them in Hospitals and Vet offices and anywhere else they were being allowed to.
Alley made an announcement one person donated $4000.00 towards Hero's surgery!
That really has made a difference because that was enough funds to get him in for the much needed surgery, with the rest payable. As time was of an essence. Everyone was continuing to work hard at raising funds for Hero as well as tell everyone that they knew and could. When the time came for Hero's surgery everyone was glued Alleys Facebook page as well as the blogs that had been following Hero's status for word of the outcome of the surgery. We all here were on edge with anticipation, we all had a very good feeling about what the outcome would be and our prayers and thoughts had been with Hero since the time we awoke.
Alley gave us the word "The surgery was successful in they drew some of the fluid out and got the shunt in but just as they were done his heart stopped, he quit breathing and they had to go into CPR. Hero is very critical and not at all stable at this time, Dr. wants us to be prepared that he may not make it but they will do everything they can."
All of our hearts drew a bit heavy, but we had confidence, we all know Hero by now, he will just bounce back, just watch!
We all stayed around our computer, working on raising funds to pay his medical bill, but wanting to hear those words from Alley that she had not received any bad news.
Unfortunately that only lasted a while, she communicated that "Hero is not doing well, bleeding internally and we are loosing him as the Doctors just told me. They have given him blood and fluids but he is dying. I had to authorize them to go back in and try and find the source. The Doctors state either we go back in and try and save him or we lose him for sure."
Eternity seemed to pass and Alley communicated "Just spoke with one of the 3 surgeons on Hero, he is still in surgery, they are unable to locate any particular vessel or bleeding area, they think he may have an underlying problem with his clotting factor. He is still in surgery and things are not looking good were the doctors words."
We did not know what to say or how to feel at his point, we were all just becoming numb. The Christmas Miracle as we have come to love and admire in our heart was in trouble and there was nothing that we could do but continue to believe in him and pray, pray & pray. FiveSibes even put out a support video for Hero which I have added at the bottom of this page. There has to be something! We were thinking the doctors we were sure they know how to thicken the blood so it will clot but do they have enough time? Maybe something is up with his blood counts as well ? We were looking for answers of why what was happening was happening.
Then some time later Alley communicated "I am so sorry and sad to tell you all that our Hero passed at 5:51pm."
Hu Dad had to run and give all 4 of us fur kids a big hug and look into our faces for some consolation and comfort. That helped a lot but we had to keep saying to ourselves that this could not be happening!
Our hearts felt honestly like we had known Hero most of our life and and we had just lost someone very special that could not be replaced ever.
That night when Hu Dad went to sleep he came to tell us, that he had a dream about Hero. That he was in the waiting room waiting for news on Hero, the surgeon came out and had his head bowed and then raised his head and looked him in the eyes and said I'm sorry there was nothing more we could do. Would you like to see him? Hu Dad told us he was almost in tears walking into to see him. He told us that he knelt down and put his hand on Hero's paw and just closed his eyes, and started to talk to Hero and pray. All of a sudden he took his paw out from under his hand and put it on top of his hand. He then told us that thinking he was dreaming he opened his eyes and Hero was there with his paw on top of his hand and his eyes were open just looking at him in an understanding way. Hu Dad then said he woke up finding all of us, sound asleep using him as a pillow.
How can we say this dream really happened to our Hu Dad, except by deciding that all of us here at Siberian Nation would like to make an Annual Hero Day. And backing it with effort as well as our love for Hero.
We are going to continue to have Hero Day on Feb. 14, 2012 and would like everyone to make their default Facebook picture a picture of Hero.
On that day or shortly before we will let everyone know when Hero Day will be every year. By Alley announcing it.
With everyone jumping into help Hero, and putting their all into it, looking back the results were astounding. The word of Hero's plight definitely got out. Just out of the Siberian Nation blog page we show that Hero's story was read by people in 29 different counties since the time that it was originally posted and that is not counting everyone's combined effort to spread the word about Hero to raise funds for his surgery. I know that Alley, us here at Siberian Nation as well as everyone at FiveSibes and Lily's Pad Pet Supplies would like to say a very heartfelt Thank You for everyone that has participated.
We here believe that God gave Hero to Alley for a reason, not to place blame on anyone, or to condone how short Hero's life with us all was. We believe that God placed Hero with us here on earth to open our eyes to some things. There are many people and companies or organizations as well as websites that will spread the word on common pet responsibilities, and some people separate even that into social classes of well. But they all leave out one major thing. The common followup responsibility practices and resources that assist there when you give a pet as a gift of both parties involved.
I'm sure that there are many shelters around the world that would have someone drop off a pet because of a medical condition. The shelter finds out that they can not or do not want find a forever home for the pet because of a medical condition and they are PTS. This is a sad fact. God saw that this shelter contacted Alley about Hero.
In the time that we have been following Hero since right after Christmas we have found out more out about Alley. She has not just taken in Hero, but many others with medical conditions as well and they are all getting the treatment they need. And I will say that she does this on a regular basis providing her income. There are many rescues around the world but how many of them actually have gone for more of the pets that have medical conditions than not, and gets them back on their feet and then finds them new forever homes? If you know of one please let us know here at Siberian Nation or contact Alley because there is a common bond there. For those who do not know this Alley does operate a rescue. It is called Alleys Rescued Angels
To us here her actions have been that of a True Angel for many others as well as Hero. They could not have found a better name. It is one that we have seen proven every day and day out.
There are also many people who give a Siberian Husky or other dog or pet everyday as a gift to someone, whether it be a little puppy such as Hero, or a full grown Great Dane to someone. Do they both know if there is any out of the way medical issues? Are they ready or even willing to take an issue on like this?
There are I am sure, that will, but which direction do they turn? Sometimes a simple vet visit is all that is needed. But with Hero the story was like that of others I am sure. Seizures, what does that mean? What do I do or need to do? There can be an underlying issue possibly Epilepsy or deficiencies , or a more heartfelt moment of the problem with Hero. There is much still to be learned in the medical community about this in canines, and is a very active field in research to this day.
Our annual Hero Day will be designated by Alley as the day she first met Hero. For that is the day a miracle was starting to happen here in the online pet community with Hero. It will consist of 3 activities.
- November is Epilepsy Awareness month, the same month as Thanksgiving. Most research into Seizures comes from this study. As they do their fundraisers as well as promotions. As Hero was having seizures and having a hard time being diagnosed much more research needs to be done.
- Hero Day - The Legacy of Hero: A day set aside to Honor Hero as well to highlight a yearly fundraiser for Alley's Rescued Angels in memory of Hero which will enable her to continue being the True Angel for so many. The fundraiser will go from November 1st thru January 2nd as this would be the time leading up to her busiest time in trying to save many.
- During the holiday season many pets are given as gifts, that is the best time to spread the word about the best practices to give a pet as a gift as well as doing it responsibly.I see what Hero means to me.Here is a great video showing a great pawcircle of support for Hero as he was in surgery on Sunday Jan.29th 2012 made by our friends at FiveSibes.
Saving One Dog Will Not Change The World
BUT
Saving One Dog Will Change That Dogs World Forever!
Alley is still accepting donations to help cover Hero's medical bill, anyone liking to participate may do so by the Hero's Chip In or at Lily's Pad Pet supplies by purchasing a wonderful drawing of Hero.
I wish that I knew everyone's name that has helped so a Special Thank You could go out on this page but there is no way to list everyone, but feel free to make a comment in the comments box below and just say "I Helped Hero" if you would like to.
A Special Thank You does go out to one person from Siberian Nation - This person should know who she is, and we hope she brought tissues before she reads this page!
Here are a couple more pictures to choose from for your Facebook Page
