Freedom the Eagle-Revisited (OT)

[Guest guest]

Winning

Picture and Story...

&

WHAT A STORY IT IS..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Freedom and Jeff

 

When Freedom

came in she could not stand. Both wings were broken, her left wing in

4 places. 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 dowl cage; and

there she was, standing on her own, a big beautiful eagle. S he 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-hodgkins 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 & take

Freedom out for walks. Freedom would also come to me in my dreams and

help me fight the cancer. This happened time & 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,

& Freedom has some kind of hold on them. I once had a guy who was

terminal come up to us & I let him hold her. His knees just about

buckled and he swore he could feel her power coarse 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's.

 

 

 

 

Hope you

enjoy this.

 

 

 

 

Jeff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jeff Guidry and Freedom are at

 

 

Sarvey

Wildlife Center

 

 

 

http://www.sarveywildlife.org/

 

 

 

 

'jeff' <jeff

 

 

 

 

eaglewalker