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Freedom and Jeff
Freedom and I have been together 10 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.
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 vets
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 with shredded newspaper for
her to lay in. I used to sit and talk to her, urging her to live, to
fight. 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 dog 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 having 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 Wildlife Center 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. Yahoo!
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 pen 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
coarse through his body. I have so many stories like that.
I can never forget the honor I have of being
so close to such a magnificent spirit.
Hope you enjoy this.
Jeff
Jeff
Guidry and Freedom are at Sarvey Wildlife Center http://www.sarveywildlife.org/
"jeff" jeff@sarveywildlife.org
eaglewalker@comcast.net
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