Not many people get a picture of this proud bird snuggled up next to them.
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.
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 on.
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's.
Hope you enjoy this.
Jeff Guidry