Posted on 02/18/2012 11:12:31 AM PST by Cecily
Jeremy Petersen nearly got his head taken off by a mortar rocket and saw a lot of bad things during three tours in Iraq. After the third tour, Petersen decided to leave the Army and returned home with severe symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. He's easily agitated and doesn't like crowds. He suffers bouts of depression and three or four migraine headaches a week - all hidden wounds of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. At Fort Bliss near El Paso, Texas, where Petersen transitioned into civilian life, doctors approved him for a service dog, a 45-pound mixed-breed of Shar Pei and golden Labrador, a "licker" named Sadie.
(Excerpt) Read more at charlotteobserver.com ...
What a sweetie! So much needs to be done for the veterans, four-legged and two-legged. Right now, all I can do is pray. But I will contribute to Wounded Warriors as soon as possible.
I will send this to a friend who is a veterinarian in Charlotte. Maybe he will help.
Many veterinarians are willing to work out some kind of payment plan with people - they want to give the animals the care they need. They will work with people. They’ve worked with my mom and it wasn’t just for trivial problems. They also sometimes don’t charge for everything, or charge cost for some things.
A good group for all to know about.
http://uan.org/?navid=28
They used to be called United Animal Nations but have changed their name to Red Rover. They give grants to people whose pets are in need of care. I’ve used them for rescue pets a couple times and they gave $200 each time. They send it right to the vet. It’s a wonderful group.
I posted this on my Facebook page. I have a friend who is on there who is a vet (animal doc, not prior military). She lives up around Indianapolis, but you never know...
I pray that your veterinarian friend is more charitable, compassionate and appreciative of the service of our disabled veterans than this veterinarian is reported to be. It made me angry to read this in the article...
"I got upset," Smith said. " ... I showed the ophthalmologist Sadie's 'service dog' tag. I told her my son spent three tours in Iraq and without this dog, he has no chance of having whatever normal life he can hope to have....They said they'd give us a 10-percent discount."
I spoke with my veterinarian friend. He says he is a general practitioner and not able to do this kind of work, nor does he have this kind of equipment. He had already heard of this case and said the dog was at the right kind of specialist, but he thought it probably was cancer. So it really doesn’t sound promising.
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