The Miracles of An Eagle Named "Freedom"

Someone sent me the following story and I thought it was a magical story of hope, miracles and inspiration. I hope you enjoy it. ~ Carla

Freedom is an American Bald Eagle and she 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. 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 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 to 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 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 the 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.

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 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 we met.

This is a very special bird. 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 terminally ill 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 will never forget the honor I have had of being so close to such a
magnificent spirit as Freedoms.

 ~ The author is Jeff Guidry who is with Freedom
at the Sarvey Wildlife Center http://www.sarveywi ldlife.org ~