It is Easter Sunday and two things weigh heavily on my soul as I pen this week’s tale. One is that God gave us dominion over all His creatures, and second, His words, “What you do for the least of these, you do for Me.”

Before I go into the crux of my story I want to announce some good news. St. Pat (a.k.a. little Patricia) has been placed in a loving environment. Copper, our 10-year-old miniature Poodle, was adopted by Dorian at Landrum Vet and has settled in wonderfully. Prince is doing well at Forever Dream Senior Sanctuary and Verna has also taken Squiggles, the 10–year-old lap cat, until we hopefully can find an empty lap for him to fill.

Last week I spoke of Jax, a 2 ½-year-old Chihuahua-Pom mix with two broken legs. I will now tell the whole story of this brave and loving little trooper.

The people who owned Jax already had a bad reputation for mistreating animals. A relative had witnessed Jax dragging his two hind legs in obvious pain. Jax was picked up and brought to FHS shelter, who then contacted me to see if I’d help. I’ve been in this situation before and I refuse to help an animal and then give it back to irresponsible people. I sent word that I would help Jax only if the dog was turned over to me, which, thank God, did happen.

X-rays were sent to Upstate Veterinarian Specialists and the fee to repair Jax’s legs was $6,000. I okayed the operation and my good friend and fellow rescuer brought Jax to UVS for me since I was a bit incapacitated. I spoke with Dr. Allen, their head of surgery, and as always begged for some help with the fee. Keith (Dr. Allen) brought the fee down to $4,800 and the final cost from my funds was $4,400.

After the operation I received a call from UVS letting me know Jax’s status. “He’s a great little dog, Mr. Rizzo, a real trooper and he should recover nicely. He has pins in each leg and the bones have been set nicely considering the trauma he’s been through.”

“What do you think happened?” I asked.

“Best case scenario is that Jax was probably struck by a car but his injuries are at least two weeks old.”

I nearly dropped the phone as I began to sob uncontrollably. “He’ll be okay Mr. Rizzo,” came the voice on the other end of the phone and I could sense the poor doctor fighting back tears of his own.

“Like I said, he’s a trooper,” the vet said.

Jax is at Landrum Vet recouping and as you can see he’s already wormed his way into Uncle Lennie’s heart. I promised him that I’d do all that I can to see he has a better life.

I told him of a promise I made to our Heavenly Father that I will do all that I can to pick up the pieces from those who are careless with His creations.

Thanks for listening.