Eagle story- Freedom- Thanks Marge R!

 Spirit of the life force

Not many people get a picture of this proud bird snuggled up next to them! Freedom and   Jeff Freedom and  I have been  together 11 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  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 4-6 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. Hope you  enjoyed  this!      A SMALL REQUEST... 93% won't forward, but I'm Sure You Will. A small request.....Just one line All  you are asked to do is  keep this circulating. Even if it's only  to one more  person. In memory of anyone you know who has  been struck  down by cancer or is still living with  it Or  just someone who enjoys a  GREAT  STORY