I need to share some sad news with you. The world has lost two special souls: Nell Ward, and Miss Maddie from our F Litter.
Nell was an active breed volunteer for so many years, focused on Rescue. She was smart and kind and direct. When I was taking Sydney to Las Vegas for an osteosarcoma clinical trial, Nell (and John) opened up their home to us — Nell was so very generous.
Nell and Claire
She did not know this but Nell was one I thought of over the past months when I sat at my computer and felt like I just could not do a blog post. I did not have anything to give or say — and then I thought about her, living with a degenerative disease not unlike ALS, and how many times she had told me that the blog was a bright spot for her.
There were many posts that were for Nell, and it made me feel better — reminding me in my own dark spaces that I still had things to give and people to care about. Thank you, Nell.
Sparkle, Nell, and I
Some of us schemed together to give Nell the gift of a puppy visit by meeting for a puppy pick-up at the facility where John and Nell lived — in the middle of a pandemic and over 700 miles away from my home. Yes, it was a lot after weeks and weeks of 10 + 10 puppies — but it was so worth it. Capella went along and maybe that was where she heard her calling…
Nell’s last text to me was just days before she died and in response to my blog post about the Lucky Irish Socks and Claire’s High in Trial — she wrote this:
I find it so ironic that the last word in that last message was Maddie…
At the age of 13 years, 9 months, and 14 days Miss Maddie needed to leave — her body was tired and could no longer contain her magnificent spirit.
Her life was so very happy and well-loved with her wonderful, kind, and thoughtful humans. It was a perfect match, from start to finish, and my heart is full of gratitude to Barb and her husband.
Farewell, Miss Maddie…
It is so very hard to lose our beloved friends.