Miracle of Turner Turnpike: Part One

“Is that a dog?” Jessie Hinther pointed to a crumpled black mass on the side of the road as they drove under the overpass. As Valarie looked to where her husband indicated, a small face lifted its head and made eye contact with her. Valarie’s heart sank. It was a dog.

Probably a lost dog that got hit by a car, Valarie thought, hoping someone would stop to help. Passing another mile marker, though, Valarie couldn’t take the thought of that poor dog alone on the side of the road with Semi-trucks roaring past.

“Turn around,” she told Jessie.

As they went back to the dog, Valarie noticed blood in the matted fur of the dog’s chest. Knowing they needed to get to a vet right away, they carefully started loading the dog in the car. As they did, however, the Highway Patrol pulled up behind them.

“You folks find a couple of dogs?” the officer asked as he got out of his car.

“A couple?” Jessie asked, “We found one that needs a vet quickly.”

The officer explained how the Highway Patrol had received a call that two dogs had been thrown off the seventeen-foot overpass. Valarie’s heart sank even further as the three of them searched unsuccessfully. Unfortunately, they needed to get the dog they had found to the vet.

Giving up the search, Valarie and Jessie rushed to Halo Animal Hospital.

After explaining the situation to the staff, the vets got to work right away. After some time, the staff came back out to update the Hinthers. The Labradoodle had no broken bones or internal bleeding, but her ACLs were torn on her hind legs, probably due to the impact from being thrown off the bridge. The most shocking injury of all, though, was that she had been shot in the chest.

Despite her injuries, she was going to pull through, but would need surgery, which they would perform for a fraction of the cost.

Valarie and Jessie breathed a sigh of relief. Later unable to find her owners, they decided they would take the dog in, as they already had another Labradoodle named Marlee. Miracle, as they named her, would fit right in as a new member of their family.