Our son Matthew decided that he wanted to help pay for his college by signing up with the Ohio National Guard.  My husband and I did not have the money to send him to college.  This was before the Iraq War.  Matthew got Layla his dog when she was 6 weeks old.  He performed all of National Guard duties and about a year into the war they pulled him out of college to go to war.  Soldiers give up everything to go to war and I did not want him to have to say good bye to his dog and give her away, so his father and I decided that we would keep her for him while he was in Iraq.  This is one of a parent’s worst nightmares, to send your son or daughter into harms way.  When you hug and kiss them at their send off you realize that could be the last time you will ever see them alive.  I got breast cancer while my son was in Iraq but I still wrote to him every day.  I had remembered someone saying that getting a letter over there was like Christmas.  So if I could give him a little Christmas everyday then that was what I wanted to do.

While Matthew was in Iraq he saw a Jeep on the Internet that he wanted to buy and so he did.  His dad and I picked up the Jeep and brought it back home.  It was all opened up one summer day and Layla hopped up into it.  It was like she knew what Matthew needed and I was able to capture it on film.  I sent her picture in a travel alarm clock that recorded her bark.  This picture reminds me that Layla was driving our son home from Iraq.  In reality, “I Thank God” for bringing him home to us.

FYI – Four years later I am still fighting breast cancer only now it has gone into my bones.  I am staying happy and positive as I am a fighter.

Layla was also a great healer for me as she was with me after all my surgeries.  She has personality plus.

She could use this money as she now has seizures and has to have an operation.  She also has to see a heart doctor for an enlarged heart.  I have faith that she will be alright.