Lourie's Story

By Lourie Campos

I grew up knowing that dogs just make things better. I've always had a dog. My dogs have all been very smart, seemingly in tune to how I was feeling. Still, Woody is special: it's almost as if he knows what I'm thinking all the time. In April 1997, the day before my brother's wedding, I was diagnosed with stage III, endometrial cancer, and through all my treatments, Woody was by my side. Surgery made EVERYTHING uncomfortable. My beautiful german-shepard helped me out of bed in the morning by letting me lean on him as I slowly got up. Walking was also difficult. Woody always walked behind to nudge me along. I'd feel his cold nose against the back of my leg letting me know that he was there if I needed him. I never felt alone.

A couple days after one of my treatments, I was very nauseous and not at all hungry (you know). Woody, hearing me say that I didn't want to eat, went to his dog dish, scooped up as much dry dog food as he could in his mouth, then brought it over and dumped it on my bed. He looked up at me and barked, as if to say, "Please eat." He's been looking out for me ever since.

Before I returned to work after being out for 6 months, I hired a professional pet photographer to take pictures of Woody and I in the park across the street to celebrate our time together. It would be my first real picture after my diagnosis since losing my hair was very hard for me. But, Laura the photographer, was great and the pictures came out perfect! I loved them so much I had several prints made and gave them to my family and close friends, including my doctors for Christmas! It was my way of proving to everyone that I'm doing just fine…that I was going to be okay.

I can't believe that it's been almost 3 years. I'm feeling great and Woody is still making me laugh and watching out for me. I'm at work full-time now and have a FULL head of hair! Woody and I don't have as many afternoons together, but that's okay. He's no longer sad in the morning when I leave for work like he used to be before that fateful day. Instead he wags his tail like crazy, looks up at me and barks as loud as he can, as if to say, "Go get 'em!" Woody is proof that dogs DO just make things a WHOLE lot better!

Lourie Campos