COMPASSION Chapter 1: Introduction with my story and how I left my corporate job to rescue goats. Studying factory farming led me to becoming vegan and I developed an instant COMPASSION for farm animals. (Something I don't talk about... I tested positive for a potentially horrible autoimmune disease and decided to start living my life to the fullest.)
FINDING PURPOSE Chapter 2: The story of my first two rescue goats, Ansel & Petal, from a local cruelty case. Ansel and Petal were found in a back yard among almost 200 other sick, starving and freezing baby farm animals. There were piles of corpses all over the property. Ansel was very sick with E. coli, and nurturing him back to health from the brink of death was my AWAKENING, and I discovered my PURPOSE.
PERSERVERENCE Chapter 3: Angel was my first special needs goat and a double amputee due to frostbite. The first vet who saw her, before she came to GOA, amputated one of her legs up to her hip because he didn't want her back stumps to be uneven. Doing that ruined her chances of every walking with prosthetics and she would be cart-bound for life. Her rehabilitation has been on-going for over a year, and there were many times I thought she would give up, but she has a strong will to live and she keeps working. Her first year of life has been two steps forward and one step back with lots of highs and lows. She continues to teach me PERSERVERENCE each and every day.
CONFIDENCE Chapter 4: Miles was physically, the most drastic transformation. I was able to find a surgeon who would take a chance at a risky surgery that would straighten his legs, and after eight months of weekly visits to our vet, it finally paid off. Miles has remained sweet, happy and lovable in spite of all he has been through. Today he walks upright on a prosthetic. This successful transformation gave me the much needed CONFIDENCE to accept future special needs goats with intimidating physical deformities.
JUSTICE Chapter 5: Grace was rented by teenage boys for $10 to be used as entertainment for their party. She was abused and when we got her, she was emaciated, traumatized and near death. I have never wanted to fight for JUSTICE more. The laws protecting farm animals are horrible and in Grace's case, justice was not served. I am now working with lobbyists to change that and pass what will be called "Grace's Law".
PATIENCE Chapter 6: Polly's growth and rehabilitation has taught me PATIENCE. Because Polly is blind with neurological issues, progress has been extremely slow. Just teaching Polly to eat hay took eight months, but she is slowly becoming an independent, healthy adult goat.
INSPIRATION Chapter 7: Cherry suffered from a neurological disorder closely resembling autism in human children. She lived in what I often referred to as "Cherry's World". Our followers fell in love with Cherry, more so than with most of the other goats and I wondered why. Cherry stayed to herself, did not socialize with other goats, but was happy living in her own world. She had lots of quirks, moved very slowly and loved to explore or take an hour to chew on a single leaf. I realized that many of our followers were identifying with Cherry in some way. With autism being so prevalent, I received countless messages from parents with autistic children, telling me how much they RELATED to or were INSPIRED by Cherry. It was through Cherry, that I realized that people were relating to our baby goats for different reasons because they are battling some of the same disabilities as many of our followers are.
MERCY Chapter 8: Though I only had Charlotte for a few days, she taught me that at times I just need to have MERCY. I learned that as hard as I try, I just cannot save them all and there will be times, like with Charlotte, that I have to make that gut wrenching decision to end their life of suffering. Ending Charlotte's life was one of the hardest days of mine.
STRENGTH Chapter 9: Josie and Emma were twins born with severe physical and neurological defects. Though they seemed content, it became clear that they would never walk. Sadly, just as Emma began to learn to push herself around in her cart, she passed away from heart failure. It was through Josie and Emma that I learned to ACCEPT the fact that I would be hospice to some of my rescued babies and make their lives as happy and comfortable as I can until they go. Hospice is something I never imagined I would have the STRENGTH to endure.
COURAGE Chapter 10: Lawson came to us with deformed hind legs. While exploring surgical options, we learned that he also has several other congenital defects including a large VSD (hole in his heart), bilateral heart murmer, ventricular septal defect, kidney failure and anemia. Lawson was given weeks to months to live but I decided to fight for his life. I learned to have COURAGE to do the impossible. I was told that the only chance at saving Lawson, was to find a pediatric heart surgeon to perform the surgery. The problem, was that you cannot take a goat for surgery at a human hospital and veterinary hospitals do not have bypass machines because open heart surgeries just are not done. Well, we did the impossible and found a pediatric heart surgeon who offered to bring her entire surgical team, and the cardiac bypass equipment to a veterinary hospital. It has taken weeks to organize and it is happening. This will be the first open heart surgery on a baby goat, that we know of. No matter the outcome, I am thankful that I had the COURAGE to try.
