Eric O’Grey was told he only had five years
left to live in 2010.
He had type-2 diabetes, weighed 340 pounds
and medications cost him over $1,000 a month. He was withdrawn from society and
“felt really uncomfortable around other people,“ he said in the video above by
Humane Society Silicon Valley. He had just “stopped living.”
After a flight was delayed because the
airline attendant couldn’t get him in the seat belt extensions, O’Grey decided
to make a change. That change included an “obese, middle-aged” rescue dog named
Peety, who was left neglected and alone in a backyard.
“He’d gone from being in a situation like I
was, where he didn’t have any friends and he didn’t know anybody, and really
became a proud dog,” he said.
Daily walks with Peety and better nutrition
helped O’Grey lose 140 pounds.
“Beyond unconditional love, Peety taught me
absolute loyalty,” he said. “He looked at me in every sense as though I was the
greatest person on the planet. I decided that I wanted to be the person who he
thought I was.”
Although Peety has, sadly, since died of
cancer, O’Grey has adopted another dog named Jake, who he is going to run a
half marathon with. But he will be grateful for Peety forever.
“Thanks to Peety, I wake up every day wanting
to be the best person I can possibly be,” he said. “I think about it now, who
rescued whom? I mean, did I rescue him or did he rescue me?”
The Humane Society Silicon Valley’s Mutual
Rescue program is meant to share stories about the impact rescue animals have
on lives:
"Mutual Rescue is an initiative that aims to change the way people see animal welfare. By sharing stories about connecting a person with an animal, Mutual Rescue hopes to demonstrate that when you support your local animal shelter, you’re not just enhancing an animal’s life—you’re also transforming a person’s life as well. The stories shared by everyday people through Mutual Rescue are testaments to the incredible impact that an animal and a person have on each other, and that “rescuing” isn’t in just one direction."
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