| As a forward...I would like to put this note that Wolfy sent to me.
Renee says it looks like a hand held up the cab above her head. She said "God had his arms wrapped around me." I had also said, "geez Renee, I'm
going to make my own little list of every tiny thing that went "right" because I can't wrap my mind around it." She said "Do that and then when you
read it over, you remember ...
[in Wolfy's words]
So for those who would enjoy doing so, here is the PayPal fund that Kat has set up to help Renee get up on
her feet again. All monies will go directly to Renee. Or use the Snail Mail address for Renee below.
Here is the PayPal addy to send to... sorry...paypal part of this is over. If you still wish to do something for Renee...please use her snail mail
addy below.
Here is the address to SNAIL MAIL A CHECK TO RENEE IF YOU DO NOT PAYPAL and still wish to help her:
Renee Downs
I MUST stress that Renee did not ask for this...nor would she ever. And if I know her at ALL...she will be uncomfortable with this...BUT! |
| Notes from the donations
"Renee ... you are the Big Sister I never had and a very Dear friend. It's now pay back time for ALL your selfless acts of kindness
that you can not say "NO" to. I am SO SORRY for your loss of Gandalf ... but thank GOD each day for watching over YOU and the other fur babies. Renee - I'm sure you will be surprised by this. I'm not. The amount of love you have given to the ferret community will demand, simply by it's existence, the same outpouring of love for you and your ferrets from those of us that you have touched. I'm sorry that you lost your Gandalf. I can remember feeling the absolute joy the pair of you felt in having found each other when I saw you together in Ohio. He will forever be a part of your heart. I don't know what your beliefs are - but I do know that if he could have chosen a life to be lost, it would not have been yours. Perhaps it was his paw, his love, wrapped around you. You have taken care of so many through the years - now it's time to take care of yourself, at least for a little while.
"Dr. Ruth" |
| I [kat] would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Wolfy for her very thoughtful, immediate action in calling some
of Renee's friends personally so we would not be so shocked when we read about this online. I know she stayed up way late...and slept very little
that first night and the next couple days and nights. Not stopping with the phone calls, Wolfy then proceeded to coordinate with others the information
coming out and brainstorming with them to make a cohesive place for Renee's friends to come get information. And also...my PERSONAL thanks to Diane Campbell for dropping everything and going to be with Renee at this time. For making sure she would not be alone. God bless you both!
Love,
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I'm alive! And grateful for that. There are so many emotions and so many thoughts right now. I may later read this and decide that I was a little "inappropriate." I mean that because I have so many mixed feelings and thoughts right now. For example, I am devastated that I caused the death of my sweet boy Gandalf, and then I think why did it have to be HIM, and then I think well, which ferret would you have chosen to die, and then I think at least it wasn't me, and I feel guilty and start all over again. What happened? I was on I-95 S of Fayetteville, where I had just had dinner with a friend and her sons. It was about 8:30 and I was headed to Lumberton (about 30 miles) to get a room and let the ferrets have some run time. I figured if I didn't find a room there, I would go on to Florence, SC (another 60 or 70 miles). There was little traffic on the two lane road, it was getting dark and there are no street lights on the interstate there. I realized suddenly that I was getting close to the car in front of me, but okay and started to slow down. He pulled to the fast lane and I saw a trailer right in front of me and KNEW there was not enough stopping distance. it was sure death, I knew, so I pulled to the shoulder of the road, hitting the brakes, but still maintaining control. I was going to just slow down and stop there before getting on the highway again. But, suddenly the car swerved back into the slow lane and then to the fast lane and headed straight to the median. I was spinning clockwise and then it rolled over to the left and kept going. I remember being fully aware and wondering what I had done wrong that the car was not responding to my attempted recovery. I remember the roof hitting the pavement for the first time and feeling it touch my head, but not push on me. I remember thinking, "Well, this isn't good" kinda like you would greet a very inconvenient event, then "I'm going to die" and then "No, I'm not." I don't know how many times it rolled. Witnesses (notoriously unreliable) say 3 or 4 times. I think 1 complet roll and then 3/4 roll to land on the driver's side. I finally got my seatbelt unhooked, my glasses fell off and I couldn't find them and I am legally blind without them. I looked behind me to see the stuff all tossed around and wondered about the ferrets. I heard people say the car was smoking and then remembered to turn off the ignition and put my keys in my pocket. I started looking for the ferrets and people kept yelling at me to get away from the car as it was going to explode. I walked out the front windshield, wondered if the ferrets had escaped and were loose or what. I knew I had to go find them. I went back into the car and started digging in the remains of the cage behind me, felt fur and pulled Odie from the mess. I was so glad it was him as he is most likely to escape. I handed him out the window to a man and told him that Odie would wiggle and try to escape, do not let him, he will NOT bite. I then saw Miss Iss (Isadora) looking at me from a perch atop something over my left shoulder (passenger side). I grabbed her and gave her to someone and told them she might bite if scared, but she would probably not. I then found Duncan in the purple sleep sack from Lorie's and pulled him out in it. I told the person that he WOULD bite but keep him closed up in the sleepsack and showed him how to hold the neck closed. I could not find Skitch or Gandalf, but looked in the area where I found Odie. I heard some whining and knew someone was there, reached down and just dragged Skitch from the bottom of the big pile of debris. By now I am hopeful that I will find Gandy next in there and someone is telling me I have to get out of the car. I tell them I have one more and someone says to me (someone) has the other one. He didn't make it. I asked for a nose count (two whites and two blacks), asked if in addition to those they found another one and was told yes, four were alive and they had another. I asked what color and he said, "white." I knew then it was Gandy. I turned and looked at the man and said, Okay, I am coming out now. He helped me out the front window and all these people were around. I couldn't see who was who, but they gave me the four ferrets and I just held them. The paramedics wanted to take me to the hospital and I had already called Diane Campbell to see who she knew in the area who could pick them up. My sister was on the internet in LA and found Dr. Deese at Baird's Animal Clinic and started spilling her guts to him. I was having trouble staying on with Diane, so I asked if there was AC who could come pick up the ferrets and keep them for me. I told them they could do whatever they wanted with me, but I was not leaving the scene without knowing the ferrets were cared for. The paramedics put us all in the truck and took us to the hospital, where we were met by AC officer (Kathy) and Dr. Deese. Wonderful people. She had no carriers and he brought two. Duncan had some blood on him (later I thought maybe ketchup, vet said no - blood) but there was no outward injury and the x-ray showed no broken bones, but some contusions around the heart and lungs. I assume the others are equally shook. Iss and Dunc seem most affected, Skitch and Odie are wanting out! Today I saw the ferrets first and then went to the wrecker. He did a great job of getting everything into the car. Diane and I went through everything and she was a real blessing to me. My sister and mom drove up and are asleep right now. Tomorrow I will take the babies with me to LA. The car stays. It occurred to me that the broken right axle, which I assumed happened in the roll, could have snapped and that is what caused the control issue. I don't know. I guess it doesn't matter at the moment. I am picking glass and dirt out of my hair and I am about to take a hot bath. I have seatbelt contusions, but nothing broken. We think I may have a concussion, but you can't do much for that. I guess I will have better info once I get my followup exam. I did get lots of dirt and glass in my eyes and they finally washed that out, but my left eye is still scratchy. I will get my glasses refilled and take care of everything on Monday. Sorry so longwinded. You know me. Thank you so much for prayers, thoughts, calls and good wishes. I will try to respond to all soon. Renee |
pics courtesy of Diane Campbell |
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It was a beautiful, shiningly clean and fresh spring day at the Rainbow
Bridge. It had rained the night before, and all the puddles were edged
with bright yellow pollen. Fat black and yellow bumble bees made short,
buzzing flights between the mulched beds of tulips and daffodils.
Sandee Weasel lay in the grass amidst a scattering of small purple
crocus at the foot of the Rainbow Bridge, and waited. The soft breeze
bent her whiskers back against her face and she narrowed her eyes in
pleasure.
Then...a humming began in the distance...the worn wooden planks of the
Rainbow Bridge began to vibrate, and there was an incandescent flash of
light that made Sandee turn her face away, and then blink many times to
clear her vision.
Before her an almost unbelievably battered and mis-shapen small SUV
of a subtle silvery, brassy color stood in the middle of the bridge,
nearly filling it from side rail to side rail. It rolled very slowly
into the Afterworld, leaving small bits of shattered safety glass
behind. It rolled to a stop at the end of the Bridge, gave a single
pneumatic wheeze from its radiator, and the exhaust system detached
from the underside, and fell onto the ground with a clatter and a bang.
Sandee approached it carefully, respectfully. She cleared her throat
a few times and quietly addressed a few remarks to the SUV's front
grille.
"Are you OK?", the small weasel asked.
"Not really", said a wheezy voice from that bent and scraped grill. And
then the left headlight fell from its housing, and landed in the grass.
There was a long silence, and it said "I tried hard. I tried really
hard to keep them all in when we rolled."
"You did a very good job," said Sandee, with conviction in her voice.
The SUV continued "I wrapped my seat belt tight around my hoomin, and
just prayed."
"She is fine. Very sad about her small friend, but grateful to you.
Very grateful. You were a fine vehicle for many years of good service.
You brought her home safely hundreds of times. You carried an
unbelievable number of tons of her possessions from place to place
during her travels across America. Stacks of books, piles of medical
abstracts, bedding, clothing, hammies full of ferrets, chow, chicken
jerky treats, toys, snacks, bags of biscotti mix, cages. You carried so
many things that when your doors opened, things tumbled from you and
fell onto the ground. And you tried so very, very hard to keep everyone
inside when you rolled. No one could have asked more from you."
The SUV gave a small, sad snapping noise from beneath the hood as a
stressed line broke, and tears of bright green anti-freeze began to
rain upon the ground from beneath the mashed engine compartment. "But
I couldn't save them all!", it sobbed, and it began to vibrate. A bit
of shattered glass fell from the passenger side mirror, and then the
entire mirror fell into the grass, and rocked a few times.
"No," said Sandee. "Don't cry, friend. You are a true friend to
ferrets, having carried so many of us safely from that terrible place
in Ohio to Forever Homes. We will always love you. We want to keep you
here with us forever!"
The SUV sniffled a few times behind it's grill and said wonderingly
"I could stay here with you ferrets forever?"
"Forever," said Sandee. "And when you are ready the Big Boss will
straighten your bent bones, heal your sheet metal damage, restore
your glass and you will be just as you were when you rolled off of
the factory floor. Your paint will be new and perfect, not a scratch.
Your chrome will shine. Your carpeting will smell new, and wonderful.
And you will stay with us here, forever. We love you."
"You love me?" sniffed the battered vehicle.
"We love you," said Sandee.
"Could the Big Boss maybe give me real leather upholstery?" asked the
SUV. "And a rosewood dash?"
"Absolutely," said Sandee. "And I know a little ferret who came here
last night who very much wants to burrow into your front seat and make
a Forever Home, there."
The SUV was silent for a time, and the bright green anti-freeze tears
stopped falling into the long grass. "Well, that's OK, then" it said.
"Yes," said Sandee. "That's OK, then"
And the morning shone clean and sweet in the golden yellow sun, and
before everything cooled down to evening and time for bed, a certain
SUV parked beneath a forever blooming apple tree was re-united with
a ferrety friend, snugly burrowed into the stuffing of the new real
leather upholstered driver's seat.
Thank you, little SUV |
(courtesy of Lisa Oestereich)
[excerpts from Lisa's post] Many people have been wondering what they can do for Renee. Well, Renee doesn't need anything right now shes all taken care of. But she wanted to relay the story of so many people (total strangers) that helped her get through this terrible ordeal. Renee would be grateful if folks could send thank you notes, letters of commendation or donations to the Big Marsh Volunteer Fire Department, Station 2, the EMTs or Diane Campbella's shelter building fund. The EMS department told me they don't release the names of the EMTs but in this case he would since they do not get thank yous very often and that they would really appreciate it. TOW TRUCK DRIVER Richard Durden of Richard's Towing in ST. Pauls, NC tow truck driver that worked tirelessly to find Gandalf and the other two ferrets for Renee. He says that whatever he gets from her insurance company for towing her vehicle he will donate to the Big Marsh Volunteer Fire Department. Richard's Towing 759 E Broad St St Pauls, NC 28384 (910) 865-9220
EMTs
THE VET:
ANIMAL CRUELTY INVESTIGATOR:
Diane Campbell: So drop a card of thanks in the mail to these folks, pick up the phone and give them a call or send them cookies or something nice to brighten their day. A donation to the fire department would be nice since they're all volunteer (Renee says shes donating an oxygen mask for cats to them) or send them a gift certificate for a local pizza joint (Zachary's Pizza and Restaurant, 202 East Broad Street, Saint Pauls, NC 28384, 910-865-3531 believe it or not there is NO DOMINOS in St. Pauls), or donate to Diane Campbell's new shelter fund. Take a moment to tell these people that we THANK THEM and how appreciative we all are for them taking such good care of Renee AND the ferrets. P.S. I called Richard Durden (since he is also a fireman) and asked if the guys would actually eat cookies and the like if people sent them. He said heck ya! Lisa |
http://www.smallanimalchannel.com/ferrets-magazine/ferret-superstars/Renee-Downs-0804.aspx |