Every few years, I invite readers and colleagues to contribute guest columns in the series Technology and my Hobby/Passion. Over a hundred contributed in the last decade on their birding, charities, cooking, music, sports and every other passion, and how it keeps evolving with technology. Click here and scroll down to read them all.
This time it is Row Henson who after 40 years in the Human Resources Software industry retired from Oracle Corporation where she was a Human Capital Fellow. In the last four years Row has written and published two books to raise money for causes important to her. Her first book, “Travels with Mac and Row,” chronicles her travels with her rescue dog, Mac and all proceeds benefit animal rescue. Her new book, “Miracles on College Station Road,” features 50 stories of animals being treated at the University of Georgia Veterinary Teaching Hospital and these book sales will benefit scholarships to this school.
After over forty years in the Human Resources and Technology world, I retired, bought a house in the south of France, and rescued a dog. My dog, Mackenzie (Mac) traveled with me, originally in a crate in the baggage compartment and later the airplane as she was trained to be a certified therapy animal. I started posting pictures on my Facebook page and received so many comments on Mac’s travel that I wrote a book, (Travels with Mac & Row) to raise money for animal rescue organizations. The book was written from Mac’s perspective and chronicles much of our travels around Europe during Mac’s almost 15 years. We donated just under $100K to over 80 rescue organizations.
After many years of travel and hours and hours of fetching balls, frisbees and sticks, Mac began to suffer from athletic injuries – herniated discs and torn ACLs to name a few. We were referred to the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine, where Mac received amazing care. Because the UGA VTH is a very active teaching hospital, I spent many hours in the waiting room hearing stories from pet owners about why they were there, and I was continually amazed at the miracles these veterinarians were performing on a daily basis. I talked with my veterinarian and suggested that if the vets would help, I would create a book that told their stories. I put together a spreadsheet and was amazed at all of the stories these incredible doctors shared with me. With their help, I wrote 50 miracle stories of animals with a 50% chance or less of survival. Not just dog and cat stories, but pigs, cows, horses, sheep and even a lizard. “Miracles on College Station Road” is out now and all sales from this book benefit the Mac & Row scholarship fund for students needing financial assistance to attend veterinary school.
The great news is whether you are looking for information on animals in need of rescuing or finding out medical information on your own animal, rescued or otherwise, technology today has greatly enhanced our ability to get useful information when we need it. For example, when I first started volunteering, rescue organizations provided little hope with a high percentage of animals being euthanized, but thanks to social media that number has been drastically reduced with many venues promoting animal rescue by breed, age, size and location. Social media has also facilitated the sharing of rescue information within a host of sites getting the right information to the right people at the right time. As well, there are approximately 30 colleges of veterinary medicine in the US, all having their own informative and educational websites. Here is the website associated with the UGA VTH, which also kindly provided several of the photos here.
God Bless the animals and pet lovers who donate time and money to keeping our animals safe and healthy.
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