One Last Wish

Jiro

Jiro

If You Know What I Mean
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Dying Man's Final Wish to be Reunited With Dog
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – A community came together to grant a homeless man his last wish. That dying wish was to see his dog one more time. It was a simple request, but one that meant the world to him in his final days.

People involved with the man’s last wish describe it as something they’ll never forget. Now that he’s gone, they’ll always cherish the memories of the man and his best friend.

“She is full of energy and just brings so much love and energy into the home,” said the dog’s new owner, Kate Ungs. Meet Yurtie, also known as Yurt. She is getting used to her new home, adopted by Kate and Eric Ungs of Marion. “When we first saw her online in the bio it said, has a very compelling story, but you know, at the time those were just words,” said Eric Ungs.

Yurt used to live with a homeless Cedar Rapids man, 57-year-old Kevin McClain, in his car. But a month ago he became ill with lung cancer.

Paramedics rushed him to Mercy Medical Center and later to Hospice House. Yurt went to the animal shelter.

“In the transition of moving him over from our ambulance cot to the bed, he told me, 'I have a dog,'” said Area Ambulance Service Paramedic Specialist Jan Erceg.

Yurt's shelter was the same shelter where Kevin’s paramedic, Erceg, also volunteered.

“He said her name is Yurt and at that moment, that was my Aha! moment,” Erceg said.

From the day Yurt and Kevin were separated, he asked to see her.

It was his dying wish.

The Hospice Home, Ambulance Service and shelter teamed up to make it happen.

“And the moment he opened those eyes and saw that dog there was instant recognition and with Yurtie, she licked his arms, she licked his face,” Erceg said.

“It was a couple days later that Kevin did pass away here at the Hospice House. So it just really seemed to work so perfect,” said Dennis & Donna Oldorf Hospice House Patient Care Coordinator Brandi Garrett.

In the end, this companion was there for his owner, even in death. That’s a true companion that the Ungs know they’re now lucky to have.

“She’s our family and we’re her family, just a tight knit group,” Eric Ungs said.

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Ah, God bless them both. What a beautiful story, and a wonderful picture of selfless love and complete comfort in the presence of each other. Gorgeous dog.
 
Sounds like he had a sudden downturn in his health to go that fast.
 
Glenn said:
Sounds like he had a sudden downturn in his health to go that fast.
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yea I was thinking same. He looks like he has a pancreatic cancer but.... he was homeless though
 
I was responding to the other guys who were saying it looked like he had pancreatic cancer. I was just pointing out it was lung cancer. Really touching story and it hits close to home for me. Sometimes people don't even know they have cancer until it metatasized then they go really fast. I've seen it happen first hand.
 
DeafCaroline said:
According the the article, he had lung cancer.
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yes but I didn't think a lot of people with lung cancers would look so frail like that. You usually see that kind of condition in those with pancreatic cancer like Steve Jobs.
 
Oh....*sniff*...this is just so sad.:cry: I am so glad he got his last wish. :cry:
 
What a very emotional story. The dog is clearly the man's best friend.

To other people's comments about Kevin's condition, he's a homeless man he may have been few days/weeks/months with very little food or as being very loyal to his dog he may rather that his dog gets fed before him.

My dear late friend was absolutely fine until she fell ill what was we/doc thought was chest infection, it was so bad they admitted her to hospital and had CT scan, she got lung cancer, she died a week later and she had been very fit and healthy and never smoked until she fell ill, it came as a huge shock to us, she was only in her 30's. Lung cancer can kill people very quickly, there is very poor progonsis for lung cancer and same with pancertic cancer.
 
Wish

Ohhh, I am crying my eyes out. I know the love for your pet and the pain of seperation. I am so happy someone was paying attention to this poor soul who was homeless and dying. Looking at the picture you can plainly see the comfort each has found being reunited..Thanks Jiro..the dog went home to give more love to another family, and his companion also went HOME...
I am so moved by random kindness..Midnight♥♥♥
 
Random Kindness! yes people should know more about it, this story has a new definition of bittersweetness. its sad but same time very blissfully happy for him to get this one chance. AND it a manifestion of a true quote 'Dog is a man's best friend' (couldnt careles if thats a sexist) but the saying as a whole IS true. My dogs loves me LOTS, and i give them TIME, which is probably what this homeless guy did, he cared for all the time he could give to his freind - the dog and what happened? the dog loves him back MORE....
really sad, geez i got tears running down my cheeks saying this now

thanks for sharing that Jiro...
 
chances are Jobs is on a LOT of ultra-expensive (and probably experimental) life-prolonging drugs to which a point he's probably next best thing to a walking-dead...
 
Jiro said:
yes but I didn't think a lot of people with lung cancers would look so frail like that. You usually see that kind of condition in those with pancreatic cancer like Steve Jobs.
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My daughter's grandfather died from lung cancer last week. There was a pic of him with the family taken the week before he passed away posted on FB..he looked exactly like that. Very frail and sickly.
 
Anyways...that's a very heartwarming story. You could see the dog's expression how much he loves his owner.
 
Oh yeah, my father was also very very thin and frail before he passed away from melanoma. It was shocking to see him lose half of his body weight in 2 months. he went from being totally fine and happy in November to being gone by mid-February. Metatasized cancer does that to you.
 
I saw a video of this on the news here. The dog was so happy to see him , and it was a joyous reunion even though he was close to death.

And she was shown with her adopters and see was very happy and playful, so it was a pretty happy ending for the dog, also.
 
Cancer could have been all over his body. They say lung cancer because that is where the largest mass is, and where it started. The different stages of cancer is what tells you how big and how much it spread through out his body.


Beautiful story. It brought tears to my eyes.
 
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