When he was 23 years old Zachary was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. The Nova Scotia native, who later moved to Ontario, Canada to live with his aunt and uncle, had an aggressive form of cancer.
He was resistant to chemotherapy and radiation and a stem cell transplant was unsuccessful.
While Zachary spent weeks in and out of the hospital, he wanted to see his dogs. Typically hospitals don’t allow personal pets, but Juravinski Hospital worked with Zachary and his family to ensure that Zachary could see his dogs.
The first time one of Zachary’s dog visited him he was in the ICU. Two days later, he felt well enough that he was able to be moved back to the hematology floor, according to Zachary’s Paws for Healing. Several days later one of his other dogs visited him and a few days later Zachary was well enough to return home.
“We watched the change that visits with his dogs made in his stress level, his desire to get well enough to go home and his overall happiness.”
Sadly, Zachary passed away on November 28, 2014, but his family, especially his aunt, Donna Jenkins, wanted to carry on his legacy by helping others in similar situations. So they created Zachary’s Paws for Healing.
Jenkins worked with hospital staff, volunteers, and infection control to start a program for patients at the Canadian hospital.
The program was the first of its kind in Canada. Jenkins researched other programs already in place in the United States and used what she learned to start Zachary’s Paws for Healing.
“I searched them out, they have very successful programs of their own,” Jenkins told HuffPost in 2016. “Their help prevented us from having to reinvent the wheel.”
This is such a great program. I hope more hospitals will implement similar programs.
Not only do patients feel better, but it helps the pets too.
Share this if you’d like to see more hospitals allow personal pets to visit their owners.