I want to thank all of the people that helped us get to and from Mississippi. It will be something that I am sure we will talk about for some time.

Lisa, Ryan, Shawn and I left finally at midnight after a long day of collecting supplies from many people in our area. We had water, vet supplies, vaccines, dog food and anything else we could think of that would be needed when we got to our destination. We were headed to an area below Baton Rouge with only a cell phone number to call when we reached New Orleans. I drove to Alabama and then decided it was time to change drivers. Lisa had just gotten behind the wheel and onto the freeway when the van started to swerve and seemed to get faster as Lisa was trying to control it. We then hit the center of the interstate and started to flip, which seemed like eternity before we landed upright. Lisa and I jumped out of the van almost immediately. There was a man standing next to the van with a first aid kit and blue exam gloves already on. I thought in all of the confusion how odd that a paramedic was already there. I remember glancing around wondering where this man came from. There were two large trucks that were pulling over, but no car. He was focused on Lisa and was immediately applying a bandage to her arm that must have cut when her window shattered. He glanced at Shawn and told him his nose was bleeding. He asked if we were all okay and then he was gone. We didn't see him walk away or drive away. We have thought this over and talked about it many times. We all remember his light blue gloves, his brown hair and mustache. Several other people started to stop and shortly after that the police arrived. We realized how lucky we were after looking at the van.

The van was towed to Mullins Wrecker Service in Cullman, Alabama. These people gave us the back room of their body shop and bought our lunch. Word spread fast and we were contacted by a Birmingham news team. They came for an interview and even before the news team left, we received a phone call from the president of TEARS. He assured me that he would make arrangements to get us further south, but it was going to take him till the next day. The Mullins took us to a hotel and we waited for Jerry's call. The next morning a woman and her 8-year-old daughter drove the 90 minutes to Cullman to drive the four of us and our supplies to Birmingham. We were so loaded with supplies, we had to unload some of it before moving on. I called the local animal shelter and found out the county had no money for vaccines. Those puppies come and come without a single vaccine. So I asked them to meet me at the van and we would have a few things to donate. We loaded enough Bordetella and DHLPP vaccines for 50 dogs. I have no doubt they can use the things we gave them.

Our next stop was Birmingham and we once again loaded our supplies into another vehicle in the Winn Dixie parking lot. Jerry from TEARS and our next driver were waiting for us. Another nice retired man had offered to drive the four of us and another tech from Birmingham the five hours drive to Tylertown. We were headed to the Saint Francis Sanctuary to volunteer. We arrived about 10:30 PM to a place in the country that was overloaded with campers and tents. A girl came running up to our van and asked if there were any techs in the van. They had just received 90 animals, mostly dogs from New Orleans and there was no vet for the evening. We jumped out, tossed our supplies on the side of the road and ran to get started. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. There were large carriers being unloaded from an RV. The animals could only be seen with the flashlights. They were dehydrated, starved, scared and the saddest thing I have ever seen. There seemed to be a lot of people there, but no one was in control and we were pulled from tent to tent. The dogs were given fluids, food, water and another cage to sleep in. There were several Pit Bulls and Rottweilers in small carriers. Ryan and Shawn focused on the dogs that many seemed to avoid. I was surprised that there were so many of theses dogs and none of them seemed to be spayed or neutered. It was 3:00 AM when we finished the last of the dogs. Someone came to thank us and I remember a woman telling me that I had just been baptized with fire. Then we found out we were in the wrong place. We were working for the Louisiana Humane Society. There had been no sign, and it all happened so fast we would have never thought any different. We were exhausted and set up a tent at that point. Then once again moved our pile of supplies to another spot away from the road. It is almost impossible to sleep in a tent in that part of the country. The humidity is so high everything you have is soaked with dew really fast. The sun starts to creep up and it is hotter than you can imagine early in the morning. We woke up in 3 hours to barking dogs and a hot sun. We walked several of our dogs and decided what we should do next. We decided to walk up the road and try and find the St. Francis Sanctuary. We were welcomed by people that heard about our accident. As soon as we signed our waiver, we were once again whisked away by a person that was looking for vet techs. I personally was glad I was getting to work in "Kitty Village". We were warned by the person taking us to the vet clinic that the doctor we were working for was a bit overbearing. That he liked things his own way. This man was a retired vet that had been volunteering his time and had been there for 3 weeks. He was grouchy and to-the-point. We worked in the hottest room I had ever been in, cleaning cats that were being housed in carriers. Many were getting over-heated and we would move them to the next room until they cooled down. We were finally finished around 3:00 PM and the vet told us we had done a great job and he wanted us back in that room at 8:00 PM to process more cats through. I guess we passed his test.

We worked that evening and the next morning. Jerry from TEARS had arranged for another person to come and pick us up and take us back to Birmingham. A friend of Lisa's gave us 4 of her buddy passes and we were flying back to Cincinnati Sunday evening. We met one of our clients from ACAH while at the sanctuary. She was not supposed to end up there and neither were we, but we were all glad to see someone we knew. There are many nice people working non-stop in bad conditions to help these animals. There are a few that seem to butt heads, but you really have to stand back and think why you came there. We exchanged e-mail addresses with several people that we met. We all plan to exchange pictures. I would love to go back at some point. I think this will be going on for some time. They can't do it without help from everyone. We were lucky considering everything that happened to us. I am looking at things differently. Many of the things that you feel are important really are not. We saw several people from New Orleans that had lost everything. There are many shelters in 3 states and many have been searching for their pets for 3 weeks. We saw three families reunited with their pets while we were there. All of them said they were not allowed to take pets with them. I am sure many of us can look at our pets and can't imagine making that decision. Best Friends needs donations and help from all of us, in order to continue what they are doing. If you are interested in donating to this cause, go to www.Bestfriends.org. Thanks to everyone what helped us.

Pam Bradshaw
All Creatures Animal Hospital