Laz Gets a New Lease on Life



Yesterday afternoon A1340518 found himself given away by his "family" when he needed them most, alone in a cage at a shelter, having lost the use of his back legs, less than 4 hours to live, and needing a miracle. One of the best things about rescue is that miracles can and do happen, and when they do happen, they happen quickly, and in a way that is humbling for even the most seasoned team like DRSF.

Our executive team could not fathom a way we could gather the resources to help this little boy in less than 4 hours, but we decided to put out a "hail Mary" request to our community, and as always, you did not fail us. Within seconds, funds started coming in and fosters started to come forward who
had the knowledge and experience to give this little guy every possible chance to have the life he deserves.

Our initial note went out at 1:30 yesterday and within an hour, and thanks to our amazing community, we had an early indication that we could raise the resources we needed to help him. The shelter was called and told we were on our way, Dr. Wong was ready, waiting for us and Regina was on her way to pick him up.

He arrived at Southeast Vet Neurology with no deep pain sensation and was scheduled for blood-work, a meylogram, and then was headed to surgery. Given his condition, he was given a 50% chance of walking again, 40% chance of not walking, and a 10% chance that he would develop meylomelasia.

We all held our breath and waited for an update. Dr. Wong completed the surgery at 1:45 AM; the compression was easily removed, but his spinal column was badly bruised which is symptomatic of an injury. As of this AM, our little boy was resting comfortably and is pain free, although not yet responding to pain sensation. He is by no means out of the woods as he has a long road ahead of him, but he is safe, loved, and we can only hope somehow knows how many people are thinking of and paying for him.

DRSF Foster Dad Sady had a wonderful suggestion for a name for him, and "A1340518" will now be known as Laz, short for Lazarus, who walked from his own death. We have raised about half of the $2,500 needed for Laz's surgery and have posting below the names of all those who have contributed. But we need much more. Please share Laz's story and encourage help; no donation is too small.

Thank you to all those who have contributed in time, transport, skills, love, prayers, and donations for this little boy and it is only thanks to our community that we are able to make this miracle happen.

If anyone can help please visit Dachshund Rescue South Florida and let them know. There is a big time committeemen while Taz recovers from surgery. I am not in anyway affiliated with the group just passing on the information.

CraftyGal

It explains clearly and succinctly what has been happening here in the last few years. I love it!









Check the rest out here at Which Canada Will You Vote For?

CraftyGal

(edited the link...tired and not feeling well)

Ms Wei is a part of the bullying cycle. However does she deserve the hateful comments or death threats? I just can't believe if we are so against bullying that you are tcondoning the bullying fo this young lady. I don't believe we have that right. We are becoming like they bullies that we are so against.



CraftyGal

I can tel you from personal experience how it affects you for the rest of your life. A poster mention smaller class sizes for starters I agree. A good example is my son, now 17. When we moved from BC to AB, he started to experience bullying. He was in french immersion in BC and we continued it in AB. However in BC you were taking only French until Grade 5, then in Grade 6 you worked on both English and French. In AB it doesn't work that way, so he was behind in English. Oh and by the way I read to him in English storybooks every night and he was getting help while in after school care. When we lived in a small town 10 mins drive from the big city, any form of bullying was addressed immediately and it was way easier to approach the parents who dealt with it right away. C had ADHD and poor social and impulse control issues. so he was a target plain and simple. The Dr said to put him in a social activity (choose Cubs until he was 12, then Air Cadets) and a physical activity, usually he was in soccer but one year he decided to try dance. That brought all kids of ridicule and we nipped it in the bud.

Fast forward 3 yrs later, he is in Grade 7 in a big city. I am working and I have him in an after school program (Chrystal Kids and Boys and Girls Club) as once kids turn 12 they are no longer eligible for after school care or financial help with sitters. I was getting assistance from social services even though I was working 3 jobs, this was before I met, then married TrogL. As he was only 12 years I wasn't allowing dating unless it was a group activity. He got targeted as being gay for some reason. As far as I know he isn't although I really don't care one way or the other, he is still my son. it was during this time he became suicidal and ended up on meds to help him. It was a very bad time for us. He fianlly ended up going to live with his grandparents in BC where he is doing much better. That brought on other issues but he is doing well.

The school wouldn't do anything about it either. In fact they had talked about suspending him and another student when he swarmed in a second floor bathroom. The other student turned out to be protecting him. He was also TrogL's son. C was always blamed for the bullying rather than the bulliers. The last straw came when I got a phone call from the school at work at 3:30 telling me that he had been injured at the lunch hour and had been in the nurses office all afternoon. My boss sent me home(she was so understanding)so I could deal with this. I took him to the Dr to make sure there was no detrimental injury as he had been hit on the back of the head near the neck pretty hard, enough to make him lose conscience for a minute. He went to Bc shortly after that.

CraftyGal

I was on Facebook this morning when I can across this from one fo my favorite crochet designers, Drew Emborksy. (If this is in the wrong forum, moderators could you please put in the correct forum, thanks)

It started with this Facebook Status from Drew...

Hi everyone, I got this email this evening. Just breaks my heart. ~drew~

Hello Drew, I know this is a long shot but I have been a fan for years and I know how many fans you have that read your blog. My daughter went missing yesterday afternoon. She is only 15 and as you can imagine we are all terrified. I'm hoping you would consider posting the information or links on your blog/twitter/Facebook!?! This is not a scam. All I'm asking is if you can help me get her information out to as many people as possible. I appreciate your time and consideration.

Sincerely Shannon B

From the Blog: Cassie (Cassandra) Lindsay

Cassie (Cassandra) Lindsay age 15. She's been missing for 24 hours, last seen at her school in Toms River, NJ yesterday afternoon. There is a possibility that she could have run away, and may be headed towards Virginia. She's has dark hair and eyes 5'2 and about 120lbs. She was last seen wearing a hot pink sweatshirt (Flashdance style) black pants and black boots with a white tank top underneath.She can appear older. This might be a long shot, but if you've seen Cassandra or have any information on her whereabouts, call the Manchester Township police at 732-657-6111. There is a personal number just don't want to post it here or anywhere.

Here are Pictures of Cassie:



Mom says she can look way older than 15. Important Note: She is a singer songwriter. She did not take her guitar with her but she has played at coffee house in the area. She likes indi music stores. I will post more as I hear things.

CraftyGal

be that as it may, though, teachers are held to a higher standard. Yes it is difficult to deal with children of this age as they still tend to follow what their parents teach until the hit mid teens. However this is about Facebook. People seem to think that they can post anything on it or make groups or pages that actually contravene Facebook policies. I have been in the process of shutting down groups that condone violence against women or just violence in general. The admins have even been couched the topics in humor (this a joke and some people just don't get it).

One thing I have learned is that Facebook is not private, unless you set it o the highest private setting, where only your friends can see you.

You should treat Facebook like any other public social arena, communication is key. I am sure she would have been careful about how she spoke of her job when in public. I ams ure whe wouldn't have said those words in public where others could have heard her.

In this day and age it is so much harder to keep "private" matter "private". I have friends, who work for the City and some who are Police Officers. They are also friends of mine on Facebook, so the lines have become blurred as to what is "personal" and "professional". Social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter have helped to develop relatioships with people that you otherwise would never have known. However this is a two edged sword, that needs to be monitored. It is not like when you are face to face with a freind. THings can be taken out of context when things are posted. Obviously look as to how people are responding to what this teacher said.

CraftyGal (yes I am Facebook and Twitter and love both networks)

so i want to tell you all my story.

I have had a very difficult life. I was born into a family, I am talking 1965 here, where I was the outcast to say the least. My mother was 13, my father was 19 and they were siblings to boot. I was put up for adoption and shunted from group home to group home (much like the orphanages that we hear about in other countries). I was 3 years old when I finally hit all my milestones in development. Unfortunately for me I also had a partial paralysis of the face so, my smile was crooked. I hated to eat out in public because I had difficulties with keeping my mouth closed while eating, I still hate it however I am more candid about the physical limitations now. At 4 1/2 yrs old I was finally adopted by a wonderful family. I loved school that is util we moved from Fort Saskatchewan to Edmonton when I was 8.

My brother and I had to walk several blocks to get to school, we went to Cromdale school which has since closed down and is the new Eastwood Heath Centre. I am not even sure when the bullying happened but I have two traumatic experiences that stick out. One was where I was walking with a group of girls who i thought were my friends. All of sudden out of nowhere my head was slammed into an apartment building. I walked away with a broken nose and smashed glasses. Mom and Dad went to the school which made matters worse. After that my brother and I were fair game. The second one that sticks out was after school my brother and I walking home from school and being swarmed bu about 8 kids, both male and female. My brother managed to escape by going into the ravine, This was prohibited by the school and was a strappable offense, if caught. By the time they realized he was gone he was almost home. I don't remember what happened after that, except that we were called into the office the next day. We were there to get out "punishment" for going itno the ravine. The only way to salove the issue was to move, so we moved to Spruce Avenue and I settled in for grade 4.

I know I was targeted as my reading ability was not good at the time. God forbid I had to read out loud, that was my worse nightmare. Mom got a teenager, who was 16 at the time to tutor me. My reading got better but what my parents didn't know was that year he was also molesting me. In fact they still don't know, well dad may now if there is a heaven/hell, however I digress. Grade 4 was awesome. I excelled for the most part in fact I was part of a local choir that had produced an album. I was accepted that year. Grade 5 we moved twice so that was a difficult year. Talk about trying to fit in, I had to deal with two schools that year. To top it off, in the second school I had to take French which I had not had to take before. However I discovered I excelled in French, I got the most improved after taking it for 4 months! The following year I won an honors award and the chance to got to the acreage that my French teacher owned. I remember my French teacher recommending French Immersion for Grade 7, junior high. My parents nixed the idea.

Now onto junior high...it was to bad except I had a difficult time in phys ed, I mean I FAILED phys ed! who fails what should have been arguably the easiest class? Well I did and was told I wouldn't be welcomed back into the class until we knew why. I had a muscle biopsy done in my upper arm and was given the diagnosis of Fascio Scapular Humeral Muscular Dystrophy. I was told of the 4 main dystrophies that this was the best one to get. So now began a different ostracism, one of being set apart because I wasn't physically perfect. Add in that I didn't dress like others and I was very much empathetic to others...we had the perfect storm. This was also the time where I was awkward as I had developed early, into a young woman in every sense of the word. My cramps were so bad that I was on the pill at the age of 12 as I was missing to much school. Someone found out and that was spread around the school very quickly. That somehow I was easy because I was on the pill.

Junior high was pretty much a blur other than dealing with the "fat" jokes about my mom. then I started saying she wasn't my real mom and that one day I was going to find my real mom and we would be happy (little did I realize that it would be a difficult situation with her). I do remember being asked to go to a hockey game with a guy, who I had a crush on, only to find out that he didn't know anything about it and I sat at home, dressed very nicely waiting for my date. I was crushed and devastated, vowing to never have anyone set me up like that again.

Grade 10 through 12 were a breeze in comparison. I still was the outcast, however there was a group of us that got together and we called ourselves the misfit club. We were the group that didn't fit in anywhere else and for the most part left to our own devices. Two big things that stuck out in my mind were...finding the one girl, who was the outcast who had been picked on, called names, etc on the floor of one of the girls washrooms. She had overdosed on pills. She survived and we hung out after that. My parents hated her only because of the rumors they had heard. The second was when someone that it would a great practical joke to slip acid (LSD) into my drink in the cafeteria. I ended up in the psyche ward for a weekend because I had a bad trip. I destroyed the cafeteria as I thought the bananas were spiders that were going to eat me. My parents blamed the girl.

I finally left home at 15. I struggled with so many different issues and living at home was exacerbating the problems. I was self-medicating with alcohol which had it many struggles as well. I am now sober just over 4 yrs.

Someone mentioned that often children of victims of bullying also get bullied. Not sure if that is necessarily the case all the time. I do my son, youngest of 3, was severally bullied to the point of him threatening suicide. It was actually through TrogL's son and mine that we met. TrogL's son was very protective of my son and often helped him to get out of situations that my son found himself in. It got so bad that I almost lost my job, I was a single parent at the time, which wasn't uncommon in our area, neither was the poverty. So he wasn't dealing with those issues. He was just "different". I actually pulled him out of school with the blessing of my mom, however Children Services had been called and I was told send him to his grandmother (my birth mother-long story) in Victoria or they were removing him from my care completely. So he went to Victoria. He is doing well and entering into Grade 12 in September. He is getting all the supports that he should have been getting here and wasn't. He will have supports to carry him into College or University, whatever he decides to do with his life. He wants to be a police officer and I think he would be wonderful at it as he gets people.

Sorry for the long and drawn out story, just had to share it.

CraftyGal

Pray for Obama items and apparel at Cafe Press hmmm this could be construed as a way to "get rid" of President Obama with the zealot religious right. There is also an interesting artlcle in the Christian Science Monitor about this. What does everyone else think?

CraftyGal

The Reference was Psalm 109:8

New International Version (©1984)
May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
Let his days be few; Let another take his office.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Let his days be few . Let someone else take his position.

King James Bible
Let his days be few; and let another take his office.

American King James Version
Let his days be few; and let another take his office.

American Standard Version
Let his days be few; And let another take his office.

Bible in Basic English
Let his life be short; let another take his position of authority.

Douay-Rheims Bible
May his days be few: and his bishopric let another take.

Darby Bible Translation
Let his days be few, let another take his office;

English Revised Version
Let his days be few; and let another take his office.

Webster's Bible Translation
Let his days be few; and let another take his office.

World English Bible
Let his days be few. Let another take his office.

Young's Literal Translation
His days are few, his oversight another taketh,

I have survived two sexual assaults, on from an acquaintance (was going to be my boss) and the other a stranger, in the guise of a good Samaritan. Read the story here: It was implied. I know there are a lot of good men in the world, TrogL (my husband) included.

CraftyGal

Source: WPRI.com

MIDDLETOWN, R.I. (WPRI) - Middletown police confirmed Friday they are investigating the reported abduction and sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl. Now, a man is in custody charged with the crime.

The victim told police she was abducted in the area of West Main Rd. and Forest Ave. sometime overnight Thursday, assaulted and eventually left in New Bedford.

Read more: http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_wpri_mi...

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What is going on here? Another young girl sexually assaulted! This is crap! What makes it, in a guys mind, alright to rape children?

CraftyGal

I have heard it over and over again..."if she hadn't been drinking, "if she hadn't been wearing those clothes", "what was she doing out at that time of night". Those statements imply that her behavior caused the others to rape her. It upsets me more when it comes from other women.

I hate getting personal here and sharing pieces of myself that are difficult to hear and share. Be that as it may...a couple of years after the rape, I was supporting a friend in court and was called to testify on her behalf, won't go into all the details. Well on the way home I had heard about a house that was for rent (there were 5 of us living in a small 2 bedroom apartment) in a nice area of Vancouver. I had decided to stop and look as well as get a contact number. I was waiting for the bus (never did learn how to drive) when this really nice young man came up to me. I had a half hour wait for the bus as I had just missed it. We started talking and next thing I know he asked me if I could use a ride part way home, at least to Burnaby as he was going that way anyways. Now I wasn't getting that prickly, icky feeling that you get when things don't seem quite right. He was polite, clean cut and appeared to genuinely want to help. It was a very cool October night so I accepted. Things went well, he even asked me if it was okay if he dropped off something at a friends house.

I agreed as he was doing me a huge favor. We stopped in this area which was mainly industrial, I say that because there were houses on the block as well. He stopped the car, reached over as if he was reaching for the glove compartment. Then all of a sudden he was ll over me. I struggled to fight him off and begged him to drop me off. He did after doing the deed, thankfully not a full rape this time. I remember getting out of the car all disheveled and my hair a mess, sperm aon my face and hair, frantically looking for a phone booth. Where he dropped me off was an A&W. There was a family in a car that I guess I was walking towards. The man got out of the family and started to approach, i screamed. He stopped and walked towards the phone booth and called 911. They kept an eye on me.

The police showed up, took me to the hospital to collect evidence and make sure I was okay as I was still in shock. I was interviewed for 3 hours and I remember being saked why I got in the car repeatedly as if it was somehow my fault that I was sexually assaulted. I finally was able to ask someone to phone my roommates as it was 2 in the morning. I just wanted to go home at this point. I was in shock. I was angry and was tired of a male cop asking me all these really personal questions about my sex life, why I was out at 10:00 at night, etc. I had been victimized all over again. I also had no way of getting home as the buses had stopped running, so the roommates called the guys upstairs who were friends and one of them came to get me. The poor fellow was beside himself with worry about me. He treated me with care and respect and kept asking if he could help and if telling me his every move.

He was awesome! I ended up on their couch as everyone was asleep at home and I didn't want to disturb them. He handed me a beer and just sat there with me. He said not a single word as I talked and talked. I even said what the cop had said to me. His most wonderful words were "You are not to blame. That man is. You did nothing wrong. Just because you accepted his offer for ride, doesn't meant he had the right to force himself upon you and hurt you the way he did." That was it a dam burst in me and I started to just bawl. He asked me if it was okay to hold me and when I mumbled yes or something along that lines, he held me and just kept encouraging to let it out. I finished my drink and fell asleep. It is men like this that tell me there is humanity left in the world.

Last year I went throuhg a home invasion, it was gang related. Again I was asked why did you open the door? somehow implying it was my fault, if only I hadn't opened the door than my life an the life of my stepdaughter wouldn't have been threatened. It is attitudes like this that make it that much harder on the victim of the crime.

Craftygal

Just because she had alcohol doesn't give these men/boys the right to rape her. I remember getting that attitude from my mom after being raped by a 60 year odl man, I was 19. I had a one drink and passed out, which is highly unusual for me. Later we found out I had been give one of those date rape drugs as the officer thought I was out of it and this was 6 hrs after the rape. So are you saying that it was okay for him to rape me because I had a drink? I don't think so, rape is rape no matter what anyone says.

CraftyGal

Please contact Sexweork Cyber Resource Centre, they may have more information or point you in the right direction. Wish prostitution was not criminal.

CraftyGal

My daughter, now 21, was molested over a period of time by a couple that I trusted. I was pregnant with my second child and ended up in the hospital for two months. I knew the wife through a parent support group that we attended. No one is allowed to attend if there was issues of child abuse. They offered to take care of her while I was in the hospital. They also watched her while I was dealing with a premature baby.

This was September to November. Fast forward to March the next year on my daughters 2nd birthday. The Vancouver Police show up 2 hrs before her party and informed me that the husband was being charged for molestation and the needed to talk to all children and families of children that they had been looking after. I remember being devastated as I had to set up an appointment with the Sexual Assault team at Children's Hospital and dealing with the feelings around this. I found out that it was a very close friend's child who had been molested. We did the justice thing, and after the trial he was found guilty and given 2 years less a day. While in prison he was attacked by several prisoners and was released due to medical concerns, he served 6 months.

I remember my friend and I talking about the various ways we could hurt him including a bomb. During the trial we discovered the wife was involved in the molestation, she was never charged. Considering the Elizabeth Smart case and the Jaa Cee Duggard case, we know that women are active in molestation with their spouses.

So for those who get on their high horse about this try walking in a parents shoes and see how you would react. We didn't act on fantasies but it sure di dfeel good to talk about it. I also know that we danced when we found out what the prisoners did to him. He is so scarred he can never, ever hurt another child.

CraftyGal

I agree it is not just about society or education or our culture or even bad parenting. It is hard to change what you don't acknowledge. If you come from a place where ex is shameful, or sex is used as a weapon that is how it will be treated.

Remember Rape is about power and control over another human being using that persons sexual responses. Getting them to lose control over there own body as it is ravaged by one or more people. That is where we hear the statement of "he/she like it" or "he/she wanted it" because even as the words and the actions were shouting "NO" the body was responding because that is how the body is built. Sex is a basic need as food and water. Our body automatically responds to when it is hungry, thirsty or aroused.

As a survivor of a sexual assault and domestic violence I understand this. In this instance, yes it was all males, however it has happened in mixed crowds. No one wants to step in for what ever reason. It is slowly changing for the better, and that is if we change it.

I can remember a couple of incidents.

1) I was on my way home from a parenting support group in Vancouver, BC. I lived in Surrey, which meant taking the skytrain home. I was at my train stop when I could hear some very loud arguing going on. A whole group of us wen tover to find an older gentleman and a teen girl fighting. All it took was to hear he is not my father and several of us pulle dout cell phones and called 911. We wouldn;t let anyone leave until the RCMP showed up. It turned out that the gentleman was in fact her step-father and she didn't want to go home. However we all erred on the side of caution.

2) I now live in Edmonton and my son and I were taking the LRT to go somewhere can't remember exactly where. We had walked to the stationa s it was a nice day. There was a woman who was struggling with a man at the door. My son and I went running. My son is not a very big boy and he got in the way of that man who had taken a swing at her. I was calling the police and videoing everything at she same time. Thankfully my phone had a camera. The police showed up and the guy was arrested. What shocked me was we got yelled at for intervening by the officer. My son said that if we hadn't who knows what would have happened. My son is a firm believer in fair play and justice.

3) I was again on the platform on the LRT waiting for the train, when all of a sudden on the far north of the platform I could hear some screaming. This guy was beating the crap out of this woman! There were only 2 others on the platform with me. The others took out cellphones and recorded the whole beating not one phoned the police. I had pulled out my cellphone and called 911, thankfully this had been recorded on the ETS security tapes. I ended up putting in two reports, one for ETS and one for EPS as to what had happened. He was arrested and because of the video and my statements he plead no contest on aggravated assault. I was able to give the description of the woman he assaulted and they were able to help her get to the hospital. She had managed to get on a train and get away from him.

So I think it is how do we look at the situation.

CraftyGal