Apart from law, I have three other passions. They are DOGS, NBA and God.
This is a story of how I saw a miracle happening in my life.
I absolutely LOVE Dogs furiously, passionately and unconditionally. I have kept dogs all my life as pets, from the time I was born until now. I believe the only time I did not keep a dog was when my husband and I lived in New York and that was for a 8 month stint when he was posted to New York by his company and I was just taking a short break from my practice.
At the moment I have a “family” of Golden Retrievers, the mother, the father and their two children. Chubby is the name of the son and the daughter is Sakura.
This is a story about Chubby. He is a 5 year old Golden Retriever and as his name goes, he is plump and very handsome (because he inherited his Dad’s “Justice” soft blond hair and good bodily size and his Mom’s “Saronng PG” beautiful facial features.
On 27 May 2024 Chubby woke up and decided he couldn’t walk and he couldn’t stand anymore!
My husband and I were shocked to say the least! Our lives were instantly plunged into despair and sadness. Suddenly Chubby the Sunshine Dog couldn’t even stand. His legs had suddenly turned into jelly. We didn’t know what had happened to him! That morning we brought him to a famous vet surgery in Alexandra and the French vet there told us he had contracted a very rare nerve disorder (whose name I couldn’t pronounce, let alone spell). The vet went on to tell us that there was no cure, and that there was only a 5% chance of animals ever recovering fully from this disease. When we heard those words, we sank even deeper into the abyss of sadness and desperation. Many questions floated in my mind: “Why is this happening to Chubby? Is this some kind of retribution for me? Chubby should be out there enjoying his romping and jumping around in the fields, going for swims in the sea and in the pool, playing with his family etc. Instead, he was confined to the house and had to be carried, yes carried, from Point A to Point B, especially when he wanted to “do his business”.
The vet informed us that there was another option and that was, to simply put Chubby to sleep. I would never hear of that. TO me, that was not an option at all.
The vet suggested that we sent Chubby for “physiotherapy” and we did; but we regret to say that he was laughed at during physiotherapy and the nurses gave me very very poor and bleak reports of the physiotherapy sessions each time he went.
This went on for about two months wherein we would bring Chubby to the vet for check ups which amounted to nothing, and physiotherapy sessions which also yielded nothing except to quickly deplete my savings in my bank account . Needless to say, these sessions were expensive as were the vet visits and blood tests.
Something happened on 30 July 2024. I had made an appointment for Chubby for a physiotherapy session at the Alexandra vet hospital. It was a freaking hot day and because of his weak condition, Chubby suffered from a bad bout of heat stroke. My helper was with Chubby in the pet taxi and when they arrived at the hospital, Chubby could be seen gasping for air. His tongue had turned purple and his eyes had also lost their focus. The vet called and asked my husband and me to rush to the hospital because she thought this might be the end. By the time we reached the hospital, we were so relieved to see that the vet had managed to stabilize him. He was still on a drip and he was getting help with breathing from the oxygen tank. The vet advised us to let him stay over that night for further tests.
The next day, Chubby’s regular vet (the French vet) checked him and told us pretty much the same thing as what he had told us two months earlier when Chubby was first diagnosed with this dreadful disease, ie that his limbs were still very very weak and did not show any signs of improvement, that there was still no known cure for this disease. Status quo.
Something happened flowing from the heat stroke incident that day. I changed vets. We brought Chubby to consult a vet in another famous vet surgery in Whitley Road. The Caucasian vet there said pretty much the same thing as the French vet in Alexandra but the Caucasian vet scolded me for having risked Chubby’s life by bringing him out in the car, in order to bring him for his physiotherapy.
I was at a loss. One vet tells me to gear up on physiotherapy for Chubby, saying that that was his only hope. The other vet tells me to keep him in the house, especially when the weather outside is unforgiving.
I lost a lot of faith and confidence in myself as a care giver and as a dog owner. It was then that I turned back to God for help. I went down on my knees and prayed my darndest to God. I felt I was grappling at straws, trying to think of a way to heal Chubby. Even all the doctors had given up on him, the signs were very clear. Satan was laughing at me and mocking me to just simply give up the fight and to declare him the victor.
I refused to lose to Satan. It was then that I prayed my darndest to God to not give up on Chubby, that Chubby was also His Child, although he is a dog. I sat beside Chubby and I would read verses from the Bible to him with my hand on his limbs and begged God for help and asked Him not to forsake us. God said in Matthew 7:7-8 “ Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”
The praying never stopped; I saw myself praying at home, in the office, in my commute to the office and back, everywhere and at anytime. Before Chubby, I had always had a “rocky” relationship with God, my fault of course. (In the past) I had always given up when I even sensed that God was not answering my prayers the way I wanted them to be answered. I wanted things done my way and when things did not go my way, I would give up and I told my family that no, it was God that had given up on me. Not I him. That was the childish, shallow me.
God must have been really annoyed with me for my childishness in the past. This time around, I read the Bible more deeply. I am taking baby steps in my quest to know God and I am starting from scratch, so to speak. But this time around, my faith in God stands firm. (Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen.”
At the same time, my helper Thesa also ramped up her very own physiotherapy for Chubby which was made up of making Chubby move (albeit crawl or flop) from one point to another, in his quest for his beloved tennis ball. When we saw how hard Chubby flopped to retrieve his beloved tennis ball, we marvelled at his will power. We always cheered him on and urged him never to give up. We could see he was having such difficulty and still could not garner enough strength in his hind legs to push himself to even stand up. He crawled on the floor at times to reach the tennis ball and even scraped his elbows and legs on the hard surface of the floor. That caused his elbows to bleed and the vet scolded me for having subjected Chubby to this. I felt really sorry for Chubby but he never gave up on himself. Thesa never gave up on him too, God bless her soul!
When it seemed like the disease was consuming both me and Chubby, in June 2024 and July 2024 I tried to read up on the disease and tried to make some sense of it all. It wasn’t easy because this disease is very very elusive and has not been researched much. Based on what I had read, I bravely took on the role of “Quack Doctor” and I bought some supplements for Chubby. Thank God for Chubby’s hearty appetite; it never failed him throughout his poor health and immobility. Every single vitamin pill or supplement I added to his food, he would happily gulp it down. HE is such a Darling!
This practice took us from the beginning of August 2024 to around 10 October 2024.
Suddenly on or about 9 October 2024, Thesa sent me some videos of what looked like Chubby trying to stand up. His family (ie his Dad and his Mom) cheered him on. I teared when I saw those videos and I shared them excitedly with my husband.
After that came more videos. There was even a video of my son calling Chubby and goading him on, and Chubby walking clumsily to where my son was. Again this video succeeded in bringing tears of joy to me and my husband.
I asked myself, “Was this God answering my prayer?”
One night when we got home from work, my husband prepared some supper for Chubby and brought the food to the front porch balcony. Chubby promptly got up and walked to the balcony, very steadily and very quickly. We were speechless. I got down on my knees and thanked God!
It is now more than a month now since Chubby re-discovered his ability to walk. He has even graduated to going for walks as usual with Thesa and my dog walker and us. Words can’t express how thrilled and euphoric we feel, to experience God’s love.
Thank you God for not giving up on me.
(I sometimes wonder if God used darling old Chubby as an instrument to draw me back to Him.)
Written by Mona J Oei