By Heather St. Giles

Over 5 years ago our dog, a lab-mix named Sparky, was chasing a deer at night when he suffered a very grave injury falling off of an embankment. He immediately suffered great pain and confusion; he couldn't walk due to the paralysis of his rear limbs. By morning, he had both bowel and bladder incontinence. We took him to his vet, who diagnosed a spinal cord injury. He gave a very guarded prognosis if we followed up with an MRI and emergency neurosurgeon to relieve the pressure from the bulging disk in his back. If we didn't, the vet said it was only merciful to put him down. My son was heartbroken; we agreed we couldn't put him down immediately, so we took the dog home.

We had just moved into our condominium, and we didn't know anybody in town. I didn't have the resources to obtain the advanced care for my dog, so we just waited to see if he could recover. After 2 weeks, the dog was so miserable, we arranged for a vet to come to our house and perform the euthanasia procedure on Halloween. It was a sad decision, but the right thing to do.

A friendly neighbor saw us on our walkway taking care of our inert dog while walking his dog. When he asked what was wrong with our dog, we told him our sad story. An hour later, the neighbors' wife stopped by, introduced herself as Ellen, and asked if she could help Sparky with Reiki. I was a bit surprised, we didn't know about Ellen or Reiki, but I had no hesitation about letting the woman try and help the stricken animal. The vet was coming in less than 2 days - what did we have to lose? Ellen sat and knelt on the walkway beside the dog, and gently petted him. The dog relaxed visibly in Ellen's presence, so we watched, then gave them a little space and time, such as the sidewalk allowed. After a half hour or so, she stood up, petted Sparky a final time, wished us good luck, and wished Sparky a speedy recovery. We smiled, nodded, but didn't expect a thing from our friendly neighbor and offbeat encounter.

However, to our amazement, within an hour Sparky perked up, then tried to get up! And an hour later, he staggered to his feet! We calmed him, but by morning he had regained bowel and bladder continence, and began to walk later that day. He recovered steadily over the next 2 weeks, much to our delight. Needless to say, we cancelled the vet's appointment. Ellen saw him once more, which seemed to complete the healing process. Sparky is still with us today; 11 years old now. Ellen still enjoys visiting with Sparky while walking in the neighborhood. We are very, very grateful to Ellen for her healing Reiki that saved our dog.

Ellen L. Bloomfield is a Reiki Master in Marin County, California.  She treats all creatures. She can be reached at ebquercus@yahoo.com