UPDATE on Hudson

Liz Trocchio Smith writes to HappyNews.com:

"You recently published an article by Terri Rimmer 'Lab Rescue Digs Up Dollars; Support for Dogs' which featured our sweet lab, Hudson. I am the proud owner of Hudson who we adopted from DFW Lab Rescue earlier this year who was blind from diabetes. Miraculously, we were able to restore Hudson's eye sight when we found the most tremendous animal ophthalmologist in Dallas. I wanted to give you a quick update on Hudson and send you a more recent picture. Feel free to share it or keep it in your files, but I didn't feel like you got the "entire" story and I wanted to share it."

Here is Liz's Update:

By Liz Trocchio Smith

Happy News Journaist and Hudson's Proud Owner

When I first met Hudson, something drew me to him right away. I don't know if it was the fact that he had moved around from foster home to foster home through DFW Lab Rescue, or that he was diabetic and insulin dependant, or his being blind, but my heart went out to him. I knew the first day that I met him that he would have an incredible impact on my life.

My husband Randy and I had lost our beloved labs, Bo and Charlie a year earlier due to old age. We fell in love with Hudson immediately. It was no trouble at all to give him insulin shots daily, and he was so used to it that he welcomed it as a form of attention. The blindness never once seemed to bother him, and he settled into his new forever home quite comfortably, just so content to be loved and accepted. He slowly learned to trust us and open up to us and soon realized he was there to stay.

But then, we were introduced to Dr. Munger at the Animal Ophthalmology Clinic in Dallas. When we first went to visit him in early March of 2005, we told him that Hudson didn't really know he was blind, and the possibility of getting his eyesight back was more for us than for him.

Yes, it is true that he adapted to his blindness; it is also true that he calmed once he came to our home and knew he would not have to fight for his food, or to fight for attention, that he was loved so unconditionally exactly the way he was. But the excitement was overwhelming when Dr. Munger shared with us that Hudson was indeed a candidate for cataract surgery and percentages were good that he would see again. It was an unbelievable gift from God.

What I didn't realize then, that I see so clearly now, is that Dr. Munger gave Hudson so much more than his eyesight back. Hudson is an unbelievable happy, frisky 7 year old lab that acts just like a puppy. He has confidence and self-esteem that I embrace every day. When I catch him looking out our bay window in the kitchen, tears come to my eyes.

Hudson awakes with such excitement and curiosity greeting each day. Each morning we venture out for our run, he discovers something new. He is chasing squirrels and very interested in rabbits and he will stop in his tracks to watch a bird fly off.

He no longer needs the wall in our hallway to guide him, but runs without fear to me each day when I arrive home and promptly gives me a big beautiful wonderful kiss on the mouth!

I can never know what Hudson's life was like prior to God allowing us to care for him. What I know for sure is, thanks to Dr. Munger's wonderful love and caring for animals, I can take comfort in knowing what Hudson's life will be like going forward. I sense at times, when Hudson has his head laid in my lap and he looks up at me with his beautiful loving eyes, that he knows too."

Editor's Note: We are very happy Hudson is doing well and we thank Liz for taking the time to write this touching update. We hope this update by Liz inspires pet owners to seek help for thier sight challenged pets.