Vicki Wolfson:  

the children in the terminal ill section (after two visits with these beautiful children telling me of their cancer and how long they had to live, I could not do it anymore. I take Tony to the floor, a nurse comes and gets him and I go find a comfortable chair in the waiting room and read). This seems to be Tony's calling. He is allowed to roam the floor, visiting all the children. The nurses tell me that Tony is the highlight of their day. They pet him, crawl all over him, hug, kiss and in general love him. His tail and feet get run over by wheelchairs and he never even whimpers, just lets them do anything they want. Our visits vary in duration from one to three hours. There have been numerous times when parents called requesting Tony's presence during the final moments of their child's life. Tony jumps up in bed with the child, puts his head on the child's shoulder and remains in that position until the child's spirit leaves the room. As I said earlier, I get too emotional so I am in the waiting room until Tony is brought back to me. When one of the mothers came back with Tony to thank me for bringing him to the hospital (it was 3am) she told me that after her son was pronounced dead, the nurse took hold of Tony's collar to get him off the bed. Tony did a very low growl and would not budge (Tony is 85 pounds so you don't just pick him up). This mother told the nurse that her son's spirit had not left and Tony knew that, so to leave Tony where he was. There must be something to that because the amount of time Tony stays with a child varies; the nurses never make Tony get off the bed until he is ready to leave. He is a very special dog. That's it in a nutshell. Bob and I would love to hear from you. We are looking forward to our 45th Landon reunion (has it been 45 years!).