Lucie’s second chance
Beloved pit bull makes full recovery after friends collect funds for expensive surgery
About six months after a major surgery, Lucie the pit bull is back to her old self. Lucie, owned by Lindsay Santos and Jamie Palmer of Summerside, was the recipient of some significant community support in January after a severe injury left her future in question.
Lucie sustained a debilitating hind leg injury on Christmas Day 2016 and was going to require a $6,000 surgery to repair it.
To cover the bill, some of Santos’ clients at Stretch Fitness in Summerside, where she works as a personal trainer, held a collection and helped raise the full amount.
Lucie has since made a full recovery, but it was a difficult process for everyone involved. “We had a long, long, long winter,” said Santos.
“We had to change our whole lives.”
Santos and Palmer spent the winter sleeping on the floor in case their dog needed them for any reason.
She also couldn’t walk for an extended period and they had to keep her as quiet as possible so she wouldn’t get excited and do more damage to her leg.
But, added Santos, Lucie is now recovered and is a happygo-lucky two-year-old pup again.
She will not, however, be able to do a lot of the things she used to and her contact with other dogs in the future will be kept to a minimum. Unfortunately, there is a high chance her injury will repeat on the opposite hind leg.
“It’s just the nature of the beast,” said Santos.
“She’s like a little old lady and she’s not even two yet. But we just can’t risk it — I’m not doing that again. I’m not.”