Fiona: The Dog Who Changed Everything

As Hope For Paws celebrates 18 years of rescue, I find myself thinking about one very special dog: Fiona.

When we found Fiona, she was blind, alone, and living in a pile of trash behind an auto body shop in South Los Angeles. She was elderly, covered in fleas and painful mats, and looked like she had simply given up.
 

But Fiona's story didn't end there… it sparked an incredible chain reaction that saved thousands of lives.
 

After we took Fiona home, I cleaned her up, invited her to meet the rest of my pack, and the following week, I had an appointment with an ophthalmologist to see if he could restore her vision. The doctor told me that for $4,000 (back in 2011) he could save one of her eyes (the other eye had glaucoma and was beyond repair).

I quickly edited her rescue video (a different version from the one above). It was just the rescue part, and a plea for help so we can help her see again. People from all over the world came together, and while Fiona started treatment to lower the pressure in her eyes, we raised the needed funds, and we went for surgery. The surgery was successful, and for the first time in a long time, Fiona could see again! I created a follow-up video so our supporters could see her happy and full of life.

That event by itself didn't change much here, and we continued working for another year until I noticed something interesting. Every week, a website called GodVine.com posted one of our stories, and it got quite a lot of attention, so on a critical Saturday afternoon, I remember thinking to myself, “If they pick up Fiona's story next weekend but miss the fact that it has two parts, it would be a missed opportunity to get many more people to see her full story”. I sat down, combined the two stories, and re-uploaded the full story to YouTube.

The video started very slowly (20,000 views in 5 days), but my hunch proved right when, five days later, GodVine picked the story. It took 5 more days for the video to become the first viral dog rescue video on the Internet (YouTube was only 7 years old at that time). All of a sudden, I had a wave of visitors from all over the world talking about Fiona, and I quickly realized that our website was not designed to handle such traffic AT ALL! I scrambled to create a new website with an amazing team, and it completely changed the organization to help on a whole new level. I don't think I ever shared that little piece of history, so I'm glad I finally got to it. ☺️

Her story helped introduce Hope For Paws to a global audience, allowing us to save thousands of animals in the years that followed. One small dog reminded the world that every life matters, no matter how old, sick, or forgotten.
 

Eighteen years later, that mission remains exactly the same, but the responsibility is much greater. We are still a small team here at Hope For Paws - Loreta, Katie, Kai, Justin, Chris (who adopted Fiona), Bradley, and I.

Every rescue begins with compassion. Every second chance begins with someone like you deciding to help.

I hope you'll take a few minutes to watch Fiona's rescue and see why her story continues to inspire us all these years later.

And if you'd like to help us save the next Fiona, please consider making a donation in honor of Hope For Paws' 18th anniversary. A group of supporters came together and offered to match your donation this month! Every dollar doubles and helps us save twice as many lives.

Together, we can continue creating miracles for animals who have nowhere else to turn.

Thank you so much,

Eldad