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Kim
had the opportunity to photograph Willy in the Fall 1999 for the "Working
Dogs" book (Random House), and has remained friendly with his owner, Deborah
Turner. Willy and Deborah made such an impact on Kim that we thought we'd use
our first feature to share Willy's incredible story with you. His story is so
touching, it's no wonder that this is not the first story about him. Nor will
it be the last.
Willy the Chihuahua is affectionately known as "Wheely Willy," and belongs to Deborah Turner of Long Beach, California. Willy was found abandoned on a busy street in a cardboard box. He had no tags, no food, no blankets, not even a note from his owner. Worse yet, he had a major spinal cord injury which rendered his hind legs useless, and his vocal cords were cut. Luckily, someone picked him up and took him to a local animal hospital where he spent the next year of his life recovering from his injuries. However, towards the end of that year, no one showed any interest in adopting him. That's when Turner, the owner of a dog grooming business named "Doggy in the Window", was alerted that Willy was going to be put to sleep that day. She went to visit him in the hospital and decided to adopt him which truly saved his life. What transpired over the next eight years was nothing short of a miracle.
When Deborah brought Willy home, she immediately noticed his love for life. Deborah was already the owner of many animals including dogs, cats, ducks, and a turtle. Willy immediately started making friends. Unable to walk, Willy had to be carried wherever he went. And he went everywhere, loving every minute of it. But she could tell he wanted to walk on his own. Trying to figure out how to raise his hind legs, Deborah got a hold of some large helium balloons and tied them around Willy's midsection. Weighing all of two pounds, Willy's hind legs were easily lifted off the ground. But there was a problem... his front legs were lifted off the ground too. Happy as he was to be airborne, Deborah knew she had to figure out a different way to help him.
Ironically,
Deborah saw an ad for a contraption called the "Canine Cart," a two-wheeled
brace that would support Willy's back and legs. Deborah was warned that Willy's
canine cart would take some getting used to, and Willy might not like being
strapped into it. So she brought Willy to her store, "Doggy in the Window"
and strapped Willy into his new cart. Within seconds, Willy was darting around
the room like he had never been disabled. In fact, Deborah concurs... "I
consider Willy "enabled," not disabled. And so, as Willy became enabled,
he began to enable others as well. Everyone who came into Deborah's store wanted
to know the story of Willy. This led to a local newspaper writing a story on
him. "There was a domino effect," says Turner. "We ended up being
written up in all the newpapers, we went on morning news shows... everyone wanted
to know the story about Willy."
One
place that wanted to know about Willy was the Long Beach Veterans Hospital.
They called Deborah and asked if she would bring Willy to visit some fellow
spinal cord victims. His presence at the Veteran's Hospital has been a huge
success. Even though Willy still can't speak - his bark sounds more like a frog
than a dog - Animal Planet deemed him Wheely Willy, the motivational speaker.
Deborah was a little surprised about that moniker and says that his presence
is what really motivates. The photographs featured in this article are from
Kim's visit to the Veteran's Hospital where she had the remarkable opportunity
to witness firsthand the effect that Willy had on the patients.
Eventually, other hospitals in the area started calling. Willy was soon visiting Alzheimers patients, mental wards, and children with disabilities. It was these children who noted that after spending time with Willy, they didnšt even notice that he had wheels for legs. A patient suffering from depression told Deborah on one of her visits that "If a dog can be this happy with such a disablity, then I can get over my depression".
When a young boy was paralyzed while body surfing, the ER requested that Deborah and Willy come and visit the boy. The boy said that Willy was one of the few things he remembers during his ordeal because he was the only thing that gave him hope. Finally, rumor has it that when Willy visited an autistic child, the child was later heard talking about Willy.
After
seven years with Willy and much encouragement, Deborah realized that Willy's
story would make a wonderful book. Inspired by the work Willy did with children,
she teamed up with author Diana Mohler and illustrator Rhonda McHugh to create
the award winning children's book, "How Willy Got His Wheels." (Doral
Publishing).
Amazingly, Deborah gets an occassional phone call from someone who claims that Willy belongs to them. Despite these rare phone calls, the rest of her time with Willy is nothing short of magical. When I asked Deborah to describe Willy in one word - I refused to let her use the word "Wheely"- she said... "Willy is a gift, and not just my gift from God, but a gift that I can give to everyone."
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