[Cagdu] Roselle -- a sad day

[Karmalynne]

Dear Mike,

I'm very sorry to hear about your loss.  You've truly lost a good and dear friend.  You will be in my thoughts and prayers.
"A women will marry at the level of her self esteem.  Only a weak woman tolerates and accepts abuse."
Karmalynne
TWITTER: KarmalynneR 
SKYPE: ladymusic1970
MSN Messenger: christmaskarma70 at hotmail.com(not and email addy)
Facebook: Karmalynne Rios


--- On Mon, 6/27/11, Michael Hingson <info at michaelhingson.com> wrote:

> From: Michael Hingson <info at michaelhingson.com>
> Subject: [Cagdu] Roselle -- a sad day
> To: "'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>, cagdu at nfbcal.org, "'eBay Class Private List'" <ebay-class at nfbnet.org>, "'NFB Talk Mailing List'" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Date: Monday, June 27, 2011, 9:52 PM
> GOODBYE TO A HERO
> 
> It is strange for me to be writing this article while I
> have feelings of
> both sadness and joy in my heart.  Nevertheless, it is
> something which must
> be done.
> 
> I have the solemn obligation to inform you that my hero
> guide dog, Roselle,
> who was with me in the World Trade Center on September 11,
> 2001, passed away
> last evening, Sunday, June 26, 2011 at 8:52 PM.  I am
> sad, of course,
> because I will miss Roselle so very much, more than any of
> my other guide
> dogs.  I write with joy because Roselle is in a better
> place, no longer
> feeling pain, while I get to have so many fond memories of
> her.
> 
> Roselle was born on March 12, 1998 at Guide Dogs for the
> Blind in San
> Rafael, California.  I heard right from the start that
> she was quite a
> mischievous little puppy.  She went to Santa Barbara,
> California to be
> raised by several puppy raising families.  Kay and Ted
> Stern had the joy and
> pleasure of spending the longest amount of raiser time with
> her.  Kay and
> Ted introduced her to airplane flying, New York, snow, and
> even the theater.
> I must say that I think the culture did rub off on her.
> 
> After her time with puppy raisers she went back to Guide
> Dogs for the Blind
> for training.  I think I first met her on November 22,
> 1999.  It was obvious
> from the very beginning that we were a perfect match. 
> Roselle was my fifth
> guide dog.  I could tell that she would be an
> excellent guide from our very
> first walk together.  What took me a few days to
> discover was that Roselle
> was also quite a character; I constantly referred to her as
> a pixie.  Almost
> from the first night we spent together I found that Roselle
> was great at
> stealing socks.  She didn't chew them up; she just
> carried them around and
> then hid them somewhere only to bring them out later just
> to taunt me.  She
> was always willing to give them up undamaged and
> ready-to-wear although a
> little bit damp.  Her tail wagged through the whole
> experience.  In fact,
> her tail hardly stop wagging during the almost 12 years I
> knew her.  During
> my first week with Roselle I also discovered that she was a
> loud snorer.
> The Stearns told me later that she could snore with the
> best of them.
> 
> We came home to New Jersey on December 2, 1999.  Later
> that evening she met
> my retired guide, Linnie.  Linnie and Roselle seemed a
> bit uncomfortable
> with each other that night and into the middle of the next
> day.  I decided
> that this awkwardness had gone on long enough and brought
> out a rope tug
> bone.  I made each of them take an end and I grabbed
> the middle of the rope.
> They started off by teaming up and tugging against
> me.  After about 20
> seconds of this with mouths inching up toward my fingers
> from both sides I
> release the bone and let them go at it alone.  From
> that moment on they were
> inseparable until Linnie died on July 4, 2002.
> 
> On September 11, 2001 Roselle and I were in our office on
> the 78th floor of
> Tower One of the World Trade Center when the tower was
> struck by American
> Airlines flight 11 which had been hijacked and was being
> controlled by
> terrorists.  Our escape from that tower as well as the
> collapse of Tower Two
> is well known and, in fact, is the subject of Thunder Dog,
> a book written by
> me and Susy Flory, which will be in bookstores soon as well
> as be available
> on my website.  All I want to say here is that Roselle
> did an incredible
> job.  She remained poised and calm through the entire
> day.  She gave kisses
> and love wherever she could and she worked when she needed
> to do so.  I
> would not be alive today if it weren't for Roselle.  I
> cannot say enough
> about the incredible job she did.  What Roselle did on
> 9/11 is a testimony
> not only to the Stern's and the others who raised her, but
> also to her
> trainer, Todd Jurek, the entire GDB training staff, and all
> the people who
> make up the wonderful organization of Guide Dogs for the
> Blind.  Most of
> all, what Roselle did that day and in fact every day she
> and I were together
> is nothing less than the strongest possible evidence I can
> provide of the
> value of teamwork and trust.
> 
> After 9/11, in fact in mid-January 2002, after Roselle and
> I had spent
> countless hours speaking to the media, and at several
> events including GDB's
> Holiday Luncheon, and even riding on a float in the Rose
> Parade on New
> Year's Day, Roselle and I were offered a position at Guide
> Dogs for the
> Blind to serve as the National Public Affairs Director for
> the organization.
> Over the next 6 1/2 years Roselle and I traveled hundreds
> of thousands of
> miles throughout the United States and the rest of the
> world speaking about
> trust and teamwork, guide dogs, and blindness in general in
> order to help
> people understand that the real handicap of blindness is
> not a lack of
> eyesight but a lack of proper education about
> blindness.  Roselle took every
> trip with poise and confidence whether it was to Kansas or
> Korea.  She was
> an incredible traveler and once even traveled from San
> Francisco to New
> Zealand, a 23.5 hour trip, without needing to go to the
> bathroom once.  I
> did not fare so well.
> 
> In 2004, Roselle was diagnosed with immune mediated
> thrombocytopenia, a
> condition which caused her body to attack her blood
> platelets.  Through
> medications we were able to control the disease and Roselle
> was able to
> continue guiding.  As usual, she worked like a trooper
> and never once
> exhibited pain nor discomfort.
> 
> When Linnie died in 2002 Roselle lost her major tug
> companion.  For the next
> four years I mainly had to take up the slack as it
> were.  We did care for
> some foster dogs from GDB, and in 2003 we adopted Panama, a
> 12 1/2-year-old
> career change dog from Guide Dogs.  Panama wasn't a
> great tugging partner
> because she didn't have the strength to keep up with
> Roselle.  In 2006,
> however, when Panama died at the age of 15 we decided to
> become a breeder
> keeper for GDB.  Fantasia came to live with us. 
> She was just two years old
> and was quite able to give as well as she got from
> Roselle.  Again, Roselle
> found an inseparable friend and made the most of it. 
> She still swiped the
> occasional pair of socks, but Fantasia was her main
> interest.  Roselle
> taught Fantasia how to bark every time the doorbell rang
> and how to beg for
> treats, although I must admit treat begging came natural to
> both dogs
> especially when 8:00 PM rolled around.
> 
> In February 2007 during a normal checkup we learned that
> some of Roselle's
> kidney values were changing for the worse.  It was
> decided that the
> medication regimen on which Roselle had been placed as well
> as the stress of
> guiding were the causes for her kidney value changes. 
> Roselle retired from
> guide work in March of 2007.  It was a sad day for all
> of us, but Roselle
> took it in stride and soon made it very clear that
> retirement suited her
> well.  After retirement Roselle loved to take walks
> most of the time, she
> loved her meals, her treats, playing Battle of the Bone
> with Fantasia and
> later with my current guide dog Africa, and of course
> barking at the ringing
> of the doorbell.  Roselle was the loudest barker of
> the bunch.  I have fond
> memories of Roselle, Fantasia, and Africa all tugging on
> the same rope, all
> battling each other across our living room giving no care
> to whatever was in
> their way.
> 
> In 2010, Roselle began exhibiting some chronic back
> pain.  In March of 2010,
> while attending and speaking at the annual convention of
> the American Animal
> Hospital Association Roselle met Doctor Robin Downing, an
> expert in dog pain
> management.  Robin noticed Roselle's pain and while I
> gave three consecutive
> workshops she spent time with Roselle.  I think they
> got to know each other
> pretty well that day because right after the workshops
> Doctor Downing, right
> there on the floor in the front of the conference room,
> gave Roselle a back
> adjustment which clearly helped Roselle and made her back
> feel somewhat
> better.  We immediately upon our return home took
> Roselle to her vet and
> started her on a treatment of acupuncture, some other back
> adjustments, and
> herbs which altogether mostly eliminated her chronic back
> pain.
> 
> Earlier this year we noticed that Roselle was beginning to
> have a harder
> time standing up on her own, although once she was standing
> she loved to
> continue her daily walks.  She stopped playing tug
> bone with Fantasia and
> Africa, but she still enjoyed lying in the sun, eating,
> kissing everybody in
> sight, and barking at the doorbell.  Her ability to
> stand on her own grew
> worse throughout the first half of this year.
> 
> Last week she began exhibiting some other signs of distress
> and pain.  On
> Friday, June 24, 2011 she had to be taken to her vet as she
> had begun
> vomiting blood.  It is suspected that somehow she had
> developed a stomach
> ulcer.  Also, it was discovered that her red blood
> cell count had dropped
> significantly.  Friday evening she was taken to the
> Pet Emergency and
> Specialty Center where she was well known and would receive
> over night care.
> She had spent many hours with Doctor Harb and the other
> staff working
> through her IMT issues.  They had also helped her in
> January 2009 when she
> developed gastric torsion and had to undergo emergency
> surgery to untwist
> her stomach.
> 
> Yesterday, Sunday, June 26, we visited her in the evening
> only to see her
> condition continuing to deteriorate.  She was in a lot
> of pain and
> discomfort.  There was no one cause for her
> discomfort, but Doctor Bowie of
> the PESC felt that some of her immune mediated related
> conditions had
> returned in addition to the possible stomach ulcer. 
> After much consultation
> and discussion we all came to agreement that the best thing
> we could do to
> help Roselle was to assist her in crossing the Rainbow
> Bridge and go to her
> friends Linnie and Panama.  At 8:52 last evening she
> crossed the bridge and,
> I am sure, is now more comfortable and has all the
> doorbells she wants to
> bark at.
> 
> How can I possibly say goodbye to a dog who is done all
> Roselle has done and
> who lived life to the fullest?  How can I ever do
> justice to her life, work,
> and memory?  Roselle has been one of the greatest
> blessings and gifts I have
> ever had the joy to let into my life.  God surely
> broke the mold when she
> came into the world.  Including Africa I have had
> seven guide dogs and also
> I have had the opportunity to see thousands of them at
> work.  Roselle is
> unique without a doubt.  She worked through the most
> trying time in our
> nation’s history, and she was right there unflinching for
> all of it.  Her
> spirit never diminished and, in fact, grew stronger through
> the years after
> 9-11 which helps me be a better person today.
> 
> I thank God for the time Karen and I were allowed to have
> the wonderful
> creature which was Roselle with us.  She touched
> everyone whom she met and
> I'm sure everyone’s path she crossed is better for
> knowing her.  She kissed
> firefighters in the World Trade Center as we descended the
> stairs.  She gave
> unconditional love to so many people wherever she
> went.  She inspired us all
> and will continue to do so.
> 
> We are about to form the Roselle's Dream Foundation. 
> This has been in the
> works for several months.  The purposes of the
> foundation include educating
> people about blindness, and as donations permit we shall
> assist blind
> children and later blind adults in obtaining some of the
> technologies which
> will assist them in learning and working in the
> world.  Shortly the website
> www.rosellefoundation.org will be up and running.  I
> hope people will honor
> Roselle by making donations in her memory to the Roselle's
> Dream Foundation
> to help us in our work.
> 
> Roselle, your memory will always be with us and I know your
> spirit will
> continue to touch us all.  I know you're watching and
> you’re nearby us.
> Help us all to be better people and dogs, but most of all
> be yourself
> wherever you are.  I hope you're feeling better
> now.  You have set a high
> bar of love for all of us.  Be at peace and know that
> we shall try to love
> each other as much as you loved each of us on this earth.
> 
> The Michael Hingson Group, INC.
>  “Speaking with Vision”
> Michael Hingson, President
> (415) 827-4084
> info at michaelhingson.com
> To learn more about my upcoming book, speaking topics and
> speaking
> availability please visit www.michaelhingson.com
> Thunder Dog is now available for early ordering on
> Amazon!!!
> http://www.amazon.com/Thunder-Dog-Blind-Triumph-Ground/dp/140020304X/ref=sr_
> 1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1289090352&sr=1-3
> 
> 
> for info on the new KNFB Reader Mobile, visit:
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> 
> 
> 
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