They say the daily events are woven together by miracles and they are so commonplace that most of the times we fail to notice them. We simply take them for granted.

The last year has been pretty eventful for us starting with all the wedding excitement. We had just returned and settling down to our regular life when we were presented with a new family member.

One evening we kept hearing an agonized whining somewhere behind our house. The pitiful crying went on all through the night but we couldn’t locate the source. Finally, next morning after a lot of searching we came upon a tiny little puppy inside this dilapidated house covered with dense overgrowth. He looked very frail and was unable to walk. On top of that it seemed that he was seriously injured. My husband got him home perched on his palm, yelling away to glory. We couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him – except that every once in a while he would stop moaning, try to get up and fall flat on his face and start at the top of his voice all over again. We immediately took him to a clinic and started looking for a shelter who would take him in, once the clinic let him go. We were even ready to pay for him each month. But the clinic promptly concluded that the pup has contracted canine distemper – a particularly fatal disease. Should he somehow survive that, he would never walk again or lead a normal life. Immediately we knew no shelter would accept him and neither would he last long in a shelter.

The pup needed love, care and loads of patience to even survive a week in the condition he was in. He must have been hit by a car or some other vehicle and tossed inside. He was tiny with a head larger than his body. There was a progressive inflammation which gradually made the head grow bigger and hence the poor pup couldn’t keep balance or walk. On top of all that he hardly had any strength and was almost entirely blind. Even then he kept trying to walk and ate when we fed him (using a syringe).

Eventually we decided we will take care of him since he had decided to find us and not another. He was named Goofy. Goofy became a part of our daily routines and we adjusted for him to make him comfortable. We fed him, played with him, bathed him, and took him to various doctors asking their opinions. Some gave us hope. Some congratulated us on our courage and deed but expressed sorrow and helplessness in the end. Our lives went on.

Goofy learnt to eat chicken and mashed potatoes (from KFC) with rice along with his puppy food and milk supplements. Slowly he gathered enough strength to start on a wobbly walk which grew steadier by the day. He started to differentiate between the light and the dark. He learnt to switch off the fans each time we switched them on. He tried to raid the kitchen, fell off the stairs and tried to bite my mum when she chided him. The doctors kept giving the same dictum each time.

Hope renewed with one young doctor at a clinic we were recommended to. She started treating Goofy with new drugs. She also informed us that the crack in the skull (which was causing his cerebral fluid to seep out and accumulate under the skin – the root cause of all this) was healing well. She was optimistic and we regained our spirits with her. Goofy hated the thermometer or the needles. We coaxed him with chewy bacon treats. Each appointment would get us new bite marks and loads of complains from Goof.

Everyday Goofy gained a little more strength. The totter became a more confident walk and eventually broke into a run. He started eating by himself. Suddenly one day he was following our feet to bite and we knew he was not blind.

It all happened very slowly over the last 6 months. The little injured puppy is now a strong and lean 6 month old. He is still very moody and not so confident of his sight or walk but he is no different from other pups his age. He eats, plays, jumps, runs, irritates, and gets scolded. He keeps getting better everyday and keeps surprising us. Touch wood!

What more – he is exceptionally fond of our 2 month old son, Adi. Goofy keeps a watch on him all the time and the moment Adi starts crying, Goof makes it a point to rush down and inform us – in case we’re in the other room.

I am more than happy to say that all those doctors who had written him off were so wrong ! They gave up too fast. There is nothing that doesn’t go right again with courage, love, care and positive thinking. That’s what makes for a real miracle and Goofy proved it to the world.