Albuquerque Animal Welfare
A dying war veteran has been reunited with his precious pooch as a final wish before he passes.
John Vincent, from New Mexico, was forced to give up Patch, his beloved dog, when he was admitted to a hospice last week.
The 69-year-old was told by doctors he doesn’t have long to live – and John’s only request was that he gets to see his canine companion before dying.
That wish came true when the man was reunited with his adorable Yorkshire Terrier at the Raymond G. Murphy VA Medical Centre in Albuquerque.
According to the Albuquerque Journal, Patch was quiet on the journey to the hospice but ‘began to cry’ when he saw his owner.
Animal Welfare director Danny Nevarez said, ‘It’s almost like he knew, he just started whimpering.’
The paper reported that Mr Vincent got Patch when his neighbour’s dog had puppies.
He told the paper, ‘He was the smallest, and I wanted one that could ride on my bike. The only hair I had was on my chin, which was called a patch. And he has a little white patch, so we were the patch brothers.’
Mr Vincent has no family in New Mexico and Patch was being cared for by Westside Animal Shelter while waiting for an adopter.
The animal shelter shared the reunion on their Facebook page, writing, ‘They were so happy to see each other and to say their goodbyes. It was an honour to make this veteran’s final wish come true.’
Since the post, they updated to reveal Patch has been adopted and will be moving to his new home soon.
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