Another small miracle for dog

Gary Van Horn and his wife are good people who have fallen on hard times.

The 71-year-old former pastor in Northern California and his wife live in a quiet residential street in Costa Mesa with their dog, Knick Knack.

Knick Knack, a vivacious Jack Russell terrier who’s become a neighborhood favorite the last 12 years, fell on hard times too. She just didn’t have the energy she had a year ago, when she was suddenly taken from her front yard and found wandering Costa Mesa streets three days later by a sheriff’s deputy and eventually reunited.

The tough times started about six months ago when the struggling economy hit home for the Van Horns. Gary is retired, but works part-time to help pay the bills at a local marble and granite counter-top company. He makes minimum wage and earns most of his income through commission.

Not surprisingly, not many people have been shopping for redecorated kitchens in the last year.

“It’s really been nip and tuck ever since,” Van Horn said.

With no money coming in at work, they now depend on their Social Security checks. They struggle monthly to pay rent, and set aside just enough to keep a roof over theirs and Knick Knack’s head. As Van Horn’s income shrunk, a problem was growing inside Knick Knack.

A mass on the right side of her abdomen, at first a bump, months later a tumor the size of a golf ball, came to torture her, and her owners who were left helpless to aid her.

“I was hoping to get customers in so I could get something done for her. In the meantime, we’re going downhill. Our situation is getting worse ... we’re just sick. We can’t take care of the dog, can’t take care of my wife. It just got to a point where my wife and I said we got to put her down. I still take her for walks, she’s hurting, but she’s still got life, you know?” Van Horn said, choking up. “I’m overwhelmed because I’ve been living through this pain for months of watching her hurt and not being able to do anything about it.”

It came down to a choice: let Knick Knack, a source of joy and peace for the Van Horns live in pain until her end, or spare her the pain humanely.

Van Horn dipped into his rent fund and took out $100, enough to pay doctors at Costa Mesa Animal Hospital to put her to sleep. It was all he could afford, he said. Removing the growth could cost anywhere from $500 to $1,000, and everyone he knew who could help him couldn’t afford to chip in.

Tuesday, a distraught, crying Van Horn and Knick Knack met Dr. Scott Dustin, a humble veterinarian at the animal hospital for the first time.

“He really was attached to the dog emotionally, he seemed to really feel concern for the animal’s well-being,” Dustin said. “He gave me a bit of insight into his life and financial situation. He said he had a hard time paying his rent. He seemed like a straightforward individual.”

So in what’s become a daily occurrence for Dustin, but a once-in-a-lifetime gift for Van Horn, Dustin offered to remove the growth from Knick Knack, saving his life, if Van Horn would only promise to pay him back whenever he could.

Knick Knack’s tumor was removed Tuesday morning, and she was returned to a relieved Van Horn on Thursday.

“I don’t think I have the words to describe my gratitude to this man ... everything was out of my control. There was nothing we could do. People would tell us ‘You can’t take care of your dog?’ and I just couldn’t come up with that kind of money,” a sobbing Van Horn said. “I’m crying, but for joy ... This man, he didn’t have to do any of that, I didn’t expect him to. I didn’t expect him to do that, it didn’t even occur to me.”

Dustin senses Van Horn is not alone, and more pet owners are suffering through similar trials.

“He was quite happy, elated, and said his prayers had been answered,” Dustin said. “I didn’t feel like I did that much.”

For the Van Horns, it was everything. Van Horn said that as his situation improves, he wants to establish a fund with the animal hospital in which people can donate money to help fund treatments for pet owners who can’t afford them.

He wants to call it the “Knick Knack Fund.”

“We’re going down financially,” he said, “but the Lord is keeping us up on the other side.”

Timeline

BACKGROUND: Knick Knack’s first adventure came a year ago when she was taken from her owner’s front yard and found three days later wandering the streets by a sheriff’s deputy.

WHAT’S NEW: Taken to the hospital to be euthanized because her owner couldn’t afford to get his tumor removed, a veterinarian volunteers to save Knick Knack’s life and take payment as her owner can afford it.

WHAT’S NEXT: Knick Knack returns home, a source of joy for a family struggling to get by in the ailing economy.