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This 15-year-old black lab mix just lived long enough to see his owner get married because it was battling brain tumour.
Kelly O’Connell came across Charlie Bear when he was just 12 weeks old – she found him abandoned in a shopping cart outside a grocery store. Fortunately O’Connell was studying to be a veterinarian so she had a soft spot for animals so it was pretty much a match made in heaven.
O’Connell told BuzzFeed News “I wasn’t looking for a dog… I was 19, still living with my parents and going to college. It was the worst time in my life to even attempt to get a dog.
“He came in, and I was like, ‘Yup. I’m taking this puppy home.”
A week before O’Connell walked down the altar to get married on Sept. 1; Charlie had five seizures and seemed to be in a lot of pain so she arranged for him to be put to sleep. But then a miracle happened – during the week leading up to the wedding he seemed perfectly fine and in fact, Charlie was strong enough to walk down the aisle alongside their five other dogs.
O’Connell “immediately broke down” when she saw Charlie Bear walking down the aisle with her. She said “James and I just grabbed onto him, and we just kept saying, ‘You made it, buddy, you made it.’”
Charlie was eventually put to sleep a little over a week later after the wedding but he died peacefully at home, in front of the fireplace and surrounded by his loved ones.
Scroll down to learn more about Charlie Bear by watching the video below:
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