When Gracie was born without her front legs, her family decided that they did not want to help her deal with her disability. Instead, they abandoned the poor pup and left her to her fate.
Gracie was found outside a veterinarian’s office, covered in maggots and with patches of fur missing from around her eyes, her paws and her tail.
The vet contacted Mostly Mutts, an animal rescue centre in Kennesaw, Georgia, and they agreed to take care of the poor pup.
The Turley family, who are in charge of Mostly Mutts, immediately fell for Gracie. Though they’d been planning on finding her a nice family, they realized that they didn’t have to look very far for one: they wanted to make Gracie part of their own family.
Though Gracie’s original family rejected her because of her disability, the Turley family didn’t think being different made her any less worthy of love.
They saw her for the sweet, happy, affectionate pup she was and loved her for it.
Her new family were no strangers to differently-abled animals, and suddenly Gracie found herself with a couple fur siblings who showed her that her disability didn’t have to keep her back.
Her new brother was paralyzed in his hind legs and her new sister only had three legs and they were both happy, affectionate dogs who were thrilled to get a baby sister.
Gracie was able to get around using her hind legs, but her new mom, Tammy Turley, knew it would be safer and better for her to get a wheelchair.
The only problem was that Gracie still had a lot of growing left to do and would have to have some sort of adjustable wheelchair that could keep up with her growth.
With this in mind, an ingenious plan was formed and 12-year-old Dylan, one of Mostly Mutt’s volunteers, was commissioned to build Gracie a wheelchair out of LEGOs.
The project was a success, and after a slight learning curve, Gracie was happily zipping about on her new wheels.
When she grew too big for her chair, Dylan happily built a taller wheelchair for her. In total, he ended up building three wheelchairs for the growing pup.
Thanks to Dylan’s hard work and the love and care of her new family, Gracie has been able to thrive and her Facebook is filled with beautiful pictures showing off her new, happy life.
And now that she has finally finished growing, she has even gotten a proper, adult forever-wheelchair.
While Gracie’s first family feared her disability and thought it made her disposable, the Turley family loves her for who she is.
We hope that the Turley family’s beautiful display of love and compassion will inspire more people to accept those who are different and to approach everyone with kindness.
Gracie is a beautiful little girl and we’re thankful that she eventually ended up in the right hands. She has a long and happy life ahead of her and we’re sure she’ll continue to make good use of her new wheels.
