Are you so happy to see me? I’m so happy to see you.
Vietnam war veteran’s last wish was to be reunited with his 5-year-old Yorkshire Terrier named Patch.
John Vincent, 69, of New Mexico, got Patch when he was just a puppy and the two have been inseparable ever since. “He was the smallest, and I wanted one that could ride on my bike,” Vincent told the Albuquerque Journal. “The only hair I had was on my chin, which was called a patch. … And he had a little white patch, so we were the patch brothers.”
The two would wear matching googles when they rode on Vincent’s motorcycle and go for walks every night. Sadly, Vincent’s health started to decline and last week he entered hospice care. He was not able to bring Patch with him and with no family in the area, he had to surrender his dog to Albuquerque Animal Welfare.
Vincent told Amy Neal, a social worker at the hospice center, that he wished to see Patch again. She said, “I asked him if that’s something that would be meaningful for him, and it came together very quickly.”
Neal reached out to Danny Nevarez, director of Animal Welfare, and told them about Vincent’s request and the shelter was happy to help. They arranged for Patch to be brought to Hospice Center at the Raymond G. Murphy VA Medical Center to see his dad.
The little dog was quiet on the ride to the hospice center until they turned on the road that the center was on. “It’s almost like he knew, he just started whimpering,” Nevarez said. “Like he had that anticipation.”
Patch was reunited with his dad and Vincent said at he stroked his best pal, “Yeah, that’s me, that’s daddy. Are you so happy to see me? I’m so happy to see you.” Patch replied by kissing his dad on his face.
The shelter assured Vincent that Patch would go to a loving home and is already spoken for. The shelter posted, “It was such a heart warming moment! They were so happy to see each other and to say their goodbyes. It was an honor to make this veterans final wish come true.”
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