A Desperate Discovery on the Roadside
Last month, the phone of dog rescuer Suzette Hall buzzed with a message that made her heart stop. It was a text from a Good Samaritan in the Los Angeles area, and it contained a picture of a small, black-and-white dog lying motionless on the side of a busy road. The dog was alert, her eyes wide with fear and pain, but she was seemingly unable to move. She had clearly been hit by a car and left for dead.
Hall, the founder and director of the rescue organization Logan’s Legacy 29, has a rule she lives by: when a call like this comes in, you drop everything and you go. She raced to the dog’s location, her mind bracing for the worst. When she arrived, the scene was just as heartbreaking as she had feared. The poor pup was trying to move, her spirit fighting, but her body was betraying her. She was in shock, and Suzette knew that every single second was critical.
“Rescue is hard. It’s sad and scary, but I have to be their voice,” Hall wrote later, reflecting on the intensity of that moment. With the gentle, practiced hands of a seasoned rescuer, she carefully scooped the injured dog into her arms, whispering words of comfort. She named the pup Inky on the way to the veterinary clinic, a small act of love and identity for a dog who had, in that moment, no one else in the world.
A Heartbreak Shared
As the veterinary team rushed to stabilize the little dog, word began to spread in the community about the dramatic roadside rescue. Within 24 hours, a miracle occurred. The pup’s dad was found. He had been searching frantically for his lost dog, whose real name, he explained, was Tulum.
He rushed to the veterinary clinic, his heart full of a desperate hope. But the moment he saw his beloved girl lying on the examination table, so still and so broken, that hope gave way to a wave of gut-wrenching anguish. He broke down, his tears mixing with the rescuer’s. “She is all her owner has in the whole world … she is his life,” Hall wrote, describing the powerful, heartbreaking scene. “He and I cried together and hugged. My heart couldn’t be more broken seeing his broken heart.”
The reunion was a beautiful, yet agonizing, moment. Tulum’s dad was overjoyed to have found his precious girl, but he was terrified for her future. The initial diagnosis was devastating: Tulum appeared to be paralyzed from the neck down. Saving her would require expensive and extensive testing, including an MRI and likely a complicated surgery, a financial burden that was simply impossible for him to bear. He was faced with an unthinkable choice, but Suzette Hall refused to let their story end there.
A Christmas Miracle in the Making
Harnessing the power of her rescue community, Hall stepped in to help. She shared Tulum’s story, her fight for life, and her dad’s heartbreak with her followers, and she asked for their help. The response was a beautiful testament to the power of community and compassion. Donations began to pour in, and soon, they had raised enough money to cover all of Tulum’s medical expenses. She would get her chance to heal.
The first reunion with her dad, as heartbreaking as it was, seemed to spark a new will to live in the little dog. “Her little eyes looking up at her daddy was all it took to see hope in her eyes,” Hall wrote. That hope became the fuel for her incredible recovery.
On November 6, 2024, Tulum underwent the critical surgery she needed to address the injuries from the crash. The surgery was a success, but the road ahead was still long. What followed were weeks of intensive physical therapy and laser treatments, a grueling process of slowly and patiently coaxing her body back to life. And then, another miracle. She began to regain feeling and movement in her back legs. “Sweet baby girl is responding so well,” Hall wrote in an update, her own hope soaring. “I am truly believing in a Christmas miracle.”
The Reunion That Healed Every Heart
For the next few weeks, Tulum continued her recovery at the clinic, her strength and spirit growing stronger every single day. Finally, over a month after the accident that had nearly claimed her life, she was cleared to go home.
When her dad arrived to pick her up, the entire clinic staff gathered to watch. The moment Tulum saw him, her entire body erupted in pure, unadulterated joy. The dog who had been unable to move just a few weeks ago was now wiggling and squirming with an excitement that could not be contained.
“She couldn’t get back in his arms fast enough,” Hall wrote, describing the beautiful, tear-filled moment. “Tulum and her daddy are back together.” He scooped her up, and she buried her face in his neck, her whole body trembling with happiness. It was a reunion that healed not just the hearts of the dog and her dad, but the hearts of every single person who had been a part of her incredible journey.
As they walked out of the veterinary clinic together, a father and his beloved daughter, the entire rescue community celebrated. “SHE IS A MIRACLE,” Hall wrote, her words a testament to the power of hope, community, and the unbreakable spirit of one very special dog. “I literally can’t stop crying.”
