Back in July, I wrote a column in the Press Journal about Mike Warren and his service dog, Goose.
Mike received Goose from a Ponte Vedra Beach-based organization called K9s for Warriors (www.k9sforwarriors.org), which provides service dogs to military veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress and/or traumatic brain injury as a result of military service after Sept. 11, 2001.
In 2007, Mike suffered a broken back and a traumatic brain injury when his unit was caught in an ambush while returning from a 30-day mission in Afghanistan. He was granted a medical retirement from the Army in 2008.
Shirley Long contacted me after the column was published and offered to make Mike a quilt. However, she said it will take a few months to finish.
I hadn’t heard from Shirley before my last day at the Press Journal (Sept. 19), so I figured that was the end of the story.
As fate would have it, Shirley and I reconnected via email about two weeks ago. I promised her I’d try to get her in touch with Mike. It took me several days, but I finally got ahold of Brandi Warren (Mike’s wife) and told her about Shirley’s quilt. Shirley wanted to personally deliver to Mike. I was surprised to learn she lives in Martin County.
Earlier this week, Shirley made the trip up I-95 to give the quilt to Mike. We met in the parking lot of a restaurant near Vero Beach Outlets.
The plan worked perfectly, except for one thing — Shirley locked her keys in her car.
It was great to see Shirley finally give the quilt to Mike. A very nice gesture on her part.
