Everyone loves the heartwarming story of someone helping a stranger out of the goodness of their heart. Similarly, it touches people’s emotions to hear about the bond between a pet and its human owner. This is a true story that combines both these touching themes and is about how an eight-year-old cancer patient has reunited with his dog thanks to the kindness of a trucker who was willing to drive 2,300 miles.
Perryn Miller, an eight-year-old from Wilmington, North Carolina, was spending his holidays in Utah. Prior to taking the trip, he had experienced nagging headaches. These began to get worse while he was away from home. He was sent to the emergency room at the nearest hospital and after tests to uncover the cause of his illness, doctors made a devastating diagnosis.
Doctors discovered that Perryn had stage four glioblastoma, which is an aggressive form of brain cancer. The doctors decided that the best treatment was surgery to remove the tumor followed by several months of radiation and chemotherapy.
Sadly, this wasn’t the first tragedy that Perryn and the rest of The Miller family had faced tragedy. They had already lost their home in Hurricane Florence. Now facing a new tragedy, the family decided to stay in Utah together while Perryn began the treatment for his cancer.
One family member that was not with them during this time was the family dog; an eight-month-old German Shepherd called Frank. They had left their dog behind in North Carolina being cared for by friends and family.
Although the friends, family, and even strangers were supporting Perryn through the terrible time, he was really missing Frank. The two had formed a bond and Frank was the one support that Perryn wanted the most by his side. In fact, he needed his canine friend more than ever.
The family had posted updates about Perryn’s progress on Facebook, and one of these posts was read by Robert Reynolds, a former long-haul trucker. Although he was a stranger to the family, he wanted to do something to help. So, he volunteered to collect Frank from North Carolina and drive the dog the 2,300 miles to Perryn and his family in Utah.
In an interview, Reynolds explained that he believed it would be a great thing to get Frank to his family in Utah. He hoped that reuniting the dog with Perry would help the young cancer patient to recover.
People were fascinated with Reynolds’ offer to help and were interested to follow the story. Therefore, he decided to document his journey with Frank by taking selfies with the dog and posting them along with updates on the journey on social media.
After a long journey, Frank and Perry were reunited. Hopefully, having his canine friend by his side will help Perryn along the difficult road to recovery. It is a documented fact that animals can play an important role in therapy for patients suffering from serious, long-term, and chronic illnesses.
Unfortunately, Frank cannot stay in Utah indefinitely and will have to return to North Carolina eventually. There his temporary caregivers will take care of him until the Millers return home. Getting Frank back to their hometown is not something the Millers need to worry about though. Their angel trucker Robert Reynolds has already promised to repeat his previous journey to make sure that Frank makes it home safely.
This is not the only support that Reynolds has received. They have also received financial help from kind people who wanted to help the family through this difficult time. A GoFundMe page was started so that people could give donations to help the family. So far, the donations total $43,000.
During their stay in Utah, the family has accumulated mounting expenses for both treatment and accommodation. As the family cannot work during this time, this has put them under financial strain. They had already lost a home and having a child with such a serious illness is stressful enough without the added pressure of worrying about finances. Thanks to the donations of $43,000 from well-meaning people, the family have one less thing to worry about during such a difficult time in their lives.
