How Kanawha Got Her Name

 

Through making some stupid choices as a kid, I ran away from home at the age of 15.  I isolated myself from family and friends, was living on the street, eating out of dumpsters and sleeping under cars.  I worked as a waitress and often held three jobs at a time.

 

I worked in a breakfast room mornings, served lunch and dinner at a Greek Restaurant, and then worked till 2 am serving drinks in bars until they figured out that I was under age and I'd have to move to the next bar.   Eventually I was able to earn enough to rent an unheated garage.  It had a toilet, sink and bathtub but the water to run them all was via a garden hose I ran in through the broken window.  There was no A/C, no fan and only the heat of one small space heater that I bought.  One night, thinking I would freeze to death I fell asleep too close and caught my hair on fire.

 

The clothes I left home with hung on my skeletal frame now as I had been reduced to just skin and bones.  I used an old rope for a belt and even my shoes were too big now and caused blisters on my feet as I had to walk to and from all of my places of work in Charleston, W.Va.

 

I lived with a 6'4" 250 lb mutant named Jim Jones, who was a drug addict who routinely beat me within an inch of my life.  No matter how hard I worked, it was never enough to support his habits.  Sometimes I would be out of work for weeks because I couldn't be serving food with blackened, swollen eyes and bloodied lips.  It was then that I was at my lowest and often felt that I just couldn't keep going.

 

One night as I was walking home to my garage I deterred toward the Kanawha River bridge. I climbed as high as I could go and, borrowing a line from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, figured the fall alone would kill me.  I slipped off my shoes and did a swan dive into the icy waters of the Kanawha River.

 

Much to my surprise, the fall didn't kill me, but as I surfaced I wondered if hypothermia might.  Feeling really stupid I thought to myself that I couldn't even commit suicide right…Then I heard the voice of a man screaming from the bridge, "Don't worry!  I'll save you!"

 

To my horror, a homeless man who had apparently watched me jump, had now leapt off the bridge to rescue me.  Being in considerably worse condition than me, and drunk to boot, his rescue effort resulted in me dragging him back in to shore, but I was touched nonetheless.  His selflessness in the face of what little he had to give showed me that no matter how bad things are, you can help someone else; you can make a difference, if you just never give up.

 

Fast forward to 1994 and a terribly skinny Siberian Lynx arrives.  She was so far gone, and yet tenaciously held on to life and her indomitable spirit.  She reminded me that no matter how difficult life becomes we never know what is just around the corner.  If we have faith, stay positive and NEVER EVER, EVER GIVE UP, we will succeed.

 

I named her Kanawha so that every time I thought her name, I would be reminded to never give up.  Now I volunteer with the Homeless Coalition and speak at their events to encourage others who are homeless to keep trying and to let their donors know that the people they help could one day be paying it forward.

 

Kanawha is 22 now, and as most of you know has lost her soul mate Katmandu who was 19.  Kanawha suffers from seizures when she hears the lawn mower so we have moved her back into the wooded area of the sanctuary beyond Cameron and Zabu so that her final days are as stress free as possible.

 

As always, I want to thank all of you who give so deeply of yourselves to these animals.  It is the inspiration that enables me to deal with the dark side of the enemies we face who seek to abuse and exploit big cats.

 

I've been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  If I'm going to share my story, it should