In 1991, on a rainy day in Chicago, a five-month-old shepherd mix was left to fend for herself. I saw that puppy running, wet and muddy, as though someone were chasing her, into five lanes of speeding traffic. As fast as I could, I stopped the car and ran out calling to her to stop, to come to me. With fear in her eyes, the little puppy flopped on her back and apprehensively wagged her little tail. I took her in my arms, and never let go of her again. This is Kopek’s story. She has been with me through my student years, my first teaching job as a Professor and now she has become the “mom” to my children, two boys, as well. To our dismay, she has IBD. She suffers. Her passion is food… I suspect she had been kept in someone’s yard as a puppy, because rummaging through garbage is her hobby. I also suspect she was abused… it took her two years to come up strangers and not hide between my legs. She still is fearful and with her pain, she seems so sad. But we love her more than words can say.