The Gift of Independence can come in Unusual Packages
Dana Bohannan and Charlie photo by Annie Uyehara The Gift of Independence Can Come in Unusual Packages By Annie Uyehara Dana Bohannan wasn't ready to get another dog. She lost her beloved Bandit, a chihuahua, just two weeks earlier. But ain't it running the way things work out? Bohannan was dropping off Bandit's leftover meds at an animal rescue shelter and was asked if she'd foster Charlie, a mutt who had been in the kennel too long, unadopted. She agreed to take Charlie for 72 hours. Bohannan has Cerebral Palsy (CP) on one side of her body. When the challenges of CP loomed large she had a supportive family to help her face them. She'd never had a service dog before and she never expected Charlie to be that dog. "Charlie protected me from the start, he acted like a shield for me," Bohannan recalls. "When it was time to return him to the shelter, he wouldn't get out of the car, he refused!" While she was there, she developed a migraine head