‘He’s a survivor’

Graham first responders descended upon 618 Lincoln St. Saturday, Aug. 10, as a structure fire raged. No people were injured in the fire, but running from the blaze was a stray kitten.

He was scooped up by Graham Fire Department Chief Jerry David and eventually handed off to Graham Emergency Medical Services personnel TJ Ward and Megan White.

“We took over care of him and stayed around till we got the fire knocked down,” Ward said. “(…) He was pretty quiet, you could tell his heart was beating really fast, you could tell he was in distress. He was lucky he didn’t get burned really bad and most of time the smoke (gets them.)”

The EMS crew said the kitten had some burns to his paws. They believe the kitten likely had siblings and a mother which were living near the fire site that did not make it out.

They said they were trying to take the kitten to Animal Control Officer Kim Shawver, but were unable to get a hold of him. However, they were able to get him to Dry Creek Veterinarian Doris Jones.

“He has got some scarring on him, but he is a trooper that is for sure,” Ward said.

“He’s a survivor” Megan added.

After dropping off the kitten at the vet, the EMS crew began talking about the kitten with their colleagues including MARC, Medical Air Rescue Company, Region 2 Director of Business Development Lacy White.

“We actually talk a lot because, in EMS we work as a team and we have been helping the hospital and EMS crew here,” Lacy said. “(…) They were texting me and telling me about this kitten that they had saved  and it just broke our heart. I know Megan was quite upset about it (…) and over the next few days I started thinking about who was going to pay for the vet bill.”

That is when the MARC crew banded together to pay for the vet bills of the cat from their personal pockets.

For the rest of the story, see the Wednesday, Aug. 28 edition of The Graham Leader.