When Garnett Juracek was in a Nebraska hospital battling cancer, her family knew she needed a special kind of comfort. That’s when they decided to bring her a very dear visitor – her Labrador, Sage.
The plan to sneak Sage into the hospital was simple but clever: her uncle disguised the dog as a guide dog.
Courtney Stodola, Juracek’s granddaughter, shared with Newsweek the touching moment when her grandmother saw Sage.
“There were a few tears in her eyes,” she said.
The family had joked about sneaking in the cat, but seeing Sage was a real surprise for Juracek, especially after her recent stage 4 colon cancer diagnosis.
Hospitals don’t usually allow pets, but everyone knows how good animals can be for our spirits. Research, like that from Johns Hopkins Medicine, shows that therapy dogs can really help patients feel better, both physically and mentally.
The moment Stodola saw her uncle walking down the hospital hallway with Sage, she knew it was something special and took out her phone to record it.
The video, posted on TikTok on November 14, quickly went viral, getting over 3 million views. It shows Sage walking into the hospital, with the caption joking about how the uncle pretended to be blind to get the dog in. The video got a lot of love online, with over 380,000 likes and thousands of comments.
@courtneystodola 😂😂😂😂 #servicedog #dogsoftiktok
People on TikTok loved it. They praised the family’s creativity and the uncle’s bold move.
Some comments came from healthcare workers who agreed that pets can be great for patients.
This story isn’t just about breaking rules. It’s about the strong connection between people and their pets and what we do for love. It shows how much joy and comfort our pets can bring, even in tough times.