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Joel & Jackson & The LA Marathon
 This past March was the 25th anniversary of the Los Angeles
Marathon. Over twenty thousand runners participated, and one of them, "first time" marathoner Joel Andres, ran to raise money for Bill Foundation and Rover Rescue, bringing in more than $6,600 for
the two groups. "Rover Rescue approached me during a marathon training session," said Joel, "but I decided I couldn't run for Rover
unless they agreed to split the money I raised with Bill Foundation, the rescue that brought me Jackson."
Joel's road to the LA Marathon is an inspirational one. Seriously injured during a training session in 2001 and faced with the prospect of looming back surgery with no guarantees, Joel was told by
neurosurgeons that he would never run again. Determined to prove the doctors wrong, Joel opted out of surgery, found his own route to rehabilitation, and became
a certified personal trainer in the process. He even gained an international amateur triathlon ranking. So compelling was his story, that he was featured in the Runner's World magazine on
a story about running technique.
His story about Jackson is just as inspirational. "I had to put my last dog Bandit down right before the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon in 2003. He was 13, and I had had him since he was 3
months old. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I almost didn't even do the triathlon, but Bandit had seen me through all of
the training, so I figured I owed it to him. It was a very bittersweet accomplishment. Friends kept trying to get me to get another dog,
but I just didn't think I was up to it." Daniel, a Bill Foundation volunteer who Joel knew from the swim team, suggested Joel meet one of our dogs and took Joel to the kennels. "I noticed Jackson
right away and tried to stay clear because he looked so much like Bandit. It was just too difficult, and I didn't even want to look at
Jackson. I played with a few of the other dogs, but knew I wasn't ready to adopt. I was sitting on a bench thinking about Bandit and trying to hold back the tears, when I felt a paw on
my knees and heard a dog whining. It was Jackson. He literally jumped into my lap. When I found out from Daniel that someone had just abandoned Jackson on the streets I couldn't just
leave him, so I adopted him."
 Joel & Jackson became inseparable friends. They even
volunteer together. "He does all of the work, I just drive him there," says Joel. Joel and Jackson volunteer with Love on 4 Paws (www.loveon4paws.org) at
Childrens Hospital every week. "My friend Laura thought Jackson would make a perfect hospital dog, and I just started doing some research and got
involved. We've been with the program since the fall of 2003, right after I got Jackson. Jackson does amazing work with all of the patients, especially the cancer
patients. Very often those kids are so wiped out from chemo that they just want Jackson to cuddle up with them. One little girl even used him for a pillow." "It doesn't matter how sick
those kids are, they just love that dog. One little boy had been in the hospital for over 6 months and was confined to his bed. He had just had his left leg amputated and was in a lot of
pain. Jackson was a little unstable because of the waterbed, which they use with a lot of long-term patients to prevent bedsores, but the little boy put his arms around Jackson and said,
'don't worry Jackson, I'm going to take care of you.'  It blew me away that with everything
that boy had been through his first instinct was to take care of the dog."
Jackson is so gentle that he has even been placed in cribs with infants and in bed with quadriplegic patients on ventilators. They may not be able to see him or even feel
him, but they know he is there. "These kids and their families are going through so much, and the looks on their faces when they see Jackson, well, for a moment they
can forget about their illness and just enjoy being with him. Jackson really does all the work, I just get him there."
Joel even uses Jackson in his own line of work as a personal trainer. "I train most of my clients at the gym, but some of them like to train at home, and they seem much more motivated when I
bring Jackson with me. Sometimes he even does stretches along side them. He's pretty much an inspiration to everyone."
(For more information regarding personal training, you can call Joel at 323-656-2856 or email him at joelandres@pacbell.net)
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