A gathering six years within the making occurred in March 2024, and it was simply as magical because the members had hoped.
It all began in 2018 when Steph Bennett was sitting in a nursing home in search of inspiration to assist her face a mounting sequence of overwhelming challenges.
“I had a severe accident again in December of 2017 the place I suffered a spinal twine harm and an above elbow arm amputation. Among so many different issues, I used to be informed I would by no means walk once more. To me, that was like, ‘Challenged accepted!'” Bennett tells PEOPLE. “After three months within the hospital and making literal strides in my restoration, I used to be then despatched to a nursing home for seven months. The nursing home principally undid most of what I had relearned whereas within the rehab hospital as a result of I had no rehabilitation.”
“When you’re in a state of affairs like that, you are alone along with your ideas — and social media,” she provides.
While scrolling by way of Instagram throughout one in all her troublesome nights within the nursing home, Bennett “occurred upon the Pink Piglet Puppy page.”
Melissa Shapiro, DVM
“From that second, I grew to become a self-proclaimed high fan. Piglet inspired me along with his constructive power to choose myself up from the underside of a really darkish place, get myself in a wheelchair, and transfer my legs by going up and down the hallways,” Bennett says.
Seven-year-old Piglet is “a tiny, blind, deaf dachshund-Chihuahua mix,” in line with his proprietor, veterinarian Melissa Shapiro.
Shapiro first met the canine in March 2017 when a fellow veterinarian was looking for him a home and requested Shapiro for assist. She agreed to foster the canine and, two months later, determined to undertake the pup.
“I had been posting him on Facebook as a result of I needed to search out him a home, and his Facebook page began to develop very quickly. So by the point two months glided by, he had a reasonably wholesome web page,” Shapiro says.
The veterinarian discovered Piglet’s Facebook web page full of constructive messages from animal lovers, celebrating the little canine’s resilience and love for all times regardless of his obstacles.
Shapiro expanded Piglet’s social media presence and used the platforms to advocate for rescue animals with particular wants, elevating money for animal rescues within the course of. Among Piglet’s followers, Shapiro discovered a instructor who impressed her to create the Piglet Mindset, a program about inclusivity and resilience taught in colleges.
Melissa Shapiro, DVM
As Piglet’s reputation grew, Shapiro obtained an rising variety of messages from followers who needed to share how Piglet had modified their lives.
Among these messages had been some from Bennett, who began writing to Shapiro in 2021 to let her know Piglet’s affect on her restoration journey.
“I felt so strongly about being heard by Melissa as a result of I needed her to know that the affect Piglet has with elementary children will also be felt by a 56-year-old. And maybe listening to it articulated by way of my eyes was essential for her to know,” Bennett says of what impressed her to achieve out to Piglet’s pet guardian.
In her letters, Bennett shared how Piglet pulled her from a place the place she felt alone, powerless, and incapable.
“I discovered a lot inspiration in that candy little soul’s resiliency. Here I used to be with all of my roadblocks. I had been dwelling a life the place I used to be extraordinarily energetic and concerned with my very own two rescue pups, solely to have my life as I knew it fully ripped out from below me. I assumed if this candy puppy may overcome and stay a life with objective, then I may do it, too! From day one, Piglet was my mentor.” she provides.
Bennett and Shapiro saved in contact all through the years, hoping to discover a option to meet in person sooner or later. That day got here in March 2024, when Shapiro was on the Positive in Pink 2024 Tour with Piglet. The tour, which lined a lot of the jap U.S., consisted of Piglet and 5 of his seven canine siblings visiting nursing houses, meet-and-greets, and colleges that use the Piglet Mindset program.
Melissa Shapiro, DVM
One of the stops was at a college in Bel Air, Maryland, a number of hours from the horse farm the place Bennett lives. Shapiro determined this was the time to rearrange a gathering between Piglet and Bennett.
Shaprio, her husband, and their six dogs, together with Piglet, drove to fulfill Bennett on the horse farm. Bennett eagerly awaited the second on the grass in entrance of her home.
Ahead of the assembly, Shapiro warned Bennett that, whereas Piglet is pleasant, he’s additionally “a personality” that may be a bit choosy about who he befriends.
“There are sure individuals that he’s loopy about, and there are different those that he is lukewarm about, after which different those that he’ll walk away from and never meet,” Shapiro says about Piglet’s preferences.
Bennett says she informed Shapiro she understood however was nonetheless excited to fulfill her canine muse.
“I introduced my little dogs out separately. I had 5 dogs with me, and every of them met her, and so they had been simply fantastic. I saved Piggy to final,” Shapiro says of her assembly with Bennett.
Finally, Shapiro introduced out Piglet and placed him on the blanket the place Bennett sat.
“I deliver Piglet over, and he goes fully loopy. He cannot get sufficient of her. He’s leaping round and wagging his tail so quick that you may’t even see it. It was wonderful,” Piglet’s mother remembers.
Melissa Shapiro, DVM
Bennett was equally enthusiastic about assembly Piglet.
“Honestly, no phrases can totally describe the second Melissa introduced Piglet out of the automobile! I might say I’m nonetheless smiling!” Bennett says.
“To my aid, it felt like a protracted overdue assembly between two expensive mates who hadn’t seen one another in years! And it felt full circle as if we had been thanking one another for the assist and love all through the years. My coronary heart felt so full!” she provides.
Piglet and Bennett spent about an hour absorbing one another’s firm earlier than the canine needed to get again on the highway. Shapiro and Bennett each left the second feeling modified for the higher.
“While Piglet impressed Stephanie to be constructive and transfer ahead in her restoration and rehab, I’m additionally impressed by her and plenty of others who’ve reached out to me, letting me understand how a lot my tiny pink canine means to them and the way he has impacted their lives. Their heartfelt, heartwarming tales are additionally life-changing for me,” Shapiro says, including, “Meeting good mates like Stephanie provides all of our work an additional particular that means.”
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The meet-up has left Bennett an even bigger Piglet fan than ever earlier than.
“I’m nonetheless inspired by Piglet day by day—inspired to not be ashamed of my variations however somewhat to embrace them. He’s taught me to be affected person with myself, to be inventive, and to assume outdoors the field. There’s all the time multiple option to come to the identical conclusion. Walking could not appear to be it used to, however that’s okay! I’m walking once they stated I would not!” she says.
