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Hi my name is Carl Bruce, I lost my 2 beautiful dogs, Tia on 26th June 2023 and Brook on 15th of July 2024 both in rather traumatic circumstances, Tia died on an operating table after swallowing a toy and Brook took a dodgy stroke and had to be put to sleep, words will never describe the hurt and pain this caused me, honestly am still not over it and I think about them every day, they were my best friends, they went everywhere with me, and I mean everywhere, sometimes even to the toilet 🙈😂 but their loss left a massive hole in my heart.

A few months after losing Tia I was on the facebook page Of Northern Ireland Staffordshire Bull Terrier Rescue, a rescue that I had followed for some years at this point, now I keep up to date with all the dogs NISBTR rehome as its something that truly warms my heart and at this time am looking to rescue a more senior dog just to give it a loving home because of losing Tia, so there was this 6 month old pup who came into their care called Zara, she was absolutely beautiful but at this time I could have never imagined rescuing her because my brook was 10 years old at this stage although still very active I just couldn’t see it working so I thought an older dog was more suitable, well fast forward a few weeks and Zara is available for adoption, I had been reading all the profiles of available dogs but once I read Zara’s profile I just knew in my heart she was the dog for me, so I rescued Zara just before Christmas 2023.

Losing Brook then 8 months later left me with just Zara and what a blessing she has been in my life turns out that I never really rescued Zara she actually rescued me and has helped fill the hole in my heart with losing Brook and Tia, iv been training for 2 months for this marathon and Zara has ran every single mile with me, she is the fittest dog in the world, on Sunday the 5th of January we completed are first half marathon together and she could of kept going.

So because of the joy she has brought into my life I really want to raise as much money for the rescue that blessed me with her so that’s why I have decided to run the marathon to raise money for NISBTR, any donations will be appreciated beyond belief, not just by me but from all involved with NISBTR and especially all the wonderful dogs in their care, thank you for reading, take care and God bless 🙌