Super Cooper

Almost 6 years ago, this wonderful little puppy came home with me.

His name was Cooper and he immediately won my heart.

He had a taste for adventure from a young age.

He was weird and mischievous.

And I completely adored him.

When Cooper was 2, he started having seizures and was diagnosed with epilepsy.

He wasn't initially put on medication, but as his episodes increased, we were left no other option. He still had some episodes while on meds, but they were few and far between.

Cooper still loved adventuring and could pull some seriously rad faces in photos.

He rolled with whatever we threw at him. Even stupid hats on holidays.

On Saturday, Feb. 7th, at approximately 3:30 a.m., Cooper began to have a series of seizures.

By 4:30 a.m., he had entered status epilepticus. For those not familiar, this very, very dangerous and often fatal. The longer it lasts, the less likely it is to stop. During status epilepticus, the body struggles to circulate blood properly and the brain is deprived of oxygen, resulting in severe damage to the brain.

He never came out of it. Though it pained us to admit, we knew the best, most humane, and most loving thing we could do for him was to let him go. He had been in status for far too long. Whatever had made Cooper, 'Cooper' was gone.

At 7 a.m. Cooper passed away surrounded by those who loved him most as well as a couple of favorite toys in a nearby animal hospital.

Words cannot express how much this freckle faced little guy meant to me. To have him taken so suddenly is a shock I still cannot fully process or accept.

Cooper loved everyone as soon as he met them. Everyone was his friend.

No matter how bad my day was or how much shit I had to put up with, I knew that he'd be waiting for me to get home, wagging his stubby, little tail for all it was worth.

He was my best friend.