Spirit was rescued from a degassing station in Iraq in a place called Rumaila by a soldier. 

She was a tiny little puppy all on her own and her eyes were found sealed with mud and sleep. How she was surviving we do not know. 

The soldier cared for this tiny pup, made her better and made her stronger. He reached out to us and we managed to get the puppy to safety through an epic journey across Iraq.

But sadly we lost contact with the soldier.

In a remarkable turn of events, whilst we were deciding what to do with the puppy in Iraq, someone contacted us with a heart-breaking and very special story about why she wanted to adopt a dog. 
 

This is what we received about why Leah wanted to adopt Spirit:

Since I was a little girl, I used to follow my older brother around every single day. He was an amazing brother that I clearly looked up to. After my brother enlisted into the Marines, he taught me the significance of life and how good we have it.  
He talked about how unfortunate the people were over in Iraq. He had our family send one dollar bills and soccer balls to him to give to the kids in Iraq. 
On November 15, 2004, my brother Lance Corporal Jeramy Ailes was killed while searching for insurgents in Fallujah, Iraq. 
The day he died is the day that he became a part of Iraq. When I say this I mean that his spirit is still protecting the innocent people and children over there. 
With that being said, I feel like my brother’s spirit has not fully returned home yet. By adopting Spirit, she would make me feel at home again and she will be able to fill the hole in my heart.   
By adopting Spirit, I can live life knowing that I was able to connect with my brother in a different language and spirit. 
By bringing a piece of Iraq back to me, it will help me understand the country that my brother sacrificed his life for.  
More importantly, Spirit will help me understand the main purpose that my brother served for and that is freedom. 
I want to adopt Spirit so that she can have the freedom to live a better life where nobody will hurt her or abandon her ever again. 
I want to adopt Spirit and give her the best home she could ever ask for.

Through the amazing donations of the Nowzad supporters we were able to fund Spirits long and uncertain journey from Iraq to Turkey and then to the west coast of the USA.

Spirit has come home.

Thank you to everyone who supported this amazing rescue.

 Please visit our donation page to help the next Nowzad rescue. They need your help.