It’s every pet parent’s nightmare. Mark Woodbury returned home from a trip to the store on Tuesday and saw his home on fire with his dog, Ditch, inside. He knew immediately what he had to do.
“The first thing I thought of was Ditch. There was no way I was going to let my dog burn to death,” he told the Maitland Mercury in Australia. “My dog is everything to me.”
Mark adopted the 4-year-old German Shepherd mix, and knew there was no way he wasn’t going to not rescue him a second time.
Braving the flames and risking his own life, Mark raced into the home. It took him several attempts because of the heat and smoke, but on his third try he finally emerged with Ditch in his arms.
He began to perform CPR on Ditch, which kept him alive until EMTs arrived with oxygen to revive him.
Ditch would surely have died if it had not been for Mark’s heroic efforts. He’s now in hospital and in stable condition.
He returned home to see smoke billowing from his house. First thought – save Ditch the #dog: http://t.co/rRUf2kr4Wk pic.twitter.com/2HEUX8r6zr
— Fairfax Regional (@FairfaxRegional) July 22, 2015
Much of Woodbury’s home was destroyed by the fire, but for Woodbury that doesn’t matter.
“I’ve lost all of my kitchen, all of my appliances, my laundry, my furniture, but it’s my dog,” he says. “That’s the important thing.”
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