The greatest cat lady there ever was lost everything in a house fire this month. And if you’ve ever met Sam- you know she doesn’t care about losing her collection of colourful scrub tops from when she worked at various humane societies. She won’t miss the photos taken at friends’ metal performances or the crystals placed strategically for health & love. And although it will be a nuisance, she’ll be able to replace all of her supplies for bringing neonatal kittens back from the brink & helping them thrive.

Sam, who has always been sure to refer to the hundreds of babies who made their way into her hands as “dented, not broken,” has had her soul shattered. Not by the loss of possessions, but by the devastating deaths of her 9 cats, 6 rats, 2 tarantulas, lizard, and fish. These cats all saved from shelters or the streets, the rats liberated from lives as pet store breeders. Sam suffered burns as she was pulled back from trying to return to save them - her own life the furthest thought from her mind. To look at her posts now, the recurring pleas of “I can’t breathe, my babies, I can’t do this…” are heartbreaking.

Sam has lived her life with one goal - fight for the little guys - whether they be a mangy puppy (Roo), tippy headed tabby (Cornflake), or a cranky old tomcat (Church). Now, it’s our time to fight for her. Many of you know that Sam has struggled over the last years with the effects of long covid. She went from working round the clock heading up the kitten NICU at St. Hubert’s to some days being barely able to get out of bed or keep a meal down. Her body has betrayed her, she lost her ability to work, the home she lived in with her mom & most of her possessions. Still, she fought to begin again, packing her furry & scaly family into her car & moving to New York, only to lose them a few days later.

I’ve heard it said that grief is a hole you walk around during the day, and fall into every night. Sam is deep in that hole, but everyone who knows her knows that she is a woman who still has work to do in this life. Kittens are waiting, born every day into situations just as horrifying and traumatic as the one Sam now finds herself in, and all they need is for someone to say “wegotchu.”