Sometime around late 2019 just before the COVID-19 pandemic, a friendly stray cat, dubbed Shady by the local children, befriended a bunch of neighborhood kids in the Lake Holiday community in Cross Junction, Va. The kitty was loved by all the kids, and a few of the local families began feeding him. In October 2020, one of those kids ran home and told his mom that Shady’s face was really blown up on one side. She reached out to another Lake Holiday resident who was an animal rescue volunteer at that time. The volunteer picked Shady up and took him to the emergency animal hospital. It turned out that he had an abscessed wound on his face. Even worse, while he was under anesthesia being treated for that wound, the vet discovered he had a heart murmur and required a specialist! After several trips to the vet and a visit to the cardiologist, this 2-year-old friendly stray was diagnosed with a severe grade heart murmur, high blood pressure, and was in renal failure. Due to his medical needs and the cost associated with specialists, prescription food, and medications it was decided Shady would need to be placed in fospice care, which is hospice foster care for animals. That meant that Shady would have a family and a loving home for the remainder of his days and that a rescue would continue to provide the costly medical care he required. But what rescue would take on that burden? The volunteer who was originally contacted decided to start a new rescue organization to ensure that Shady, and other cats like him, would have the best possible life. Shady’s Paw Animal Rescue was founded in January 2021, and Shady was the rescue’s first intake. Shady lived a very happy life being loved and spoiled by his amazing fospice family until the day we had to say goodbye in early October 2021, which was one full year after he was rescued by that amazing group of neighborhood kids.