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(AP) _ A liver transplant patient and his wife had a tearful reunion Wednesday with the four pets they left behind when they were evacuated from a flooded New Orleans hospital.
"My girls! My girls!" Valerie Bennett cried to the two dogs, cat and guinea pig she had to leave at Lindy Boggs Medical Center last week. "I can't even begin to tell you glad we are to get our kids back."
The Bennetts, from Slidell, La., were brought to Emory University Hospital after Lindy Boggs, where Valerie Bennett works, was flooded by Hurricane Katrina. The Bennetts were told they could bring only one item with them _ they took the plastic tub containing the medicines Lorne Bennett needed to survive.
They fed their guinea pig and put out food for the cat. The dogs were left with an anesthesiologist, who stayed until Monday, when the animals were evacuated by volunteers, said Steve Campanini, a spokesman for Tenet Healthcare Corp., which operates Lindy Boggs.
The animals were taken to a veterinary clinic in Texas.
Jeff and Lydia Caldwell of Houston read about the Bennetts on the Internet and volunteered to drive the animals to Atlanta. They arrived with the pets Wednesday.
"They have been perfect angels the entire trip, until we arrived at the valet parking," Jeff Caldwell said. "Then they started going crazy. It's like they had a sixth sense that something was going to happen."
Until Lorne Bennett is released, the cat and guinea pig will stay with a nurse manager and the dogs will board with a hospital social worker.
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"My girls! My girls!" Valerie Bennett cried to the two dogs, cat and guinea pig she had to leave at Lindy Boggs Medical Center last week. "I can't even begin to tell you glad we are to get our kids back."
The Bennetts, from Slidell, La., were brought to Emory University Hospital after Lindy Boggs, where Valerie Bennett works, was flooded by Hurricane Katrina. The Bennetts were told they could bring only one item with them _ they took the plastic tub containing the medicines Lorne Bennett needed to survive.
They fed their guinea pig and put out food for the cat. The dogs were left with an anesthesiologist, who stayed until Monday, when the animals were evacuated by volunteers, said Steve Campanini, a spokesman for Tenet Healthcare Corp., which operates Lindy Boggs.
The animals were taken to a veterinary clinic in Texas.
Jeff and Lydia Caldwell of Houston read about the Bennetts on the Internet and volunteered to drive the animals to Atlanta. They arrived with the pets Wednesday.
"They have been perfect angels the entire trip, until we arrived at the valet parking," Jeff Caldwell said. "Then they started going crazy. It's like they had a sixth sense that something was going to happen."
Until Lorne Bennett is released, the cat and guinea pig will stay with a nurse manager and the dogs will board with a hospital social worker.
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