06/08/2023
It is with great sadness that we officially tell everyone that, the original "Psych Dog" that inspired the charity that on Tuesday June 6, 2023 at 10:19am, Taylor Savage lost her battle with spleen/liver cancer and crossed the Rainbow Bridge. The cancer was too much to handle. The surgery would've had to have been at NC State because of how delicate and hard it is and at her age and the travel and the recovery and her quality of life now that she's already 12.5 years old and a senior pup going through that level of surgery. She has been on this Earth or 12 years, six months and one day and during that time she has lived a live that people would love to have had being along side me every minute of my life for the entire time. It didn't matter if she's hanging on the side of the stage at a concert on tour, hanging in hotels, flying in first class because of my airline status,... she loved living her amazing rockstar life. I of course told my Mamma first, then Nicole, Teresa (and Chris), and Janna, and Meri and Brooke and now I'll tell everyone else. I also just want to say Misty Harrelson you are I are just always on the same page so thank you for your words.
Tia Konzer was the amazing doctor who came up with the idea about me having a service dog or my dissociative disorder. Together we went through things and checked laws and process and once I found out I got a pup that was Taylor, and we got a trainer and she started her training at 6 weeks old. She passed her service dog test at 5 months and one week old. It's almost unheard of. A week after she got her certification she was on a flight with us to Baltimore for a wedding. She was just as happy on an aircraft or in an airport as she was in a living room. She truly loved flying. And touring. And going on boat. And being on stage. And dancing with her rock star uncles. Her uncle John from the Goo Goo Dolls of course, and even my soul brother Dan Reed has felt her presense and her energy two times. Taylor inspired us to create a charity and she was the spokes dog of the charity which got my bud Morgan Fogarty wanting to to a story on Taylor. Morgan did the story, it ran at 10pm new, and then on Fox news rising in Charlotte, it was on the website and got so much traffic that it took off. Our little Charlotte Charity became something nation wide overnight. She quite literally inspired people to want to get a dog that could help people live their lives better all across the country.
Of course that's not enough for her. A tour with DL and alway happpy to see her Uncle John (of the Goo Goo Dolls) who would ALWAYS look for her at the shows we were at after we hung out and then he'd laugh as soon as he saw her in the crowd because she was always the only dog he's ever known at shows. It didn't matter if it was dancing with Mike from Cinder Road, seeing Bret at a Charlotte Checkers hockey game or even seing him again last year at Bank of America Stadium for the Def Leppard/ MC/Poison tour... she would only dance with rockstars. But she would truly told you she loved you if she hugged you like she did many of them and especially her Aunt Jessica Mullis. Taylor would've left me for Jessica half her life ago. The had a bond that I've never seen her have with anyone else. Jessica was there for me with my surgery that saved my life and she wasn't scared until she told me "i looked at Taylor, and she looked at me like she didn't know what to do and it scared me because Taylor always knows what to do". I would be dead without Jessica and Taylor and Ryan. So Taylor went from just a service dog to saving my life a few times. WHen I had to take time out and heal from everything and work with Dr. Tracy she woul never call Taylor just "Taylor". She would always call her "Taylor the Wonderdog". When you have a Georgetown graduate who goes to medical school and then becomes the very best psychiatrist in dissociative disorders in the world (my personal opinion) and she sees how Taylor helps.. and knew how critical Taylor was for me... maybe you can start to get it. Taylor became the only service dog in the United States of America who got her Peer Support Services credentials since I already had my BSW and wante to do things on another side and since Taylor was with me, Lyn (who wrote the Peer Support Program for the State of North Carolina) saw how amazing Taylor was and gave her her certification (and to be honest Taylor scored to point higher on her final exam than I did - that's a true story!).
She was so much fun. She loved to run. She was a magnet for people. The happiest I would ever ever see her is hanging out with John backstage before a Goo Goo Dolls show for a few hours and then we go into the crowd to our seat and she would see him on stage. She loved it. "Stay With You" is by far hr favorite song ever by the Goo GOo Dolls and I made sure it was the last song she hear as we left the house.
I'm gonna miss her. I don't know how to live my life without her. I've sent over 1/5 of my life with her always being in sight of me. It will be hard to be without her. Yet as Tracy taught me I'm just grateful and celebrating for everything she did while we were together. I've used the past few hours to go through tons of pictures from the life she lived and it is truly unbelievable. Some people can party like a rockstar - Taylor would go on tour with rock stars and have her own laminated pass. Everyone who met her was affected by her. And if she hugged you.... well... if she hugged you then you were truly someone she loved.
She was my service dog and I became her service human that past two months. I quite literally don't know how to live without her after 12 years. I'll be ok. I'm just so gratful and thankful that this girl came into the world, into my life, from the idea that Tia Konzer had and from there Taylor has quite literally had policies changed and laws enforced and had the medical field have to understand, respect, and incorporate the fact that service dogs are quite literally a medical prescription from a board certified physician and they are RXed to change peoples lives and make them better. Taylor did it. She was an ambassador for it, she was the literal logo for the charity she inspired that I created and because of her dozens and dozens of other people across the nations were able to be helped with service dogs. She made history. She literally made history. And I am so proud of her.
She played and worked so hard for so long and she has truly earned the rest that she has now. I'll adjust eventually over time and figure out what I'm going to do, it's just hard not to think about her even still.
I want to thank everyone for your thoughts and prayers and suppport and texts and calls. I don't know how live life without her after doing it every second with her for 12.5 years. I'll deal. I'm simply thankful that she is not in pain or pressure that must've been going on with that mass .
She was my best friend. She was my Monkey Moo. My Monks. Taylor Grace Rene Savage. Princess Taylor. Punkin face. To anyone and everyone that she came in contact with she made a positivie impact. Even being attacked by a pit bull and getting bit by a venomous snake would take her way. The cancer did. I will cry for I don't know how long and at the time I will finally be able to sleep. She was my best friend, my nurse and my psych tech and my little girl. And now that she's gone I am going to collapse and discharge this energy as best I can. Thank you to everyone who has been touched by Taylor, been a friend to Taylor and loved her. I don't know how responsive I will be on social media for a bit yet I thank EVERYONE for their thoughts, prayers and energy and love and support for her the past few days. Thank you ALL for your support over the past 11 years. The charity WILL continue on because Taylor inspired and helped soooo many lives during her life and her legacy will be the inspiration in which the work continues to help as many people as possible.
