April 14, 2017
Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell posted a touching tribute on his Facebook Friday after his 12-and-a-half-year-old golden retriever, Maggie, died of cancer Friday.
The post took Rendell's companionship with Maggie from the very beginning, calling her story "a remarkable and uplifting one."
Maggie was adopted off of an Amish farm where she was kept as a breeder dog, according to Rendell's post, and joined his life in Harrisburg along with his other golden retriever, Ginger.
The happiest dog in the world, my Golden Retriever Maggie, died today. Full tribute here: https://t.co/gADbqPBgg3 pic.twitter.com/etSSu0oKU7
— Ed Rendell (@GovEdRendell) April 14, 2017
Rendell said that Maggie was the "happiest dog on earth" after taking her into the governor's residence, where she was his "rock" during his separation from Marjorie Rendell in 2011.
"There were many a night that Maggie and I sat on the couch together sharing a pizza and watching baseball, basketball, football or Love Actually (Maggie saw that at least 8 or 9 times)," he said in the post.
A veterinarian who saw Maggie on Thursday night after she had trouble breathing and eating found that she had a mass in her lungs, Rendell told Philly.com.
Maggie was then taken to the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine where Rendell was told that she had cancer in her liver, stomach and lungs.
"I lived on this earth for over 73 years and as a trained lawyer, the most persuasive empirical evidence I have found about the existence of God is that someone must have done something to create that special bond between dog and human," he wrote.
