Before you read, please have a look at these three photo links. They are photos of Freedom and Jeff:

1. Affection of Freedom and Jeff by catsbow on flickr.

2.

Freedom and Jeff By —=.O.=— n777jc —=.O.=— on flickr.

3.

Jeff and Freedom by artistgal on flickr.

The Story of Freedom and Jeff

Freedom is a female American Bald Eagle that came to the Sarvey Wildlife Center in Arlington, Washington in 1998 as a baby. Jeff was working at the center when she arrived. She was unable to stand, with both wings broken, covered in lice, and emaciated.

Jeff took her to a vet in a converted dog carrier. She had surgery on one wing, that was broken in four places. She cannot extend that wing, and could not be released back into the wild. Jeff was always around her. He says:

I used to sit and talk to her,

urging her to live, to fight; and she would lay

there looking at me with those big brown eyes.

We also had to tube feed her for weeks.

After more than a month of tube feedings, Freedom still could not stand, and the center made a decision to euthanize her if she could not stand in a week. Jeff did not want to go to work on the Thursday before they would euthanize her on Friday, but he went anyway. The center was all grins. Jeff went immediately to Freedom’s cage, and she was standing. She had decided to fight.

The center director asked Jeff to glove train Freedom and to get her used to the jesses used in falconry. They began to do educational sessions and appeared on TV and radio shows.

In the Spring of 2000, Jeff was diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He went through eight months of chemo and lost his hair. During this time, he visited Sarvey, to take Freedom for walks. He says,

I missed a lot of work. When I

felt good enough, I would go to Sarvey

and take Freedom out for walks. Freedom would

also come to me in my dreams and help me fight

the cancer. This happened time and time again.

In November of that year, Jeff was told that if the blood cancer was not gone after eight rounds of chemo, the last resort would be stem cell transplant. They did the tests, and they notified Jeff on a Monday that the cancer was gone. The first thing he did was to visit Freedom at Sarvey:

So the first thing I did was get up to Sarvey and

take the big girl out for a walk. It was misty

and cold. I went to her flight and jessed her

up, and we went out front to the top of the

hill. I hadn’t said a word to

Freedom, but somehow she knew. She looked at me

and wrapped both

her wings around me to where I

could feel them pressing in on my back

(I was engulfed in eagle wings), and she

touched my nose with her beak and stared into my

eyes, and we just stood there like that

for I don’t know how long . That was a

magic moment. We have been soul mates ever

since she came in. This is a very special bird.

Jeff explains that when he is out with Freedom they are sometimes approached by people who are sick, and she has a powerful healing “hold” on them. A man who was terminal held her and his knees nearly buckled.The man swore to feel her power course through his body. Jeff and Freedom have had many similar experiences.

Jeff says, “I never forget the honor I have of being so close

to such a magnificent spirit as

Freedom.”

Jeff and Freedom have been together all these years, and if you look at the beautiful photos, you can see that they are bonded together emotionally and spiritually.