Elise Richard, 79
Elise is a strong, spiritual woman with a big heart. For the past two years, she’s followed the story coverage of a horse named Sammy – a race horse in his younger years but, as he aged, was sent to a kill pen. The previous owner, Denny Baxter and his family heard about this, and saved Sammy by bringing him back home to Nova Scotia before it was too late. Elise was always intimidated by the size of horses until she watched this series and felt an immediate connection to Sammy!
Elise’s initial wish submitted to We Are Young (WAY), which she’s had for the past 20 years, was to fly in a glider plane at the Debert airport in Nova Scotia. However, Elise told WAY that her new found wish was to meet Sammy the horse since she recently experienced a few tragic hardships, and expressed that meeting Sammy is just what she needs now in this moment in time to help her heal and move on. And that it did! Thanks to the Baxter family, Elise held back tears as she spent time with Sammy, finally feeling that connection she longed for the moment she first saw him on TV. Elise spent a long career in nursing and misses the family interaction with people. “You just find yourself isolated…sometimes I feel, even though I have a very loveable family, I feel all alone”. Now Elise has a new four legged friend, and an open invitation to come back and visit Sammy!