CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Lily was abandoned before Peak Lab Rescue got her.
Then, the small terrier-schnauzer-labrador-shih tzu mutt was adopted last year on Christmas Day by Drew Pescaro. He wanted a dog to help him with his anxiety. His parents told him to look around at other dogs before making a quick decision on Lily, but he already knew she was the one.
Four months later in April, Pescaro was one of six students shot on UNC Charlotte’s campus. He was shot in the back and spent 27 days recovering in the hospital. Lily bounced around from home to home, either staying with some of Pescaro’s fraternity brothers or his fiancee, Erin Wilson.
But when Pescaro got out of the hospital and arrived back at his parents’ house in Fuquay-Varina, Lily was waiting on him.
“May 27 was the day that I finally got to see her again for the first time, and I haven’t let go of her since,” he said Thursday.
Because of Lily’s impact on him, Pescaro worked to pay the favor back to Peak Lab Rescue. On Thursday, that meant a $50,000 check for the Apex rescue group from the Petco foundation.
Lily gave Pescaro a routine each day and someone to talk to that didn’t need to hear the story of the shooting again.
“It sounds crazy, but she’s a good person to talk to,” he said.
His dad, Edward, now says that it was obvious Drew made the right choice with Lily.
“They’re inseparable,” he said. “She has been really great for him.”
In August, Pescaro spoke at a news conference in the state legislative building in downtown Raleigh and showed the scars on his abdomen, advocating for a debate on gun control laws in North Carolina.
Afterward, his fiancee thought it would be nice to reach out to Peak to tell them how much Lily has helped Drew get along.
Sharon Gesser, Peak’s director of development, thought it was such an amazing story that she reached back out to Drew and asked whether he would write in to the Petco foundation Holiday Wishes campaign.
Adopters send in their stories of how their pet has brought joy to their life, and the foundation chooses 55 winners.
Peak Lab Rescue is one of four organizations to win a $50,000 prize, which Gesser said will go a long way for them.
