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In case you didn’t know, federal law prohibits a person from donating an artificial pacemaker to another person.

There’s no restriction, however, on donating one’s pacemaker to a dog, cat, pig, or other animal.

Dorothea Edwards, a faculty member at the University of Georgia, told her family that upon her death, she wanted her pacemaker to be donated to a needy recipient.

After Dorothea died in 2002, the family was distressed to learn that giving the device to a human donor was prohibited. But they found another way to carry out her wishes: they donated the pacemaker to the University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

At about the same time the pacemaker arrived at UGA, so did Sunshine, a 9-year-old German Shepherd mix whose heart was failing.

If a dog ever deserved a pacemaker, it was Sunshine.

In the late 1990s, the house where Sunshine lived in Buford, Georgia, was raided by police, and the occupants were arrested for running a drug and prostitution ring. Sunshine was taken in by a neighboring family, the Wrens.

The Wrens soon discovered that Sunshine had a congenital heart defect that required a pacemaker to be surgically implanted. Fortunately, they knew that UGA performed such procedures.

In 1998, Sunshine got her first pacemaker. The Wrens recalled that as the surgery was about to get underway, the vet techs sang, “You are my Sunshine” as they administered the anesthesia.

Although the quality of the singing probably wasn’t a factor, Sunshine went into cardiac arrest. After much drama, she survived. With her new pacemaker in place, Sunshine was back to her normal, energetic self.

About a year later, Sunshine began to have complications. Inexplicable problems persisted, until she had a seizure and collapsed.

It was soon determined that one of the leads on her pacemaker had broken.  Another surgery fixed the problem, but only temporarily.

Twice more, the pacemaker malfunctioned and had to be repaired through surgery. It was clear that Sunshine needed a replacement pacemaker.

She got one in March 2002, when Dorothea’s newer, state-of-the-art pacemaker was successfully implanted.

Precious few animals who need pacemakers get them. The reasons, of course, are the cost of the procedure, the scarcity of pacemakers, and low public awareness.

Sunshine got lucky. She lived out the rest of her natural life in peace.

How refreshing to know of people who genuinely and sincerely treat animals as fellow beings, not lesser beings.

Dorothea Edwards.

Sunshine and the UGA vet techs.

Relaxing at home.