Hope for sick pets comes from tragedy's ashes

Rachael Horton told her coworkers she wanted to take a portion of her paycheck to help animals whose owners were too poor to afford life-saving surgery for their pet.

Horton did not get a chance to start that fund. A week after she told her colleagues at Gentle Care Animal Hospital about her plans, Horton and her husband, Aaron Horton, were killed in a fire in their Lynchburg apartment.

Hospital manager Jenny Hair said the hospital’s staff wanted to honor Rachael’s memory by creating a fund on a much larger scale than Rachael had first envisioned, to help animals across the region get the surgeries they need.

“There are animals that we have to put down because their owners don’t have the money,” she said. “They’ve been hit by a car, or they have bladder stones. A $60 euthanasia bill is cheaper than a $2,000 surgery.”

Hair said those types of cases come in every once in a while to Gentle Care, and other veterinary offices in the region.

Area vets can apply to the Rachael Horton Compassionate Care Fund when they receive a case they deem life threatening. Those vets will apply for the funds and a committee will discuss the case to determine if it meets the fund’s criteria, and if it does, pay a percentage of the bill.

Hair said the hospital’s staff thought this would be a great way to honor Rachael Horton’s memory.

“She was always the person that went the extra mile,” Hair said. “She’d make Christmas presents for her favorite clients. The old arthritic dogs, they’d get piles and piles of blankets to lie on. Kittens would get rice socks warmed up so they wouldn’t get cold.”

The hospital set up a website for the fund. Its description says, “Our goal is Rachael's goal ... for no pet to be turned away from getting life-saving treatment because of the inability of their owners to pay.”

Rachael Horton worked at Gentle Care Animal Hospital for almost seven years. Hair said Rachael had a difficult time when clients had to make a choice to put their pet down because they didn’t have the funds to treat the animal.

“The majority of veterinary hospitals operate very close to the margin,” the fund’s website said. “Offering discounted or free services to even a few animals quickly depletes any spare funds, leaving the well dry for the next needy pet. …

“In honor of the person who was always willing to use her own money to help buy a bag of prescription food, or take some desperately needed radiographs, Gentle Care Animal Hospital has started a compassionate care fund.”

Rachael Kathryn Horton and Aaron Horton were killed on April 8 in a fire that broke out at their Princeton Circle West apartment building. 

The fire marshal’s office determined the fire began after an electrical malfunction that started on the rear deck of the top-floor apartment sparked a fire that burned into the building’s attic space.

The Hortons had been married for 3½ years, said the Rev. Jonathan Falwell of Thomas Road Baptist Church in an earlier interview. Both were 2007 graduates of Liberty University and had recently returned to Lynchburg from England.

Aaron Horton, an employee at Genworth Financial, was studying to receive his master’s degree from the University of Wales and had plans to become a professor at Liberty, Falwell said.