SMETHPORT – The story of Rex, the U.S. Air Force military
working dog, and his trainer, Jamie Himes Mangan, formerly Jamie
Himes Dana, a native of Hazel Hurst, is one that swept not only the
area but the entire nation between 2005 and 2006.
Now, there is a new development in the story; Rex is in serious
need of eye surgery to replace the tear ducts in both of his
eyes.
The duo were a bomb-detection team in Iraq as part of Operation
Enduring Iraqi Freedom in 2005 when, in June, the vehicle they were
traveling in drove over a roadside bomb and it exploded. Mangan was
seriously injured and spent many months recovering from injuries
sustained in the explosion.
Rex, who Mangan was originally told was killed in the explosion,
actually walked away with just a minor burn on his nose.
In an unprecedented request by Mangan, she asked that the Air
Force release Rex from service to be adopted by her. This is
something that was forbidden by federal law at the time and it
literally took an act of Congress to make it possible. An amendment
to the law was passed by the House and the Senate within a year and
was finally signed off on by President Bush, all within a year of
the explosion. Rex would be going home with Mangan.
Mangan was given her retirement from the Air Force effective
Aug. 7, 2006, and she returned back to Pennsylvania with Rex. It
was in that time that she married her husband, Mike Mangan, who was
one of her military medics in Iraq when she was injured. She now
works at Children and Youth Services as a case worker. Things have
really turned around for her since the explosion less than three
years ago.
Rex, however, is not doing quite so well. His tear ducts stopped
working just over a year ago and he is no longer producing tears.
This has caused him to contract a number of infections and Mangan
has tried just about every treatment she can administer. The only
option left is surgery that will remove two salivary glands from
Rex’s mouth and implant one in each of his eyes.
Mangan has contacted Animal Eye Care of Western New York to
perform the procedure and she found out that it is going to cost
roughly ,2,000, an expense that has yet to be covered.
“I haven’t gotten him the surgery because, honestly, I don’t
have the money,” said Mangan. “But the longer I wait for it, the
more likely it is that Rex will have permanent eye damage.”
All this comes just two years after the Air Force fought with
Mangan to keep Rex saying that he had to much useful life left for
them to allow him to retire. His eyes started to go bad just a year
later.
Anybody interested in helping Rex get his surgery can contact
Mangan via e-mail at jrmangan@mckeancountypa.org.
