Family remembers late daughter through baby horse
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WISH) – A Bloomington family has a new horse that is helping them remember their late daughter.
Susan Gilliland is the mother of Chalee. Chalee passed away in 2012 at the age of 11 after complications from cystic fibrosis.
Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease that causes thickening of the mucus in the body.
Chalee had a passion for people, animals, and horses. “Somebody once said she loved everybody up from a tiny little ant all the way up to God,” said Susan Gilliland.
Chalee began riding and barrel racing at a young age.
“She loved anything fast. Josie helped her with that because they were fast. Everywhere they went, they were fast,” Gilliland added.
Chalee had multiple horses throughout her short life. Her favorite was “Josie’s Blue Jet,” better known as Josie.
Gilliland’s daughter dreamed of seeing Josie have a baby but passed away before it ever happened.
“We decided that was maybe the legacy we needed to carry on and we knew we would only do this one time. We knew whatever we got we got,” Gilliland said.
The Gilliland family decided to breed Josie. They took her to Purdue’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital as a precaution for the foal to be born.
“Chalee’s Dream Jet”, or Jet for short was born with no issues but soon the doctors realized he had problems standing and walking.
“Part of his tendons were very laxed. Instead of walking on his hooves he was walking on his fetlocks,” said Doctor Gillian Haanen with Purdue Veterinary Teaching Hospital.
Jet spent his first three months of life at Purdue where he was helped to get stronger.
“We came up with special shoes for him that, in the beginning, did not do the trick because he was such a severe case,” Haanen added.
The Gilliland family has noticed striking similarities between baby Jet and little Chalee.
“They both spent their first three months in a medical facility not being able to really get out in the sun and live life normally. They both seem to have a love for life. He doesn’t care that anything is wrong with him,” said Chalee’s mother.
Since their daughters death, Chalee’s parents started a foundation in her honor to raise money and give back to others struggling with the disease.
“We have to do something to heal the hurt. To do nothing is unacceptable. If we can make a small part of cystic fibrosis go away for some people even if it’s for a week then we have to,” she said.
To learn more about the foundation, click here.