In mid-June, Brayden Morton, a dog lover from Cranbrook, British Columbia, was working in his home office. He heard a commotion outside, and by the time he got downstairs, he saw a trunk speeding away, and his beloved 3-year-old Chinese Shar-Pei -- who had been lounging on the deck -- nowhere in sight.
“It honestly felt like my world had just come crashing down on me,” Morton said.
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As the Washington Post reported, local officials issued a news release about the lost dog the same day and pledged to keep a lookout for her, but Morton knew he should do more.
He decided to use Facebook in hopes that the news could get spread fast around his small town with a population of 20,000.
In the post, he simply wrote, “Please share and help me. A blue older model Ford truck just pulled up behind my house and took Darla.”
He also initially offered a $4,000 reward -- to which a friend tacked on $2,000 more -- as incentive.
“This is my dog and I love her,” Morton explained. “This isn’t stealing a bike out of my garage, this is much more serious."
The post got shared 30,000-plus times, and by the next morning, he had 497 messages waiting for him.
“I was getting leads from all across the world,” said Morton. “It was crazy.”
After a few false turns, Morton got a mysterious call from a woman who was just crying. Through her sobbing, he could sense she might actually have the dog.
“She couldn’t even talk,” said Morton, who quickly sensed she probably had Darla. “I said to her, ‘Listen, I’ve messed up a lot in my life, and I’ve been forgiven for a lot of things I did. I’m not mad at you.’”
The two met at a nearby gas station; Morton had the reward money on him. But as he approached the woman -- who was crying uncontrollably as she held Darla on a leash -- he soon knew he could identify with this woman.
“I went and gave her a hug, and I said, ‘It’s all right,’” Morton recalled. “I could tell that she was a fentanyl addict, like me.”
Morton had struggled with drug addiction since he was a teenager. He has been sober since May 19, 2015.
“Going to treatment was the scariest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” said Morton, “but it’s also the most enlightening experience I’ve ever had.”
After going in and out of treatment 16 times -- and a near-death experience -- Morton got clean.
He soon was a volunteer at the rehab center that saved him. And, as Washington Post says, in 2018, he became a clinical drug and alcohol interventionist. Since then, he has dedicated his career to helping addicts get sober. He also created a free service, called Find the Right Rehab, to assist people with choosing a suitable treatment center.
At the gas station, the two shared their stories. The woman’s story involved being addicted for several years, living on the streets, and engaging in sex work to supply her additcion, but just being too afraid to get help.
“When you’re a fentanyl addict," Morton explained, "your number one fear is detoxing and getting clean," because of the horrible withdrawl symptoms.
The woman had planned to sell the dog online, but when she came across the Facebook post, she just couldn’t do it. She is a dog lover herself.
Morton knew if he gave her the reward money, she’d probably be dead in a couple days. So he offered her something better:
“I’m going to take this money, and I’m going use it to pay for you to go to treatment," he told her. "I’m going to give you the opportunity to help yourself."
She accepted his offer, and they traded phone numbers. Once they parted ways, Morton called Susan Hogarth, the executive director of Westminster House Society, a nonprofit addiction recovery program for women and girls, in the hope that he could secure a spot for the woman.
After a few calls and conversations, the two agreed on a plan, and Morton booked her a flight from Cranbrook to New Westminster, where the treatment center is located.
And the entire treatment itself will cost $22,000, with some covered by government funding. But Morton has committed to continue helping the woman.
Hogarth says, “We will do whatever we can to get her well… [Morton’s] heart is truly in it. In this whole situation that happened with him and his beloved pet Darla, a normal person would be angry, but his anger just melted off of him as soon as he noted that this girl was so sick.”
Morton, who lives alone with Darla and his other dog Louis, said he has a renewed sense of peace now that Darla was home safe and the young woman agreed to go to rehab.
And after all, there were many who helped Morton through his fight for sobriety.
“One day, I hope she looks back on this story and it motivates her to help somebody else,” Morton said. “We need to advocate for each other.”
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