It’s your birthday and you want to do something to make it memorable. Maybe get a tattoo? Dye your hair? Skydiving?
For his birthday, this man decided to go down in local history for being a hero.
During his 38th birthday party, Gabe Castellanos spotted a dog stranded in New York’s East River.
There were a ton of guests at his outdoor birthday celebration. Friends, family, and extended family were all here for the food, drinks, and good mood.
But none of them counted on a dog drifting past them in the water, obviously struggling to get back to land.
Gabe wasn’t going to wait for someone else to do it.
The birthday celebrant decided to take matters into his own hands and jumped into the river after the dog.
The current was no slouch. It swept the dog along and kept sweeping. It took a lot of stamina on Gabe’s part to swim against it and meet up with the dog.
Bystanders and guests alike were watching from the bridges and the shore. Anxiety was high over both Gabe’s and the dog’s safety.
Some of them were moved to tears as well. The birthday celebrant
When he did catch up to the dog, it wasn’t too pleased to see him.
The dog gave him a few bites to the face in panic and anger. Gee, that’s some way to thank your savior, huh?
Maybe it was the adrenaline or the sheer commitment to saving the dog, but the bites didn’t faze Gabe.
Though the bites did let him know that grabbing the dog wasn’t the best idea. Instead, Gave gently held onto its collar and guided it across the water.
Gabe eventually got the dog to safety, much to the joy of everyone watching.
People cheered in relief, and you can even make out one person saying “Look at this heroic effort!”.
When asked about the incident by Inside Edition, Gabe showed some of the injuries he received courtesy of the panicked dog’s jaws.
The upper canines left some wounds on the side of his face that you can still see.
She also shattered some of his teeth, for which he needed temporary false teeth to cover up.
“I needed teeth work anyway, so we’re doing each other a favor.” – joked Gabe
It turns out that the dog’s name was Harper, and she had run off when her dog-walker was hit by a car.
I do hope that dog-walker is doing okay now.
But in a panic, Harper ran off and ended up biting off more than she could chew. She found herself in the East River, and may not be here today if it weren’t for Gabe’s birthday rescue.
She wore mittens on her paws to help heal some injuries she sustained from that eventful day.
Gabe definitely made quite the memory on his 38th birthday. I wonder if Harper will remember it as fondly as he will.
Watch the video below to see how it all played it!
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