Sofiya Lavochina

Staff writer

Imagine this: You’re in a foreign country and you don’t speak the language, you’re not that familiar with the culture and to top it off you don’t know what’s wrong with your health.

Rexall Hindson was this man. He is now studying for a general associates degree so that he can eventually become a canine officer.

A lover of dogs, Hindson is seen around campus with one of his favorites mates trailing behind him almost everywhere he goes.

Kida is a bubbly, protective, and beautiful dog.

Her inviting eyes and wagging tail almost always intrigues students to ask Hindson if they can pet her soft long golden fur.

Kida is not the only love of Hindson’s life; his wife Samantha and unborn child Teagann share their home with three German Sheppards and two more Huskies.

“I was at a park in graham and I meet people training their dogs and I stopped and talked to them,” Hindson said.

“This eventually turned into him meeting up with them every Sunday.”

Hindson was pining for a dog. The dog breeder introduced Kida to Hindson who he brought home two days later to the other companions at home; the two huskies.

Hindson has had both dogs since they were a few weeks old.

One dog is five years old and the others three days old; both dogs are trained to pull sledges.

Kida was then trained into a service dog for veterans suffering from PTSD.

“When I’m at the grocery store she sits behind me to form a barrier so people don’t get close to me. She can open doors that have the [handicap button], she jumps up and presses on the button. She also helps me with nightmares,” Hindson said.

Training Kida was a somewhat accident though.

“I started taking her everywhere I went and she kind of just picked up on things quickly so I decided to train her.”

It didn’t take Kida long to train and Hindson need s friend like this with his experience in Iraq.

Hindson went to Iraq in the June of 2006 and he was over there doing truck driving.

He was stationed in Kuwait but it didn’t take Kida long to be trained and Hindson needs friend like this with his experience in Iraq.

Hindson went to Iraq in the June of 2006 and he was over there doing truck driving. He was stationed in Kuwait but he did missions all through Iraq. He was driving, taking supplies all over where they needed to go.

Pretty soon Hindson’s convoy commander noticed after Hindson would eat he vomited.

“He comes up to me and says, ‘If I see you barf again you’re going to the hospital’,” Hindson remembered.

Hindson laughed it off but again it happened. Hindson was in the chow hall and after he ate spaghetti he was dumping his tray.

“I moved it aside and start barfing,” Hindson said. “I was hoping he didn’t see me but he took me to a hospital near where we were at and they gave me some anti-nausea meds.”

Hindson was told to go to a stomach specialist so a trip to one of the bigger bases in Iraq was in order.

“It was a six-hour drive that turned into a 10-hour ride and as I was going through the gates of the base I kick open my door. Keep in mind it’s an armored door, and with one hand on the steering wheel I started barfing my brains out,” Hindson said. “It was bad.”

After parking a semi truck in a hospital parking lot, blood tests were given him and anti nausea medication was dealt out.

After a couple of hours, the doctors call Hindson in and asked him to take a seat.

“You’re in kidney failure,” the words tumbled out of the doctor’s mouth. “Your creatine levels is at 20; you’re lucky you haven’t died yet.”

So immediately Hindson boarded a plane to Germany and he was forced to take shots of what he described as “chalky, muddy water” to clear out creatine from his blood.

While in Germany Hindson wasn’t on dialyses to the surprise of the Madigan physicians and he had to be woken every hour just to check if he was still alive.

Hindson arrived at Madigan for proper treatment where he was greeted with his fiancé and mother.

“I don’t understand how you’re alive and you are sure as hell not going home,” the Madigan doctors said.

When he had an ultrasound done of his kidney, they were as small as a quarter and after two weeks at Madigan they let him go home and there he started on dialyses for four years until he received his kidney transplant.

Hindson has a big scar on his arm because the physicians would put the needle in the same place every time and they had to take an artery and a vein and connect them.

Hindson survived something extremely difficult with his best friend next to him to help him out.