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Woman sees her dog's face in the clouds hours after pet's death

Hours after her dog, Sunny, passed away, Lucy Ledgeway found comfort in the skies.
Courtesy of Lucy Ledgeway

Lucy Ledgeway said goodbye to her 14-year-old dog, Sunny, who passed away in her father’s arms at their home after suffering a seizure on June 20. However, her furry friend wasn’t gone for long; Ledgeway spotted the canine's face in the clouds just hours after she died.

Sunny was a Parson Russell terrier that Ledgeway, 19, and her family rescued when she was about a year old. Ledgeway, who lives in the city of York in northern England, told TODAY that Sunny was funny and loving, but she also had a lot of health issues. She was diagnosed with diabetes last year, and the vets told her family that she only had between 12 to 15 months left to live.

Lucy Ledgeway and her family rescued Sunny when the Ledgeway was only 6 years old.
Lucy Ledgeway and her family rescued Sunny when the Ledgeway was only 6 years old.Courtesy of Lucy Ledgeway

Sunny had been taking insulin for 13 months before her health started to deteriorate, and Ledgeway said her family had a serious scare a couple of days before she passed. Sunny had been throwing up and having trouble going to the bathroom, and her family and veterinarians thought she was going to have to be euthanized. To their surprise, Sunny managed to perk up for one last good day with her family.

“She was in bed up until around 2 p.m., and then my brother got a bag of crisps out and started eating and she started sniffing up,” Ledgeway told TODAY. “It gave us a bit of hope, like, ‘Oh, so she’ll be all right.’”

In fact, Sunny’s demeanor had improved so much that her veterinarians decided there was no need for her to be put down. Ledgeway said Sunny seemed to be feeling better that day, but she died the following morning.

Ledgeway said she was feeling emotional and told her boyfriend that she wanted to see a sign in the sky that proved Sunny was all right. Two hours later, she went outside and said she saw Sunny’s face in the clouds.

“I was in shock really, in disbelief,” Ledgeway said. “The thing is, I was sad all day and then as soon as I saw her, it just made me laugh. It made me giggle to myself and it made me happy. And I think that happening has made it easier to grieve.”

Ledgeway said she took a photo, sent it to her mom and dad and decided to share it on Twitter. Her post was liked more than 100,000 times, and she said she received lots of positive messages.

However, many people have been skeptical of Ledgeway’s story, and some have even accused her of editing the image. Ledgeway said that even though those comments made her a little sad, she is still going to treasure the experience.

“I’m grateful that I’ve seen that with my own eyes," she said, "and I know that it’s not fake."

CORRECTION (July 1, 2020, 1 p.m.): An earlier version of this article misstated the age of the dog when the family adopted her. Sunny was about a year old, not 6 years old, which was the age of Lucy Ledgeway at the time of adoption.