Mandy Shannon-Vazeery served in the U.S. Navy for seven and a half years. She was a Navy corpsman and Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN). Shannon-Vazeery was medically retired from service in 2012 at 26 years-old, after she was diagnosed with a debilitating condition two years prior.
"My plan was to join the nurse corps and get my RN and take it as far as I could go. That was my plan, so. I kind of had a role reversal with becoming the patient and not the caretaker," said Shannon-Vazeery. "I have a condition called hydrocephalus, which is an accumulation of cerebral spinal fluid on the brain," she added.
Shannon-Vazeery also suffers from general anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to her service. In October, she suffered a blackout related to her PTSD.
"I have these -- they're sort of episodes of disassociation and I wouldn't say loss of consciousness, just loss of awareness and mental acuity and just being present kind of just goes out the door," said Shannon-Vazeery.
Get top local stories in San Diego delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC San Diego's News Headlines newsletter.
The only thing she remembers prior to being hospitalized is that she walked out of her apartment, and left the door open. Her two pets, Max and Charlie, were left behind.
"Although it was out of my control and I certainly didn't intend for any of this to happen, there's a lot of guilt. I wonder how they're doing, if they're okay," said Shannon-Vazeery.
Shannon-Vazeery's neighbors ended up finding Max and Charlie and brought them to the San Diego Humane Society (SDHS). In a statement to NBC 7, SDHS said the dog, named Max, was brought in on Oct. 3 and the cat, named Charlie, arrived on Oct. 7.
"Max was brought in by a community member who found him as a stray and had him for 24 hours. Charlie was brought in by a community member after the door to the former owner’s apartment was left open and several people had to secure the home; it was uninhabitable, and Charlie had been left behind. The property manager attempted to make multiple attempts to contact Charlie’s owner to no avail, so the decision was made to bring Charlie to the shelter," said Nina Thompson, the Director of Public Relations with SDHS.
SDHS said Max and Charlie were both microchipped and they had Shannon-Vazeery's contact information on file. They mailed notices to all available addresses, called contact numbers, and sent emails. SDHS said they also contacted the microchip company after looking up the microchip number in their internal database.
The shelter's policy, in addition to California law, is to hold the animals for 72 hours before they are put up for adoption. Since they were unable to get ahold of Shannon-Vazeery, Max and Charlie were adopted to two different owners on Oct. 8 and Oct. 12 respectively. In addition to being hospitalized at the time, Shannon-Vazeery had failed to update her contact information with SDHS.
"As a courtesy to the previous owner, we reached out to the pets’ new adopters to see if they would be willing to return Max and Charlie. However, the adopters have chosen to keep them as cherished members of their families, which we recognize is their right, as they now have legal ownership of the pets. This is why, it is imperative for anyone who has lost their pet to connect with shelters and microchip companies to let them know when they are missing," said Thompson.
Max and Charlie are registered emotional support animals, and Shannon-Vazeery said not having them around has been taxing on her mental health.
"I feel so awful. I can't even begin to describe the feelings behind this. I'm just begging these people to just take into account that I was in the hospital, I didn't mean for this to happen. I really love my boys. They're really good pets and they are service animals and they do serve a purpose and I just wish I could be reunited with them. At least one of them. It just hurts so badly," said Shannon-Vazeery.
SDHS offered to help Shannon-Vazeery find a new pet, with adoption fees fully waived. Shannon-Vazeery declined that offer.
"They're a huge part of my life. They're literally my whole world," said Shannon-Vazeery.
