I thought this deserved special mention: Dog saves owner, dies trying to save cat.

After a disabled woman’s cat started a house fire, her specially trained dog came to the rescue, then died trying to help the cat still in the house. Jamie Hanson said the 13-year-old dog named Jesse brought the phone so she could call 911 and also brought her artificial leg.

[. . .]

Hanson, who lost a leg in a car accident three years ago, said she was on the couch watching television when the cat ran over the back of the couch.

“And he jumped onto a table that had a candle on it and tipped it over and lighted the artificial plants on fire,” she said.

Hanson said she fell off the couch and was unable to get her artificial leg from the table, “so my dog got my leg for me and went and got the phone and brought the phone to me so I could call 911.”

She said she tried to put the prosthetic leg on, but it was too hot, and the dog, a golden retriever-German shepherd mix, came to her aid again before going back inside for the cat.

When rescuers arrived, the house was fully engulfed in flames, the sheriff’s department said. Hanson was in the doorway and was assisted by a deputy.

As heartbreaking as it is, would that we all were so willing to sacrifice so much for those who are different.