You don’t expect your morning commute to work to turn into a life-saving mission, but that’s exactly what happened to Malissa Sergent Lewis!

This kind woman from Harlan, Kentucky, was taking a different route as she was running late for work, when she spotted the weirdest thing on the road – a moving garbage bag!

Lewis was in disbelief to witness such an odd sight, but something inside told her she had to pull over and check it out. Turns out, that was one of the best decisions of her life!

A Shocking Surprise

Malissa was taking a quicker route to Kentucky Elementary School, where she works, but the strange, moving bag squirming around on the ground took her attention. 

“I took a different route, a little bit quicker, it’s a little back road. And as I’m coming down the road, in the distance I can see a garbage bag moving,” Malissa told The Dodo.

She couldn’t help but wonder what was the mysterious content moving inside the bag, so she pulled over and slowly approached it.

The opening of the bag was tied, but it was evident that a living creature inside was desperately trying to get out. When she finally gathered the courage, she tore open the bag and discovered a little, black puppy peering from it. 

“I could see something was alive inside the bag. When I looked inside of it, it was just a little puppy that looked up,” says Malissa.

For the first few moments, Malissa couldn’t believe her eyes. She just couldn’t make peace with the fact that someone would abandon such an innocent creature and leave it to die in a trash bag.

She immediately pulled the poor pup out and made sure he was fine. 

To her shock, the puppy didn’t have one scratch on his body, and was very friendly from the moment she rescued him. He couldn’t stop wagging his tail, as if he was trying to express his gratitude to a strange savior who helped him get out.

The Unexpected Road To A Furever Home

Malissa and the pup, whom she later named Hefty, had an instant connection that day. After she saved him, she immediately took him to the vet for a checkup, and then posted his story on Facebook, inquiring about his owners. No person came forward.

She still wasn’t sure whether this pup was cruelly discarded by a cold-hearted owner or stolen and put in a bag by someone else, but either way, whoever did this – he sure did it on purpose.

Thankfully, the right person stumbled upon Hefty, and that’s all that mattered! And, what’s more important – she decided to keep him for good.

Malissa is absolutely sure that it was destiny that brought her and Hefty together. The fact that she took a different road that day and discovered this pup fighting for life in that bag was a true miracle that she’ll never forget.

“I absolutely think it was meant to be. It was meant to be for him and meant to be for us too. I feel fortunate that I was there at the right time and at the right place,” says Malissa.

Today, Hefty’s a big boi with his terrible history behind him. He enjoys every single minute around Malissa and a new family, and he just can’t be happier! 

Once an abandoned pup in a trash bag, Hefty now has the life he always wanted!