When a fire broke out in the basement of a suburban Cincinnati home, 9-year-old Boxer named Carmen refused to leave her owner’s side. Although she could have escaped unharmed, Carmen did everything in her power to save Ben Ledford’s life. Unfortunately, it was too late for the poor man.

When firefighters found the hero dog, she was on top of her human, trying to protect his face from the fire, smoke and heat. Ledford was taken to a hospital, but he succumbed to his injuries. And Carmen is now at Cincinnati’s Care Center, a critical care veterinary hospital, where vets are fighting to save her life.

Dr. Daniel Carey told WCPO Carmen is doing ok – considering what she has been though. The brave dog’s lungs are severely damaged and she cannot breathe on her own.

It’s not unexpected that she’s not ready to come off (the ventilator). It’s just that in our best case scenario (we thought) maybe we could’ve hoped to get her off (Sunday) afternoon. Whenever they put a patient on a ventilator they’re looking at a 50-50 chance of getting them off breathing on their own. The smoke ventilation cases are often the hardest to manage off the ventilator.

Luckily, she is mentally alert and has no signs of neurological problems. Ledford’s family and friends are also doing their best to help Carmen. They are attempting to raise funds to help pay her hospital bills and hoping that she will recover.

Dr. Marlo Anderson said that he wasn’t surprised to hear Carmen tried to save her human.

A lot of dogs instinctively know when there’s a crisis going on and so a lot of them do go to try to protect their owners, so she very well may have been trying to protect him.

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