Sharon speaks like someone is holding a gun to her head. Her breath is labored and her sentences short. You can almost feel the fear that has become her life. After seven years with an abusive partner, Sharon made the life-changing decision to leave and take her kids with her.

One of those kids was her dog, Ben. "He's…" she paused, trying to hide her emotion, "like a person." Sharon wasn't about to leave Ben to fend for himself with an abusive man. If she and the kids left, Ben was leaving, too.

He was, after all, the shining light in a house full of misery, especially for Sharon's daughter. The young teen would often hide beneath mountains of blankets and call for Ben to find her. It was a silly little game that brought them both joy in a house where joy was often nowhere to be found.

Neither Sharon nor the kids would let Ben run through the house without one of them by their side. At night, Ben would sleep at the foot of her daughter's bed with his Hello Kitty blanket and pillow.

But when the tension and voices would ignite, Ben hid in his box with his blankets and toys. Just like Sharon's two children, he sought a safe haven until the storm passed.

Finally, the situation became intolerable. Sharon had no choice but to leave. She and the kids packed up their stuff, grabbed Ben and headed to a women's shelter. They had no plan except to escape the every day brutality that had hunted them for so long.

Women's shelters don't allow pets so Sharon boarded Ben. "I didn't think how I was going to pay for it. I just did it," Sharon said. For now, they were all safe, and that was her priority.

The stress in her voice is almost palpable. "I feel so much pressure." No job, no money and no resources. And the one ray of sunshine that made it all tolerable wasn't with them.

"My daughter says, 'I miss my Ben,' or 'I wonder what Ben is doing right now?' It breaks my heart. I'm going to move heaven and earth to get them back together," Sharon tells us. Fortunately, Sharon found a woman who will foster Ben for up to four months. "That gives me time to turn things around."

With a foster parent lined up, Sharon then approached the vet clinic boarding Ben. She explained her situation and asked them to allow her to make payments on the boarding fees she owed. But the clinic wouldn't listen and refused to help. They did, however, tell Sharon about The Mosby Foundation.

That's when she called us. We were glad to pay the boarding fees so Ben could be released to his foster home. We wanted to do what we could to keep the entire family together.

Ben is the ray of sunshine that gives them hope. No, he may not be with them during this tumultuous time. But they know he's safe and cared for. They can visit Ben; they can hold him, hug him, and cry with tears of joy and sadness. And he will whimper his sadness and howl with delight.

Big old blankets that hide a loving teen waiting for a snoodling nose to find her; whispers in the dark to a friend who will never tell and a home that's filled with a loving family learning how to trust again.

Ben gives this family something they desperately need-strength. You might say he's the light at the end of the tunnel. Ben gives them a reason to believe that life can be good. And they want that so much.