For 145 days, Sunsimi’s world was measured by the length of a chain.

He could not run to the gate.

He could not stand when someone approached.

After a traffic accident left his hind legs unable to support him, even changing position meant pulling himself across the ground with the front half of his body.

Then the person who had cared for him disappeared from his daily life.

Sunsimi’s elderly owner was hospitalized.

And with no one stepping in to provide the level of care he now required, the injured dog remained behind.

Day after day.

In the same place.

With the same heavy chain around his neck.

By the time Yoon Hee-soon learned about him, Sunsimi had already been waiting for nearly five months.

She had no way of knowing whether he would ever walk normally again.

She did not even know yet that his damaged pelvis was only one of the medical problems threatening his future.

She simply knew that leaving him there was no longer an acceptable option.

For 145 Days, He Could Not Walk Away

Sunsimi’s ordeal began with a traffic accident.

The injuries left him unable to use his back legs normally.

For an active dog, that alone would have created enormous challenges.

Then his circumstances became even more difficult.

His elderly owner was hospitalized.

Sunsimi remained at the property, tethered by a heavy chain.

According to the rescue account, he spent 145 days there.

Because his hindquarters could not support him, Sunsimi had to rely largely on his front legs whenever he wanted to change position.

He pulled himself.

Stopped.

Rested.

Then pulled again.

The chain around his neck limited the small area he could reach.

Over time, the repeated pressure and rubbing around his neck caused additional discomfort.

People seeing Sunsimi might have assumed there was little that could be done.

His legs did not work.

His injuries were old.

His care would likely be complicated and expensive.

Those were real concerns.

But one woman who came across his situation began asking a different question.

Not whether helping him would be easy.

Whether anyone had truly examined what could still be done.

VIDEO: After 145 Days Unable to Walk Away, Sunsimi Is Finally Taken for Help

Yoon Hee-soon Could Not Simply Walk Past Him

Yoon Hee-soon worked as a caregiver for elderly people.

When she became aware of Sunsimi, she saw a dog whose life had become almost entirely dependent on other people making decisions for him.

She began asking about his condition.

The answers were discouraging.

According to the rescue account, some people believed his prognosis was extremely poor and suggested euthanasia might be the most humane option.

Yoon Hee-soon did not dismiss those concerns lightly.

A dog unable to walk can require substantial medical and daily support.

Pain and quality of life have to be taken seriously.

But Sunsimi was still responsive.

He watched her.

He interacted with the people around him.

And no specialist had yet given Yoon Hee-soon all the answers she needed.

Before accepting that nothing more could be done, she wanted Sunsimi properly evaluated.

So she made the decision that changed the direction of his story.

She arranged to get him to specialized veterinary care.

After 145 days at the end of a chain, Sunsimi was finally leaving that place.

The Hospital Found the Injury Everyone Expected

At the veterinary hospital, doctors began investigating why Sunsimi could not use his hind legs.

Imaging revealed a serious pelvic injury.

According to the rescue account, Sunsimi had suffered a severe pelvic fracture.

That finding provided an explanation for much of what Yoon Hee-soon had been seeing.

The accident had caused significant structural damage.

Repairing that damage could potentially require surgery.

For the first time, there seemed to be a clearer path forward.

Treat the pelvis.

Give Sunsimi time to recover.

Then determine how much mobility might return.

But veterinary examinations rarely stop at the first finding, especially when an animal has been living without regular medical care for months.

The team continued testing him.

And those additional tests revealed a second problem that changed the entire plan.

Sunsimi had heartworm disease.

Not a mild case.

The rescue account described it as advanced.

His Heart Changed the Entire Surgical Plan

Further examination reportedly showed multiple heartworms affecting Sunsimi’s heart and pulmonary arteries.

That finding created an immediate medical dilemma.

The pelvic fracture was serious.

But correcting it would likely require anesthesia.

And Sunsimi’s cardiovascular condition made anesthesia considerably more complicated.

The doctors now had two major problems competing for attention.

His pelvis affected his ability to walk.

His heartworm disease affected whether his body could safely tolerate the procedure intended to help his pelvis.

Treating the orthopedic injury first could expose Sunsimi to substantial anesthetic risk.

Waiting indefinitely was not a solution either.

The veterinary team therefore reconsidered the order of treatment.

Before addressing his legs surgically, they believed his cardiovascular condition needed attention.

According to the rescue account, the plan became to attempt removal of the heartworms first.

Only after Sunsimi was sufficiently stabilized could the team consider the next stage of treatment for his pelvis.

A rescue that had initially appeared to be about paralysis had suddenly become much more complicated.

The First Operation Wasn’t for His Legs

For Yoon Hee-soon, the change in plan meant confronting another difficult decision.

She had brought Sunsimi to the hospital hoping to find a way to address his inability to walk.

Instead, she learned that doctors were concerned about performing that orthopedic surgery before dealing with the worms affecting his cardiovascular system.

The procedure being discussed was itself delicate.

There was risk.

There was expense.

And there was still no guarantee that getting through the first stage would eventually lead to Sunsimi walking again.

That is an important part of his story.

There was no simple promise attached to treatment.

No veterinarian could reasonably say:

Do this, and everything will return to normal.

The choices were being made under uncertainty.

But for Yoon Hee-soon, uncertainty was different from hopelessness.

As long as the veterinary team believed there remained a medically reasonable path forward, she wanted Sunsimi to have the opportunity to take it.

So preparations continued.

First, his heart.

Later—if his condition allowed it—his pelvis.

And somewhere beyond that, perhaps rehabilitation.

Each stage depended on the one before it.

Helping Him Meant Accepting There Were No Guarantees

Rescue stories are often easier to understand after the ending is known.

We look backward from the successful surgery.

The first steps.

The adoption.

The happy photograph months later.

Sunsimi’s story, at this point, offered none of that certainty.

Yoon Hee-soon was making decisions without knowing the ending.

She had already seen what 145 days without appropriate intervention looked like.

But choosing treatment did not mean pretending the risks were small.

Sunsimi had a severe pelvic injury.

He had advanced heartworm disease according to the veterinary evaluation described in the rescue.

His body had already endured months of reduced mobility.

Every medical decision had to take those factors into account.

There were also practical realities.

Specialist treatment costs money.

Long-term rehabilitation requires time.

A dog with impaired mobility may need continued assistance even after surgery.

Yoon Hee-soon knew that helping Sunsimi could become much larger than simply removing his chain and taking him home.

Still, she remained involved.

Sometimes rescue begins with certainty.

Someone finds a treatable wound, the procedure is straightforward, and the path forward is clear.

Sunsimi’s rescue began differently.

It began with someone agreeing to move forward even while important questions remained unanswered.

The Chain Came Off Before Anyone Knew What the Future Held

One of the most meaningful changes in Sunsimi’s life happened before any major medical success could be celebrated.

He was no longer spending every day tethered in the same place.

For nearly five months, his inability to walk had been made even more restrictive by the chain around his neck.

Now other people were moving him.

Supporting him.

Transporting him.

Examining him.

Making decisions based on his medical needs rather than simply leaving him where he was.

None of that fixed his pelvis.

None of it removed the heartworms.

But it changed the conditions in which Sunsimi was facing those problems.

He was no longer expected to manage alone.

If he needed to change position, someone could help.

If he required medical attention, professionals were watching.

If his condition changed, there were people close enough to notice.

Sometimes the first improvement in a rescue is not physical.

It is environmental.

The problem has not disappeared.

But the animal is finally somewhere the problem can be addressed.

For Sunsimi, that change came after 145 days.

Then the Video Reaches the Moment No One Can Predict

Eventually, the footage reaches the hospital.

Sunsimi is being prepared for the next step.

The medical team understands the risks.

Yoon Hee-soon understands them too.

But there is no triumphant scene immediately afterward.

No clip of Sunsimi racing down a hallway.

No certainty that can be borrowed from the future.

The video ends while the outcome is still unresolved.

And that matters.

Because this part of Sunsimi’s journey is not about knowing everything will work.

It is about what people do when they don’t know.

A dog had spent 145 days unable to walk away from the place where he had been left.

Someone finally removed him from that situation.

Doctors discovered an injury that might explain his paralysis.

Then they found another disease that made treating that injury considerably more dangerous.

The straightforward plan disappeared.

A harder one replaced it.

And Yoon Hee-soon stayed.

Sunsimi’s Story Pauses Before the Answer

There is a temptation to give every rescue story a perfect final paragraph.

The surgery succeeds.

The dog walks.

A family appears.

Everything painful belongs safely to the past.

But the footage provided for Sunsimi does not take us that far.

So his story should not pretend otherwise.

At this point, Sunsimi’s future is still hanging between several possibilities.

His heartworm condition has to be addressed.

His body must tolerate treatment.

Only then can doctors determine what comes next for his fractured pelvis and hind-leg mobility.

There are no guarantees.

But Sunsimi’s life has already changed in one undeniable way.

For 145 days, his world ended where his chain ended.

If he wanted to move, he dragged himself.

If something hurt, he had limited ability to escape it.

If nobody came, he remained where he was.

Then Yoon Hee-soon came.

She did not arrive carrying a miracle.

She brought something much more practical.

Attention.

Questions.

Transportation.

Veterinary care.

And a willingness to hear difficult information without immediately deciding that Sunsimi was no longer worth helping.

Perhaps the operations ahead will determine how much physical recovery is possible.

Perhaps rehabilitation will eventually reveal what his back legs can do.

That part of the story remains unwritten.

But one chapter has already ended.

Sunsimi is no longer waiting at the end of that chain.

After 145 days, someone finally came close enough to lift him beyond it.

And sometimes, before healing can begin, that is the first chance an animal needs.