The pain of losing a pet is something many owners can relate to. In fact, a recent survey of pet owners found that 30 percent of pet owners felt grief for six months following the death of a pet.

John Pointer, a musician from Texas, recently lost his dog, Benny, to cancer. To help cope with the emotional pain, Pointer wrote an essay from Benny’s perspective of his last few days. “Yesterday Was Weird” was posted on Facebook and has been shared almost 40,000 times.

“I flipped the story,” Pointer explained to TODAY. “The needle (that put him to sleep) became the miracle cure that healed him. It was such a painful irony."

Pointer has tried to respond to the many people who reached out to him about the death of their own pets, something that he said has helped him begin the grieving process. “It helped me be present in the first, hardest days after Benny died. I tried to show up and just try to give people what they needed,” he told TODAY.

Pointer further wrote on the website he set up for Benny:  I am so glad that [the essay] resonates, and I hope it helps people cope with their own grief. That was Benny's true purpose, to share his love, and make people feel connected, and worthy of enthusiastic support, even if they didn't believe it themselves. And in that way, as long as his story keeps touching people, he will never truly die.”

Read the essay here.

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