Sweet Michael, my hero is gone.

Michael James Keenan, who risked his life once before to save a stranger from drowning in the bay, died Monday at St. Francis Memorial Hospital from burns he suffered while rescuing a friend's dog from a fire.

Mr. Keenan turned 44 in March while being treated at San Francisco General Hospital. He was moved to St. Francis for continuing care of burns he had sustained over 80 percent of his body in the Feb. 6 house fire on Russian Hill.

An artist and sometime carpenter and fashion designer, Mr. Keenan grew up in Maine but spent most of the past 20 years on the West Coast. He started a hip clothing line with friends that honored his home state, called Maine-iacs, featuring durable designs and vibrant colors.

"He was the kind of guy who would walk into any pub and walk out with 15 friends," said Owen Kelly, who knew Mr. Keenan since childhood.

In 2001, Mr. Keenan saw a car drive into the bay near the St. Francis Yacht Club. He jumped into the water, broke out a window with a heavy wrench and managed to pull a woman to safety. Her husband drowned.

"He will always be my hero for life," the rescued woman, Heather Rosnow-Laarif, said Monday.

Mr. Keenan had been house sitting for a friend on Bonita Street, waiting for renovations to be completed on his own apartment, when the early morning blaze broke out. He made it out of the townhouse safely before realizing the dog was still inside.

Mr. Keenan was a lifelong dog lover. He later told a longtime friend, Frank Hsieh, that he had thought he could get the dog quickly, but found he had to search a while before finding the 10-year-old Jack Russell terrier, Bobby, cowering under a bed.

The dog survived after treatment at a local animal hospital.

For several weeks, friends and family said they were optimistic about Mr. Keenan's chances. But he suffered an infection recently that set back his progress, and he had a stroke Sunday night, Kelly said.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/19/ BAGQUQHIC512.DTL

Bobby is doing great!!

Bobby is pretty much fully recovered, and was the guest of honor at the blessing of the animals at this year's North Beach Festival:

Annual Animal Blessing: And lastly, the St. Francis Animal Blessings will take place inside the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi (610 Columbus Street) at 2 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday. This wonderful tradition will also be honored by the presence of Bobby, a Jack Russell Terrier who survived a house fire in February 2007 and is proof of how much animals/pets are cherished.

We are so pleased that so many people care about Bobby and all the other furry creatures in San Francisco.

I'm home I'm home!!

I am home with my beloved Janette today! I am so happy to be home even though I still have a long road to recovery. Thanks everyone for your notes and well wishes, and especially thanks to everyone at Pet's Unlimited. I received the best care, and alot of love from every person on staff.

Please remember Michael, as he still has very long, long recovery ahead of him.

Bobby continues to make great progress! He is healing beautifully and had his ears trimmed down this week because sadly they couldn't be fully saved because of the burns. He has lots and lots of visitors each week , and we hope he will be going home for good in 3 weeks!!

Good news!

Bobby will still have a good amount of vision in his eyes! We are very excited to hear this. We hear the nice folks at Pets Unlimited are bringing in the specialists by offering them wine--what awesome people. He is still recovering and looking a little better each day, Bobby even went outside for a bit last week for a bit of fresh air. He still has a long, long road to recovery so please keep the messages coming to lift his spirits.

Bobby is doing well!

Bobby asked me to let everyone know that he is doing better this week. He has a long, long road to recovery but he is looking and feeling better, with what the doctors think are only 1st and 2nd degree burns instead of 3rd degree burns. Hopefully we will get good news from the opthamologist too! He is getting great care from the staff at Pets Unlimited and still appreciates all the well wishes from everyone at Dogster.

Thanks to everyone!

Bobby wants to thank everyone for all the wonderful get well notes and well wishes. He is doing well and being treated by the nice folks at Pet's Unlimited, but is expect to be in the hospital for many, many weeks. You can donate to help pay for his care at http://www.petsunlimited.org/help/Bobbinator.htm

Please also remember his hero Michael, who saved Bobby's life and risked his own in the fire. You can keep up on Michael's status and make a donation for his care through http://michaeljameskeenan.blogspot.com.

We will update this diary as Bobby makes more progress and gets better and better. Please continue to send bones and notes via Dogster AND email comments directly to Bobby at bobbinator@earthlink.net and we will print them out and take them to Bobby and his mom. Woof Woof!!