A South Florida man is crediting some canine care in his road to recovery following a crash that sent him to the hospital. Sixty-year-old Hernan Acevedo spent over a month at Memorial Regional Hospital South in Hollywood for fractures to his back, shoulder, and pelvis. Months later, he’s set to be discharged, but he’s taking home some cherished memories of his number one helper: a 9-year-old therapy dog named Mesa. “Every day, Mesa arrives to my room to say hi and stay with me for 10, 15 minutes,” said Acevedo. 7News cameras captured Acevedo playing with Mesa in his hospital room. “Give me paw, give me paw!” said Acevedo. “There you go!” The crash back in January occurred while he was working in Orlando. He was hit by a car, leaving him unconscious for over 20 minutes. “I fell with my face up. So we think I saved my life with my backpack because it was filled with clothes and everything,” said Acevedo. He was transferred to the hospital in Hollywood and soon after met Mesa, the Golden Retriever, who he said helped the healing process go faster. “The moment she was with me, I forgot the pain, everything. When she is with me, the pain is gone!” he said. Staff says Mesa is the hardest-working therapy dog at the hospital. “The biggest thing that Mesa does is provide comfort and security and support and happiness to our patients, their family, the staff, doctors,” said Leslie Schlang, nurse manager at Memorial Rehab Institute. It’s a hospital stay he won’t forget, all thanks to this highly-trained professional. Even though he won’t be able to take Mesa home, he will always remember her as his unofficial man’s best friend! “This [animal] right here is the best,” said Acevedo as he kissed Mesa. Acevedo will be discharged from the hospital on Wednesday. ...read more read less