There's no place like home, and no one knows that better than Charlie, a 3-year-old Shih Tzu who nearly lost his life earlier this week.

Charlie was reunited with his family Friday after being hit by a car earlier in the week. He's alive thanks to the kindness of a stranger.

James Gallagher was working at Honda of New Rochelle and saw Charlie get hit. He ran outside to save him and drove him and his family to the Animal Specialty Center in Yonkers.

Charlie suffered neurological and spine damage and needed emergency surgery, with bills that racked up to $14,000. Gallagher paid for it because the family could not afford it.

"Words can't really express how happy I am. Just to see he's doing well and the fact that this is only three or four days ago and that he's you know, getting checked out is to me, amazing," says Gallagher.

Charlie's medical team says his spirits are up, but it will be a long road to recovery -- he's paralyzed from the waist down. But his family will be by his side every step of the way, thanks to their new friend.

"He's part of my family now. Not just a stranger, but a friend," says Cindy Rovledo. "And that friendship will last forever."