“One of the puppies was adopted by the Murray family. They named her Elsa.
“It just really seemed like she picked us at the time,” said Jenny Murray.
The Murray family was part of the group of people who had adopted Star’s puppies and kept in contact.
However, Murray was not prepared for the call she got this summer.
“She said, ‘I have a crazy question for you,’” said Murray.
Through tears, Flegle explained to Murray about Star’s health problems and the need for a kidney transplant. Flegle asked Murray to reach out to the puppies’ families to see if anyone would be willing to get their dog tested.
“I could tell this was a mom, this was her baby, you know,” said Murray. “She was going to do what she needed to do to save her baby.”
Murray had a human family member who received a kidney from a living donor, and she felt like this was a great way to help out another family.
However, she could not make this decision alone.
Murray consulted with her husband, Patrick, and children: Isaac, 10, Audrey, 7, and Claire, 5. They discussed the risks and benefits and decided to help.
Murray said to her kids, “This is Elsa’s chance to save her mom, and they’re like, ‘Oh so she’s a hero!’”
On October 10, surgeons at UW performed the rare transplant surgery on the mother and daughter.
“And 36 hours later her blood work was normal,” said Flegle.
Both dogs are back home in the St. Louis area recovering. Similar to humans, the one kidney in each dog will grow to compensate for the missing one. Both are expected to live normal lives.
https://fox2now.com/2018/11/08/family-of-dog-with-failing-kidneys-receives-miracle-organ-donation/
That’s wonderful, ETL. Thank you!