The couple uses their wedding fund to save the dog and now the animal is walking again

An Arkansas couple who used their wedding fund to help their injured dog finally took his new puppy home – thanks in part to a group of veterinarians and a huge fundraiser!

Dylan McCay, 22, and his fiancée Emily Roberts, 23, shared their first update on their Goldendoodle puppy Acklina (since renamed Maple) on November 2. The update has appeared Facebook post in which the couple explained how they reacted to a Halloween social media post about an injured dog on the side of the road that was hit by a car and quickly transported the dog to a nearby animal hospital.

“Her temperament was wonderful. I turned on my hazard lights, got out, and she tried to move over to me,” McCay said from the first moment he approached Maple, in a Mississippi State University (MSU) news release. “When I tried to call an ambulance, she put her head on my lap. The whole time she just wanted to be loved.”

After the vet saw how severe her injuries were – which included fractures and the exposure of two femurs – the young couple quickly decided to drive more than 500 miles to go to the vets at the Mississippi State Animal Health Center at MSU and use their fund wedding to help. sick puppy.

“We just had to do it,” Roberts said of the long and expensive journey. “We tried several local places, but many were closed or were not the most competent to carry out the necessary surgery. We felt this was something that needed to be done right because of the quality of her treatment. life.”

The goldendoodle underwent a demanding 5-hour surgery during which veterinarians Michael Jaffe and Weston Beamon put her legs back together using five screws, two pins and one bone plate in each leg. Mississippi veterinarians say the 10-month-old dog is now healthy, happy and able to walk again.

“Two days after surgery, she was walking on both legs,” added Jaffe, director of small animal surgery at MSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine. “She’s a tough little girl. Now she is getting stronger and rebuilding her muscles. He has a long way to go, but he can do it.”

According to Roberts, she “broke into tears” when she discovered that Maple would make a full recovery.

“It went OK, even more than OK. When they told us both legs were repaired and would be as good as new, it was amazing. It was like a miracle,” he recalls.

In their first Facebook post, the couple said they had taken money from their wedding fund and savings accounts to pay for their dog’s surgery and had started a foundation GoFundMe help cover the remaining costs. Community support has been outstanding, with the fundraiser now raising over $46,000 in donations.

“It has been incredible and we feel truly blessed,” Roberts said in a news release. “We are in constant shock and we are very grateful. It’s beautiful to see that people care about our history and love Maple as much as we do.”

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They say McCay and Roberts have put their wedding plans on hold, but they hope to set a spring 2026 date.

“Emily and I learned how silly, funny and joyful she is,” McCay wrote of Maple in an update on GoFundMe. “She’s making so much progress walking now that we have to slow her down so she doesn’t hurt herself.”

“Emily and I are grateful from the bottom of our hearts for the support from each of you,” he said in a heartfelt message. You all helped change her life.”