{"id":30370,"date":"2025-07-25T10:26:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T14:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/?p=30370"},"modified":"2025-07-25T10:26:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T14:26:13","slug":"pvr-s2025-lucys-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/pvr-s2025-lucys-story.php","title":{"rendered":"Lucy’s Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Miraculous Recovery after being Hit by Car Extends Life of Companionship for Beloved Canine<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When an eight-year-old shepherd-mix dog named Lucy was injured after tragically getting struck by a car, co-parents Matt and Gretchen Walker were told that she would likely never walk again. That was over four years ago, in May of 2021. The Walkers, of Brookston, Indiana, had raised Lucy since she was a puppy, and knew that her life was nothing short of worth fighting for. \u201cIf she was willing to live, I was willing to do whatever it took,\u201d Matt said as he recounted the story recently.

After being referred to the Purdue University Veterinary Hospital by Dr. Larry Stauffer, a veterinarian and Purdue alumnus in Delphi, Indiana, Matt scooped up Lucy into his arms, laid her in the back seat of his truck, and drove straight to Purdue\u2019s West Lafayette campus.

Lucy had suffered traumatic injuries on her hind legs – one had a fracture and ankle dislocation amidst extensive wounds and the other had major wounds on the foot. Once Lucy was stabilized by the hospital\u2019s ER team, she was transferred to the Orthopedic Surgery Service for treatment of her injuries.

Lucy needed extensive wound care on both of her hind legs and her left ankle had to be surgically stabilized with the help of an external skeletal fixator. Lucy also needed a carefully crafted follow-up care plan which included multiple rechecks combined with meticulous home care from her owners. This treatment plan allowed her ankle to become stable and the majority of her wounds to heal. Associate professor of small animal orthopedic surgery, Dr. Sarah Malek, performed the initial surgery and oversaw most of the follow-up treatment that paved the way for Lucy\u2019s successful recovery.

By the end of June in 2021, Dr. Malek\u2019s team was able to remove the external skeletal fixation on her left leg, and also saw that her right rear foot wounds had fully healed. Then, that August, Lucy was ready to undergo a second surgery, performed by Dr. Mark Rochat, professor of small animal orthopedic surgery and Small Animal Surgery section head, to place a skin graft over her left ankle to speed her remaining healing. The graft procedure was successful and a month later, Lucy received a clean bill of health that freed her to gradually return to normal activity.

Today, only a slight limp reveals anything out of the ordinary for the lively canine who became a vital companion to Gretchen\u2019s mom, Beverly Mann, after she was widowed by the passing of her husband. These details of Lucy\u2019s impactful life only can be understood retrospectively, which is why Lucy\u2019s orthopedic surgery team was excited to see Lucy again when she came back for a visit this spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The visit resulted from Dr. Malek\u2019s interest in following up with Matt and Gretchen to see how Lucy was doing three years after her accident. On March 20, the Walker family found themselves back at Purdue \u2013 this time to share the story of Lucy\u2019s miraculous recovery. \u201cWe are always interested in how patients are doing long-term,\u201d Dr. Malek said. \u201cIt was great to see a dog of her age \u2013 a more senior dog \u2013 recover so well. I was pleasantly surprised to see that despite the seriousness of her injuries, she was doing great and still had a feisty twinkle in her eyes.\u201d

After assessing her surroundings, Lucy warmed up quickly and walked around, sporting the hairy black patch on her white leg, at the site of her skin graft. \u201cIt\u2019s like a signature from her final surgery here, since her hair on her foot is white, but the skin graft came from a nearby area of black hair. It\u2019s as though she has a memento from her time of healing at Purdue,\u201d Dr. Malek said. In total, Lucy had nearly 30 visits to the veterinary hospital, including the two surgeries.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Drs.
Drs. Rochat and Malek check on their former patient, Lucy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Dr. Malek explained that Lucy\u2019s successful recovery is a credit to the thoroughness and commitment of her owners, who continuously brought her back for bandage care. \u201cSome wounds take a lot longer to heal than broken bones, and it takes dedication and consistency in bringing the patient back for rechecks. Even the most beautiful surgical repair will be unsuccessful without appropriate follow-up, especially when wound care is involved,\u201d Dr. Malek shared. \u201cThis was a team effort between Lucy\u2019s family and our Orthopedic Surgery Service that resulted in the successful outcome we see today.\u201d

For Lucy, well, she\u2019s just living a dog\u2019s life now. But for everyone around her, the life she\u2019s living is nothing short of miraculous.

Lucy, we are so proud of you and inspired by your resilience and courage!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When an eight-year-old shepherd-mix dog named Lucy was injured after tragically getting struck by a car, co-parents Matt and Gretchen Walker were told that she would likely never walk again. That was over three years ago, in May of 2021. The Walkers, of Brookston, Indiana, had raised Lucy since she was a puppy, and knew that her life was nothing short of worth fighting for. \u201cIf she was willing to live, I was willing to do whatever it took,\u201d Matt said as he recounted the story recently.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":29625,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,27],"tags":[23,1983,811,193],"class_list":["post-30370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hospitals","category-services","tag-hospital","tag-orthopedic-surgery","tag-pvm-report","tag-service"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30370"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30585,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30370\/revisions\/30585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}