Not your average patient

Social media flareup

Last September, the Cook Medical Facebook page suddenly gained 80 followers overnight and more than 60 new comments had been posted, saying things like, “Thank you, Cook, for saving Adonis!”

We were thinking, “Who the heck is Adonis?” With a little digging, we uncovered a remarkable story.

A chain of compassion

A compassionate soul in a town just north of Houston, Texas, found a stray dog with a gruesome wound on his back. Even though a vet recommended euthanizing the dog, the rescuer took the dog to the local animal shelter.

The shelter posted a photo of the injured dog on its Facebook page, where Anne Graber, the head of a St. Francis’ Angels, saw the photo. Her agency specializes in dogs needing emergency medical treatment and offered to help the pup.

A vet’s examinations revealed that the dog had been shot in the back and he had a bad bacterial infection in the wound and in his bloodstream.

Meanwhile, in Canada

Mandy, the Cook IR rep in the Alberta, Canada, region follows St. Francis’ Angels on Facebook because she has a friend who works there. She saw photos of the dog, now named Adonis by the staff, and his large wound. She immediately wondered if Biodesign®, Cook’s tissue repair product, could be used.

Mandy called Brian, the Biodesign product manager, and he told her about a veterinary product made from Biodesign. A company named Vetrix® is licensed by us to sell it under the name BioSIS ECM. So Mandy gave them a call.

Long story short, Vetrix actually donated BioSIS to the St. Francis’ Angels rescue group to surgically cover Adonis’ wound and help it heal. St. Francis’ Angels posted the story on their Facebook page and mentioned Cook Medical and Vetrix as contributing to poor Adonis’ recovery. That’s when our Facebook page “blew up” with comments and Likes.

Happy ending

St. Francis’ Angels kept the large group of Adonis’ fans updated on his healing progress progress in photos. Despite the trauma he had been through, Adonis turned out to have a warm, friendly personality.

Once he was completely healed and available for adoption, it was not long before he found a home. This photo of Adonis napping with his new friend warms our hearts. He’s not the kind of patient we normally think about when we come to work each day, but many of us have pets at home and know that they are part of the family. We are so pleased that our staff went out of their way to help Adonis, and that our technology touched his life and brought him a second chance. Just like we would with any human patient.

All photos courtesy of St. Francis’ Angels.