On the evening of Easter Sunday, 2010, Alex Darsey was heading to the gym in his Brooklyn neighborhood when he saw a pair of giant paws walking towards him through the dusk. A few more steps, and he saw that they belonged to a tiny puppy. When the dog sat down in front of him, Darsey looked around for a human companion but saw none.
Darsey crouched down and was shocked at the dog’s condition: with almost no fur, his skin was oozing pus, and his hip and shoulder bones stood out at awkward angles. The puppy’s paws only seemed enormous because his body was so scrawny.
Darsey almost stood back up as soon as he knelt down because the puppy reeked of sickness and decay. But he tentatively reached out a hand to pet him. That’s when a passer-by said that the pup had been thrown from a car window only moments before.
The dog’s condition was so poor that Darsey decided the most he could do was take him to a nearby animal clinic to be euthanized. He brought the pup home and called a few pet-loving friends for support, and within an hour, he, his girlfriend Shawna, and friends Kenan, Ro and Kev were on board and heading to the Veterinary Emergency & Referral Group, a 24-hour animal clinic in the neighborhood.
After an examination, the veterinarian informed the friends that the dog, despite being malnourished, dehydrated, and having a severe case of mange, actually had a good chance of pulling through because his vital signs were strong and he was so young, only a couple of months old. With those words, Darsey decided to take him home and nurse him back to health. He christened the dog Sir Walter Sunday: Walter, because his wrinkly mug reminded him of the actor Walter Matthau, and Sunday because of the day he was found.
That first week, Walter began to heal, but he took a turn for the worst when he went into septic shock. This time, the vet said his prognosis was poor. “He was basically flat-lining,” Darsey said. “We had no idea if he was going to pull through, but we decided to wait a couple of days.”
In the meantime, the vet bills were quickly mounting, and the five friends had to decide what to do. But when the end of the second day came with no improvement, they couldn’t bear to give up on Walter.
So they told the vet to continue to treat him, and they turned to other friends for help. They launched a blog and Facebook page called Help Save Walter, set up a PayPal account and sent the link to everyone they could think of.
Within hours, donations started to pour in as word about Walter spread. The friends were heartened by the response, but they knew Walter wasn’t out of the woods. A few hours after launching the blog, they visited Walter and braced themselves for the worst.
But a funny thing had happened. In just a few hours, Walter’s condition had markedly improved: his temperature and blood levels had stabilized, and he had a lot more energy. Darsey believes it was because Walter knew that his new friends had his back.
“Walter is a fighter,” Darsey said. “He felt us rallying for him and he fought even harder.”
Word continued to spread, and in the end, the blog and Facebook page raised over $25,000 for Walter’s care from people as far away as the Philippines. Donors were told that any extra money would be donated to area shelters in Walter’s name.
But then another miracle occurred.
Dr. Brett Levitzke, VERG’s hospital director, told Darsey that the clinic decided to care for Walter free of charge, and would instead use the money raised to start a foundation to help strays and abused animals.
Eight months later, Walter has made a full recovery. “Walter is incredibly inquisitive, and it’s been fun to watch him discover the world,” said Darsey. “He really loves people, which is kind of shocking considering his ordeal. He is truly loved and has enriched not just my life but many who he’s encountered. He’s a real gem.”
Photos by Alex Darsey.