The Mookie MVD fund is in memory of a very special dog and with eternal gratitude to his cardiologist, Dr. Alex Crooks and the Penn Vet Cardiology Department's work to make advances in the treatment and cure of Mitral Valve Disease.
Mookie's Story
Mookie was a dog who loved chasing trains and taking long walks. He would regularly trek a mile to Old City, park under the Ben Franklin Bridge and wait for the Patco train to emerge from the tunnel. It was a struggle to keep up as he broke into an all-out sprint for 2 blocks until the train was out of sight, and then he'd return to the edge of the tunnel to wait for the next one.
One day, chasing a train, he collapsed. At the hospital, he was diagnosed with mitral valve disease. The cardiologist who examined him that day said he would never chase another train, a ball or a frisbee. His days of long walks were over and, she predicted, he wouldn't survive the summer.
He was 9 years old and our hearts were broken at the news.
But Mookie survived not only that summer but 7 more. His response to his heart medication was nothing short of amazing. The progressive disease didn't progress at all for 6 years, and, in that time, Mookie continued chasing trains, balls and frisbees.
In his final years, as aging took its toll, he had a team of specialists at Penn Vet working to keep him healthy.
When he died in August of 2019, just a few months shy of his 17th birthday, it was from a mass in his stomach that was blocking food from entering his digestive canal.
Mookie may have been born with a bad heart but he had a big heart and a tremendous will to live.
While his train-chasing had stopped, he continued taking long walks right up until the very end.
