When you open your home to a rescue dog, you never know what you'll encounter, but as soon as Emily Campbell opened her door to Cabi, a 14-month-old German Shepherd, she knew she was meeting a star.
“I would say so,” Campbell said. "This is the most high-profile foster dog I've ever had.”
Campbell isn’t just saying that. 3,300 people now follow a Facebook page she created for Cabi last month. The Cabi Daily Chronicle details the events in early November that nearly ended the young dog’s life. A group called Saving Shepherds came to the rescue after Cabi was hit by a train and abandoned by her owner. Online followers helped pay for the amputation of one of her legs, which was mangled by the train.
"You can feel her scar a little bit but it's actually dissolved really well,” Campbell said. "When she came to my house, she was so fearful, she would bark at the door. Now, I can't get her to settle down. She’s so happy.”
Which is how Campbell knew Cabi was ready for a new home. After receiving dozens of applications. She decided on Hanna Hughes.
"To see her story, it kind of struck a chord with me because I kind of felt like I could relate to her, on another level,” Hughes said.
That connection isn’t trivial. Hughes has a compelling comeback story of her own.
"When I was 16 I was diagnosed with bone cancer, so I went through a bunch of chemotherapy and eventually had my right leg amputated,” Hughes said. “I felt like Cabi and I really connected on that level, so it just seemed like it made sense to apply to adopt her.”
"The application came along and it's like it was sent from heaven or something,” Campbell said. “Everything lined up perfectly.”
Not only can she relate emotionally, Hughes and her fiancé, Jake, just moved into a handicapped accessible home.
"I know she's going to the best possible home,” Campbell said. “A home that can provide even better for her than I can.”
Hughes also knows a few things about being a star. She's a member of the Team USA and Minnesota Wild sled hockey teams, and she says she’ll definitely keep Cabi’s star shining too.
"Yes, I plan to keep up the Facebook page,” she said. “I'm not nearly as funny as Emily but I do plan to keep it up. Maybe team mascot is in the works too, we'll see."
For now, Cabi will adjust to her new name, Frankie, as she awaits her next starring role.
"We're really excited to take her home,” Hughes said.