“Spartans stand together,” is an expression most MSU students and alumni are familiar with. Anyone can see a literal example of this if they look at the MSU student section every home football game. But it’s the examples that show just how powerful the Spartan community can be and what a difference they can make when they come together.
On Nov. 1, recent MSU alumna Mollie Bertsch’s six-month-old puppy, Oliver, was struck by a car. He had a crushed pelvis and a broken leg — immediate surgery was required to repair the damage. Some people advised her against the surgery and said it would be best if she put Oliver down after he went through such a traumatic accident. However, that was not an option she considered, even for a moment.
“I am the kind of person that doesn’t look at a dog as a pet, but more like a family member,” she said via Facebook.
The cost of surgery was estimated to be around $5,000. Not wanting to let financials determine whether Oliver received the surgery or not, she started a GoFundMe page to raise money for the surgery. She wasn’t expecting much because she felt people would see her GoFundMe page as silly or unimportant.
“Anything helps,” she wrote at the end of her description.
What she really wasn’t expecting was how many people would end up donating to help pay for the surgery. Throughout the past week, a total of 87 people have donated $4,125 of the $5,000 goal. The largest single donation was $1,000.
Bertsch said many of the donations were made by MSU students, MSU alumni and even MSU faculty members.
“I was overwhelmed with the amount of fellow alumni and current students that were able to help,” Bertsch said. “In fact, most of the names on there are people I associated with Michigan State and my college experience.”
With the help of the MSU community, Oliver had a successful surgery. Bertsch said he is doing extremely well and making tremendous progress. He’ll have to go through physical therapy sessions for the next month and he requires a few rechecks to monitor his progress. He also has daily exercises that he needs to do and strictly follow. But she says that he’s happy to be back home, and she’s happy to have him back as well.
“Oliver’s journey to recovery and back to health is going to be slow, but he wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the help I’ve received on GoFundMe,” she said. “It really touches my heart and I hope one day I can help pay it forward like all of these individuals did.”
