People involved with Kevin McClain’s last wish describe it as something they’ll never forget. Now that he’s gone, they’ll always cherish the memories of the man and his very best friend.

McClain, 57, and his beloved dog Yurtie (also known as Yurt) used to live in McClain’s car in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. That was however, until last month when McClain became ill with incurable lung cancer.

Upon diagnosis, McClain was taken by ambulance to Mercy Medical Center and later to Hospice House. Yurt went to the animal shelter.

“In the transition of moving him over from our ambulance cot to the bed, he told me, ‘I have a dog,’” said Area Ambulance Service Paramedic Specialist Jan Erceg.

“He said her name is Yurt and at that minute, that was my Aha! moment,” Erceg said.??

As fate would have it, Yurt’s shelter was the same shelter where Erceg also volunteered.??

From the very day that Yurt and McClain were separated, he asked to see her. It became McClain’s dying wish.

??And so. the Hospice Home, Ambulance Service and animal shelter teamed up to make it happen.??

“The moment Kevin opened those eyes and saw that dog there was instant recognition. Yurtie licked his arms, she licked his face,” Erceg said.

??“It was a couple days later that Kevin passed away at the Hospice House. So it just really seemed to work perfectly,” said Brandi Garrett, Hospice House Patient Care Coordinator.

As for Yurt, she was recently adopted by Kate and Eric Ungs of Marion, Iowa.

“She is so full of energy and just brings so much love and energy into the home,” says Kate.

“She’s our family and we’re her family, just a tight knit group,” Eric says.

?In the end, this companion was there for his owner, even in death. That’s a true companion that the Ungs know they’re now lucky to have.