Texas A&M, Vet Valor Fund Help Get ‘Lieutenant Dan’ Back On His Feet With Hip Surgery

Story by Michaela Dunn ’26, VMBS Marketing & Communications

July 2, 2025

Lieutenant Dan, a three-legged mixed breed dog, wears a tag that says, “Got no leg,” but his lack of a limb doesn’t slow him down.

Like his namesake from “Forrest Gump,” this Lieutenant Dan faced a life-altering challenge when he lost one of his hind legs; unlike the character Lt. Dan, however, the canine Lieutenant Dan then developed a related hip injury that threatened his ability to walk at all.  

But thanks to a specialized surgery at the Texas A&M Small Animal Teaching Hospital (SATH), the 2-and-a-half year old is now moving as though he has all four legs and has returned to his active and adventurous lifestyle.

In pure coincidence, while Lieutenant Dan was undergoing treatment at the SATH, he received financial support from the Veterinary Valor Fund, a compassionate care fund established by the actor who played the character Lt. Dan in the film.

A New Leash On Life 

Lieutenant Dan came into the lives of Dustina and Joshua Royek in November 2023, when the couple saw a Facebook post about a three-legged dog at a local shelter. 

“We saw him and brought him home to foster,” Dustina said. “I think he might’ve been my husband’s ‘soul dog’ because within 72 hours, we adopted him.”

Shortly after the adoption, the Royeks decided to name him Lieutenant Dan, after the legless Vietnam War veteran in “Forrest Gump.”

“My husband said, ‘We have to name him Lieutenant Dan,’” Dustina said. “Everybody was like, ‘He’s totally a Dan,’ and so he just became Lieutenant Dan.”

Lieutenant Dan was enjoying spending time with his new family, but by February, he began to show signs of pain and discomfort in his back leg. 

“We got a call from his dog daycare that he had snapped at another dog and by that evening, he was snapping at us,” Dustina said. “We knew there was something wrong with him and thought he must have pulled a muscle in his leg.”

Dustina and Joshua quickly took Lieutenant Dan to their local veterinarian, who diagnosed him with severe hip dysplasia, a condition in which the hip joint does not develop properly, leading to looseness, pain, and arthritis over time.

Lieutenant Dan received medications, but the pain in his hip progressively worsened until, eventually, he was unable to use his hind leg at all. 

“That’s when we were referred to specialist who did X-rays and changed his medications to help with his pain,” Dustina said. “The veterinarian ultimately referred us to Texas A&M because he didn’t feel comfortable doing hip replacement surgery on a three-legged dog.” 

One Step At A Time 

When Lieutenant Dan arrived at the SATH in April, his veterinary team began determining the best way to address his severe hip dysplasia and his unique challenge of relying on a single back leg.

“We found the ball of the hip joint had separated significantly from the socket, leaving his remaining leg in a constant state of strain,” said Dr. Brian Saunders, an orthopedic surgeon and professor at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. “In fact, due to the missing hind limb, Lieutenant Dan’s dysplastic symptoms were worsened, as the missing limb causes the remaining hip to be loaded abnormally in a manner that worsens the clinical signs and arthritis associated with hip dysplasia. Only having one back leg meant that the hip dysplasia progressed more rapidly and was far more debilitating for Lieutenant Dan than it would have been for other dogs.”

The veterinary team decided that a total hip replacement was the best option to restore his mobility and quality of life. 

“In hip replacement surgery, the damaged ball and socket of the hip joint are removed using special tools and then the replacement implants are put in place, allowing weight-bearing and fully restoring the hip’s form and function,” Saunders said. 

However, due to the complex nature of Lieutenant Dan’s case, the surgery required careful planning to ensure success. 

“Perfect positioning of his implants during surgery and keeping the implants stable after the operation were both very important because there was a high risk that the artificial ball could slip out of place or cause fractures in his thigh bone,” Saunders said. “We had to carefully handle the unique challenges of Lieutenant Dan’s body to make sure the implants could accommodate much more load/weight right after surgery due to his lack of a supporting leg.”

During the procedure, the team utilized a cementless and “augmented” implant that eliminated the need for bone cement, which has been considered, in the past, a standard part of hip replacement surgery. 

“Using bone cement in hip replacements can sometimes lead to complications over time, especially in young or highly active dogs like Lieutenant Dan,” Saunders said. “By using a cementless implant, we reduced the risk of future loosening or failure and gave him the best shot at a strong, long-term recovery.”

After several hours of anesthesia and surgery, Lieutenant Dan woke up with a restored joint. 

A Re-barkable Recovery

Now fully recovered, Lieutenant Dan is enjoying an active, adventure-filled lifestyle. He spends his days running, jumping, swimming, and leading the way on hiking trails. 

“You wouldn’t know that he was missing a leg if you didn’t see him from the side,” Dustina said. “He’s just doing great. He went from a rescue on the street to a full-time adventurer. I think he keeps us young.

“We went hiking for a whole week and he was climbing rocks in the canyon and on the trails, doing two miles pretty much every day and even one six-mile hike,” Dustina said. “You wouldn’t have ever known he had hip replacement surgery.”

Thanks to the Veterinary Valor Fund, the SATH was able to cover a portion of the Royeks’ bill for Lieutenant Dan’s care.

Established by the Gary Sinise Foundation, the Veterinary Valor Fund supports retired military working dogs and animals owned by emergency responders and veterans like Joshua, who served in the U.S. Navy and Dustina, who served in the U.S. Air Force.  

“It was both hilarious and such a coincidence that Lieutenant Dan got the grant,” Dustina said.

Dustina is incredibly grateful for the care and service she received at the SATH. 

“Without Texas A&M, we wouldn’t have the great dog we have today,” Dustina said. “The surgery and the grant from the Veterinary Valor Fund gave him the opportunity to live pain-free.”

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For more information about the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, please visit our website at vetmed.tamu.edu or join us on Facebook, Instagram, and X.

Contact Information: Jennifer Gauntt, Director of VMBS Communications, Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, jgauntt@cvm.tamu.edu, 979-862-4216

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