Two cats are being sponsored for adoption to honor the memory of a man who died after being diagnosed with coronavirus.
According to the Fond du Lac Humane Society, the two cats, named Creamsicle and Sherbert, are strays that were brought into the Fond du Lac Humane Society by a local community member on May 14.
The Fond du Lac Humane Society said an anonymous donor contacted the organization on June 3 to sponsor the adoption of the cats after reading an NBC News story about Chad Capule. Capule was a 49-year-old IT manager from the Washington DC area who came to St. Agnes Hospital in Fond du Lac to install a new computer system. While in Fond du Lac, Capule was diagnosed with coronavirus, hospitalized, and died a few weeks later.
His wife, Anne Starkweather, had traveled to Wisconsin earlier to be with her husband, but she also tested positive for coronavirus and was quarantined in a hotel room. She told NBC News she rode home for 14 hours in a car with his ashes.
"I am heartbroken, and I don't know how I'm going to recover from this," Starkweather said in an interview with NBC News. "I'm not sure how I'm going to go on without him. He was my life."
It was also revealed in the NBC story that one of Capule’s passions was animals. He had volunteered at a rescue and had three adopted rescue cats. This struck a cord with the anonymous donor when she saw the story on NBC, the Fond du Lac Humane Society said.
The organization said the donor wanted Capule’s wife to have a good memory about Fond du Lac and decided the adoption sponsorship would help with that. The Fond du Lac Humane Society says a pet adoption sponsorship will cover the cost of spaying or neutering a pet, as well as the cost of all vaccinations and FIV testing.
“The staff and board are so grateful for this act of kindness and want to express their condolences to Anne Starkweather,” Fond du Lac Humane Society said in a statement.
