In 2015, while serving in the U.S. Army in San Antonio, Mike DeTerra adopted a stray dog who was hours away from euthanasia after six months in a shelter. He named him Rocky. Over the next decade, that rescue bond evolved into a rich and spirited life together. 

Their shared love of adventure led the pair to traverse 28 states, four Canadian provinces, and two territories—trekking from the Gulf Coast to the Arctic Ocean, and from Alaska to Newfoundland. 

"For me, Rocky’s maybe less of a pet and more like a limb, like a small, four-legged, furry extension of myself. He’s my family," DeTerra shares.

When a sudden, violent seizure revealed a deep-seated glioma near critical centers of Rocky’s brain in July, DeTerra was crushed. Facing a terminal prognosis, he packed up his life in Denver to head to a peaceful family home in Wisconsin, determined to give his best friend comfort in what felt like his final chapter.

Then came an extraordinary moment of serendipity on the road to Wisconsin: while stopping at an Omaha hotel bar to watch the World Cup Final, DeTerra struck up a conversation with Shawn Haroldson. Unbeknownst to DeTerra, Haroldson—a sales manager at the medical device company Medtronic—had just finalized an agreement to bring a cutting-edge neuro-navigation device to the University of Minnesota (UMN) College of Veterinary Medicine. He had been working with Susan Arnold, a veterinary neurosurgeon who directs the College’s Canine Brain Tumor Program (CBTP). 

“I think I know someone who might be able to help you,” Haroldson told DeTerra, and immediately connected him with Arnold.

For Arnold, neuro-oncology is a deeply personal calling forged during veterinary school when she lost her high school friend, Curtis, to grade III glioma just 18 months after his diagnosis. The CBTP has enrolled more than 350 dogs in clinical trials, helping to establish Minnesota as an international leader in comparative oncology.

Arnold views every patient not merely as a clinical subject, but as a cherished family member. 

"There are very few options for treating brain tumors in dogs, so the research is crucial for helping dogs and their families," Arnold explains. "And we've also learned that dogs are an excellent model for brain tumors in people, so we can take the knowledge we gain and see if it can be applied in human medicine."

Turning shared vision into a surgical breakthrough

Weeks after that chance meeting, Rocky became the first canine patient in the United States to undergo brain tumor resection (removal) surgery guided by Medtronic’s StealthStation™ S8 navigation system. The milestone was made possible by a close institutional relationship. Arnold had long envisioned how precise neuro-navigation could expand her team's surgical boundaries, and when her efforts gained critical momentum, both Medtronic and the UMN team moved rapidly to turn that vision into reality. Medtronic even held its manufacturing line open beyond scheduled production to build the specialized unit for the University.

“When I learned Rocky’s veterinarian had run out of options, I knew I had to connect Mike with Dr. Arnold," Haroldson says. "At Medtronic, our mission is to alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life. To me, that mission extends to all forms of life, including Rocky. It’s about using our expertise and relationships to create hope and make a difference when it matters most."

When Haroldson personally delivered and set up the new equipment, the CBTP team was overjoyed. 

“We all felt immense excitement and hope for what we’ll be able to accomplish with the Stealth system—and immensely grateful for the support that everyone showed in order to make this happen," Arnold says. 

That potential lies in how the system operates: acting like a precise internal GPS, it grants surgical teams real-time, 3D tracking mapped directly onto brain scans. 

"It gives us X-ray vision in surgery. It shows us where the target is, the anatomy we will pass through, and the safest, shortest course to get there," she adds.

A mere week later, DeTerra and Rocky arrived at CVM’s Veterinary Medical Center to undergo the surgery. The technology allowed Arnold’s team to safely resect Rocky’s tumor tissue while protecting vital brain structures. Consequently, Rocky was able to enroll in an advanced CBTP clinical trial conducted in partnership with Johns Hopkins University and Mayo Clinic Jacksonville. He was placed in a study group that combines surgery and radiation therapy—a treatment plan that reflects the most advanced care available in human medicine and that will help to illuminate the efficacy of a new experimental drug being tested in another group.

Transforming the future of canine cancer research and treatment

While Rocky served as a pioneer for this technology, the impact goes much further—fundamentally expanding what the CBTP can accomplish, elevating immediate clinical care while driving future breakthroughs. The system enables neurosurgeons to safely operate on previously unreachable deep-seated tumors in the brainstem, skull base, and pituitary gland. It also allows researchers to perform precise, minimally invasive micro-biopsies—enabling dogs with non-resectable tumors to participate in trial therapies and allowing researchers to perform serial biopsies over time to track how tumors adapt during treatment.

By accelerating precision trials for aggressive conditions like pediatric high-grade gliomas, the CBTP’s use of the StealthStation™ drives progress for both species. 

As DeTerra sees it, participating in research offered purpose when traditional options ran out. 

“Knowing that he's advancing science gives me comfort,” DeTerra says. “We’re helping veterinary medicine and whoever comes next.”

Today, Rocky is back on his feet—going for walks, full of energy, and getting back to his spirited self. 

While DeTerra is realistic about the terminal diagnosis, he’s hopeful about how the trial might improve the time they have together. 

“At a minimum, he has a little more high-quality time left and hopefully even a couple more adventures," he says.  

Knowing that Rocky’s journey contributes directly to research that could help future generations of both people and pets turned unimaginable heartbreak into a lasting legacy.

To learn more about ongoing research or explore study enrollment, visit the Canine Brain Tumor Program clinical trials page.