WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- The story of a Massachusetts mayor taking his terminally ill dog on a cross-country road trip has gone viral on the Internet recently.
Paul Heroux, mayor of Attleboro, Massachusetts, has decided to travel with his 10-year-old dog Mura across the country instead of taking a personal trip to the Middle East, when he knew that his beloved dog, suffering from an aggressive blood cancer, has only several months to live.
Mura was diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma -- an aggressive terminal blood cancer-- in September.
"It was heartbreaking. I picked her up and said, you're going to die little girl and you don't even know it," Heroux told local media ABC News.
Starting from Oct. 28, the pair took a 12-day trip to 24 states in the United States and even to Canada where the dog was born. The mayor has been posting photos and sharing stories from their 8,500-mile (around 13,679-km) journey on Facebook and has received thousands of comments on the Internet.
"I had no idea that my trip with Mura would turn into what it turned into. So thank you everyone for being so kind to her," Heroux wrote on Facebook.
Among their many stops were Niagara Falls, Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Canyon as well as Heroux's alma mater, the University of South California.
"Mura doesn't know she has terminal cancer so don't tell her. Just let her think she is the little princess that she is going for the best ride of her life. Dogs love to go for a ride," he wrote on Facebook.
"Mura, I tried to give you the best life I could," the mayor said to ABC News when asked if there was one last thing he'd tell the dog.
