Olympian Gus Kenworthy pens touching tribute after the sudden death of his rescue dog, Beemo.

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Back in February, we brought you the story of Olympian Gus Kenworthy, who rescued a dog from a Korean meat farm and helped raise awareness for the plight of dogs in this part of the world. Beemo became a happy member of Kenworthy’s family and a symbol of hope (and love and cuteness) via her Instagram account.

Sadly, lovely Beemo died suddenly on Thursday. Kenworthy took to social media to break the news.

“Two days ago my beautiful baby Beemo passed away,” Kenworthy wrote Saturday night in a heartbreaking Instagram post. “It was completely unexpected and Matt and I are beside ourselves trying to cope with her loss.”

Kenworthy came home from Sochi with a silver medal in slopestyle along with his beautiful rescue pup. He and his partner, Matt, gave Beemo a charmed life. But about a week ago, the dog stopped eating.

Two days ago my beautiful baby Beemo passed away. It was completely unexpected and Matt and I are beside ourselves trying to cope with her loss. For a week or so we'd been worrying because she was showing less and less interest in her food. There were several trips to the vet and on our final visit this past Thursday I asked them do a full body scan in case there was an underlying issue they had missed. Beemo went into a panic attack during the x-rays and her breathing became rapid and shallow. The scan revealed that her lungs were deteriorated and that her heart was too big for her body – a birth defect we had no way of knowing about. Unable to treat her there, I rushed her to the emergency vet where a breathing tube was put down her throat. They hoped that with a respirator breathing for her they could get her vitals back to a normal level so she could be treated but they were never able to do so. The past two days have been a blur. It all happened so fast that it's still hard to believe it. The ER doc told us that even if we'd somehow spotted the issue earlier it wouldn't have made a difference in the end. He said that she'd been living on "borrowed time" from the get go. Beemo was truly the best thing that ever happened to me and I feel so fortunate for our borrowed time together. I've never loved anything or anyone in the way that I loved that dog and she is and will always be deeply missed. She was so smart and playful. She brought so much happiness to so many people every single day. I'll always remember being out on a walk with her and every other second she would get stopped by someone wanting to pet her, kneel down and kiss her, hold her in their arms or take a photo and on many occasions a crowd of people would have formed around her. That was her power: she made people smile. She was the kindest, most gentle soul I've ever known. She loved people. She loved birds and the snow. She loved me and Matt. But most of all she loved meeting other dogs. If any of you have pets up in doggy heaven please tell them to go find Bee because she could really use a good play date right now. RIP sweet creature – your daddy loves you more than you could ever even know!

A post shared by gus kenworthy (@guskenworthy) on May 26, 2018 at 6:32pm PDT

A vet visit revealed that Beemo’s lungs were deteriorated and her heart enlarged as the result of a congenital condition.

“[A veterinarian] said that she’d been living on ‘borrowed time’ from the get go,” the Olympian wrote in the post that included a heartbreaking photo of the pooch in his arms. “Beemo was truly the best thing that ever happened to me and I feel so fortunate for our borrowed time together.”

“She loved people. She loved birds and the snow. She loved me and Matt,” Kenworthy wrote. “But most of all she loved meeting other dogs.”

“If any of you have pets up in doggy heaven please tell them to go find Bee because she could really use a good play date right now.”