GEORGETOWN, Texas — Masaru the dog was in desperate need of a hero.

"When I brought him home he was in a lot of pain," Dawn Coleman, Masaru's foster parent said. "He just was hurting, he has a lot of issues, he's unable to walk."

Missing pilot ID'd as doctor, dog rescue volunteer en route to Central Texas

His name is Masaru, an 11-year-old husky — rescued and put in the care of foster mom Dawn Pullman on New Year's Eve.

"Just from being unable to walk we're not really sure if that's a hip displaxia or if that's from sitting from having infections over time," Coleman said. "He's just a work in progress but we're hoping for the best."

Pullman was to pass Masaru off to the hero he needed, Dr. Bill Kinsinger, an airplane pilot from rescue group Pilots n Paws. Kinsinger's mission was to fly to Georgetown to pick up the dog and bring him to Oklahoma City where he would get the care he needed. But Kinsinger never made it to Georgetown, his flight diverting from its path just southeast of Houston. The Coast Guard said the plane went down in the Gulf of Mexico.

"We were like you know what's going on maybe the plane's been diverted," Coleman said. "it just got later and later and then i received a text that something had happened so just we were just devestated, heartbroken."

While the Coast Guard began its search for Kinsinger, three new heroes set out to finish the job he started. Justin Blackburn and two other Pilots n Paws pilots arrived to finish what Kinsinger started.

"In Bill's always volunteering happy way they had a vet tech in Oklahoma City that could see the dogs so he agreed to come down yesterday and take the dogs to Oklahoma City," Blackburn said. "I kinda feel like we were already committed to it, we had to do it.""

Those pilots took Masaru to get the help he needs, completing Kinsinger's mission.

"In Bill's honor, memory, we don't know what happened, " Blackburn said. "But we wanted to do this to kind of remember him and get the dog to a safe place."