Dog's legacy lives on in special ring made by Austin-based company

AUSTIN, Texas - A dog owner is getting closure through a special piece of jewelry.

Last year, FOX 7 Austin shared Brittany Stanton’s story after her dog died swimming in an Austin lake. Stanton and her dog Ollie spent a day last summer swimming in Lady Bird Lake. She says 30 minutes after the fun trip, he died from a neurotoxin in the water produced by blue-green algae.

“He just loved me unconditionally. I've never had a dog do and it was just an amazing bond that we had so it was just very hard,” said Stanton.

Stanton’s story was heard by people across the area including a local company called Eterneva. “That was a big story here in Austin so when she actually reached out to us, you know, we all knew her story already,” said CEO and cofounder Adelle Archer.

Archer says Eterneva is an Austin-based business that celebrates people and pets when they pass away by making their ashes into real diamonds. Stanton says when she heard about this, she knew she had to do it with Ollie’s ashes.

RELATED: Pet owners mourn loss of dogs who died after swimming at Lady Bird Lake

“What we're doing is we're actually extracting the carbon from their ashes and then, from that carbon source, we're growing a real lab-grown diamond,” said Archer.

The process took almost a year to complete, but Stanton says the end result was so worth it. “It's the exact color which is even more special because I genuinely like see him in it, which is like the most important part about it and feeling like he's actually here,” she said. 

RELATED: Increased risk of harmful algae on Lady Bird Lake during summer

Stanton says the ring has brought her closure, and Archer says that's why they do it. “It's the best feeling in the entire world when you get to see your customer receiving their loved one home,” said Archer.

For more information on Eterneva, click here.

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