UPDATE 9-19-2011—

My 10 YO Boxer Gouda was diagnosed with epithelial cutaneous lymphoma a rare form of lymphoma in May 2009. A small tumor appeared on her left lower eyelid, I took her into my wonderful Vet and we made arrangements to have the tumor removed and tested the following week. That small tumor in one week almost doubled in size. When I got the results I was grief stricken. The prognosis for epithelial cutaneous lymphoma is very poor. I have no children and she was my constant companion, I wasn’t prepared for life without her. I had recently been through some personal hardships and Gouda was always there for me with the comfort only she could give. I was referred by my Vet to a canine oncologist. I made an appointment and waited for what I felt was the inevitable. The oncologist recommended chemotherapy and a diet supplement of safflower oil. The chemo drug Lomustine was prescribed and Gouda was given eighteen months at the utmost to live. Between the courses of chemo, blood work needed to be done to monitor various things including liver function. Many chemo drugs are really hard on the liver I was told. The first blood work came back acceptable, although her liver enzymes were elevated, so we proceeded with the second course. Gouda handled the chemo like a trooper with only minimal side effects mainly lethargy. The blood work after the second cuorse was extremely alarming. Her liver enzyme levels were so high the testing machine could not even record the number. It was recommended we stop chemo and allow her liver to recover if possible. I was told to start a special diet and give her medication daily. It was a long six months before Gouda showed marked improvement in her blood work. Gouda recently went in for her annual physical and check up on 9/15/11. All her blood work came back normal except a slightly elevated liver enzyme level of 256. Considering that level at one time was beyond measurement, I consider us pretty darn lucky! Gouda has out lived even the canine oncologists predicted life expectancy of 12/10. She continues to beat the odds and I credit my wonderful Vet and the canine oncologist for saving Goudas life, and in turn giving me more time with my best pal. I hope Goudas story will give others hope that miracles can happen. Never give up!

— Sue

UPDATE 9-1-2011—

Ginger’s person of nine years had passed away and a friend of mine convinced me to try a weekend with Ginger to see if she would fit into my life. We all know once you say yes to a trial it is over.

The loss of Ginger’s person had taken a toll on her. She was ten pounds too thin when she walked into my apartment and I wasn’t sending her back to a place that wasn’t a home to her. It turns out Ginger was perfect for me and fit in with the rest of my pets perfectly. She and my new kitten, Miles Davis, became fast friends and my senior cat appreciated having a dog around again to divert the kitten.

Her weight loss was temporary. A month with me and she was back up to fighting weight. She enjoys dog parks and camping. She obsesses over little dogs to the point that I should probably pay for a dog bath to remove all the drool. She shivers when it is cold and loves to chase squirrels.

In March, Ginger and I took a trip to the local dog park. She frolicked with the other dogs and got dunked in the icy pond. I took her home that night to warm her up and bathe her. The next morning I was brushing her and found that her lymph nodes in her groin were swollen. My first thought was an infection especially after a chilly ducking. I set her up with an appointment and hoped for the best knowing that swollen lymph nodes usually meant lymphoma.

The diagnosis was lymphoma and confirmed by Michigan State University Vet hospital, top in the nation for cancer treatment. I cried for Ginger but also for the potential cost. I had spent the last few years getting out of debt from when my cat was hit by a car. It only took me a few moments to reconcile myself to the fact of going back into debt to give me a few months with healthy Ginger.

The Madison-Wisconsin protocol was what we started with right away. It requires a weekly chemo cocktail for eight weeks and then a bi-weekly cocktail treatment. The protocol immediately sent the cancer into remission. The treatment did not have the affect one sees in humans in Ginger. She took it well. She may have been sick a day, but right away she rebounded and was ready to go to the dog park.

I got a lot of support from friends and family. My work colleagues raised enough money to pay for one treatment. The act was powerful and gave me more time with this wonderful dog. I also found a great support system at the MSU Vet hospital and was thankful that this great resource was only minutes away.

Then we hit a road block, Ginger’s cancer came out of remission. Madison-Wisconsin treatment had lost its effectiveness and it was time to try a harsher treatment. The rescue protocol was started, Adria/DTIC: eight hours of Chemo every three weeks. This was a lot harder for Ginger but again only a few days after treatment and Ginger was back to her chipper self and the Cancer was back into remission.

After five treatments, nearly four months, Ginger is still in remission. I have come to the end of my CARECREDIT line and thankfully the Canine Cancer Awareness Organization has graciously donated the cost of one more treatment, which will give me at least three more weeks with my Ginger. To celebrate we are going camping. A long car trip, plenty of woods, and tons of treats, what dog wouldn’t want that?

Thank you to all the supporters and donators of Canine Cancer Awareness. Your help means so much to me and my four legged family.

— Jennifer

The CCA Board of Directors has allocated $820.24 to help pay the costs of Ginger’s treatments. Please help Ginger continue to fight this disease. Any sponsor donations made on behalf of Ginger will be used to pay unpaid invoices and the checks will be sent directly to Ginger’s vet.

To help sponsor treatment, you can click on the PayPal donate button below or send a check to:

Canine Cancer Awareness, Inc.
44 Devoe Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211

DONATIONS FOR GINGER:

UPDATE 5-30-2011—

I assume you have found your way to this website because you just found out that your dog has cancer, or after years of paying for cancer treatments you are in search of help, that is why I am here. Our story starts out like yours, either one day you detected a lump on your pet or like us you found out at a routine exam that beneath your pet’s thick, healthy coat were enlarged lymph nodes, hiding from your unsuspecting touch. Before you knew it you were sitting in the waiting room of a veterinary oncology office, scared and a little in shock.

Even though we had once had a dog with a mast cell tumor that was removed and never returned, our real introduction to canine cancer came with the announcement that our 6-year old Siberian Husky named Uta has lymphoma. “I’m really sorry”, the vet said as he folded his arms across his chest, placed his chin on his palm and leaned back against the exam table. “You are looking at a serious situation, this is not good.” We took those words in for a few minutes then pushed them aside as quickly as we could, “Okay then, what’s next?”

Less than 24 hours later we were sitting in the office of the New England Veterinary Oncology Group in Waltham, MA, nearly two hours from home. There aren’t a lot of clinics that deal with this and we met people and pets from all of the surrounding states in the waiting room; all of us looking and feeling the same way. After years of sitting in that room, we could tell who had just gotten the diagnosis and were there for the first time as they walked through the door.

Our first battle partner was Dr. Michele Silver, a young and enthusiastic oncologist at NEVOG who put Uta through a battery of tests and determined we had caught it early and that the prognosis was good, if she responded to chemotherapy ¬she could live for about 18 months, 3 if left untreated. The anticipated cost was between 4 to 5 thousand dollars. We put our faith in these cancer-fighting veterans and hoped for the best.

With our 401K evaporating before our very eyes as Wall Street plummeted, taking our assets with it, we decided that our money would be better spent on Uta rather than lost to the stock market, so we told Dr. Silver to get started. Just 24 hours from her primary care “routine” exam the meaning of “routine” had changed, dramatically.

A 16 week protocol of various drug rotations, with only one relatively minor bad reaction during her first round, yes I said ”first round”, began the fight. She went into remission fairly easily and unknowable to anyone who has never gone through this, we found out that chemotherapy really wasn’t a big deal for dogs and cats. Not to say that this is always the case, but we learned that more often than not chemotherapy is not devastatingly harsh on animals. There are noted exceptions I know, but our experience was what we were told, the norm.

We did what many people do; first we wondered what we had done to cause the cancer, then let go of that as counterproductive, we took her for Holistic treatments, put her on a fresh food diet, tried acupuncture, inhabited the Internet in search of advice on supplements and alternative treatments and stuck as closely as we could to the chemotherapy protocol, allowing for variations as dictated by her ability to tolerate the stress.

Over the next several months things went well, we went back to just enjoying her, figuring she would be gone within a year or so, but resolved to not freak out and cast her remaining days with a cloud of dread and doom.

Early on as we told our friends and family about her we got a lot of well-meaning head shaking advice and questions. “Is that really fair?” “Wouldn’t it be better to put her down?” “Aren’t you being selfish putting her through this because you don’t want to let go?” And our personal favorite, “I wouldn’t do that even if I could afford it, because it’s….ONLY A DOG.” No one who met or saw Uta ever thought we were making her suffer, in fact they were usually surprised at how vital she looked.

About 10 months later she came out of remission for the first time. To my knowledge there is no cure for lymphoma, basically you send it down into its trenches for as long as you can, but it usually returns, hopefully many months later. And so it did as we expected. Having had a good experience with the first round we resumed treatment. This time it stayed away for 9 months, falling pretty much within normal range for a second round of chemotherapy.

Through all of this she only experienced a few days of lethargy and nausea, nothing greater than any us go through during cold and flu season. No one suggests putting you down when you get the flu, no matter how hard you beg your loved ones to pull your plug, they tell you to buck up, it will pass.

We learned how to prepare her before each treatment and how to support her afterwards. We have quite a collection of home remedy products, various OTC meds, nutritional supplements and pharmaceuticals. The kitchen looks like a drugstore.

During this time she’s been a happy active dog. She looks forward to visiting with her “old friends” at NEVOG, as the 18-month diagnosis turned in to over three years and counting as of this writing. She wags her tail and trots in to see her caregivers when they come to bring in back for treatments. They too have come to love her back and take joy and I hope pride in her successful life with cancer.

Only once, midway in her treatments, a week before Christmas 2009, did she have a really bad reaction to Adriamycin. We knew that she may have reached her tolerance for this one drug, but erroneously decided to give it to her one last time. Decisions have to be made one at a time and nothing is ever perfect, as long as you get more right than wrong you are ahead.

Her reaction was so bad that she ended spending a night and a day in the Animal ER Hospital in Acton, MA. We checked in her around 11 PM and tried to go on about celebrating Christmas with friends, it was a typical snowy New England night and the roads were treacherous. Driving past cars off the road we had moments of questioning ourselves. Had we made the wrong decision? Was it time to stop? Had we just killed our beloved pet?

The next day with her being safeguarded by vets and technicians for a second night we decided to go to a late night movie to relax, on the way we got a call from the hospital, she was not doing well and we needed to get there ASAP. So we altered our route and headed back down an icy Route 2, figuring that this was the night we were going to lose her.

When we got there we decided that she needed to come home, they had done all they could and it was time for us to take over. But before we left we had an unexpected Christmas gift to accept. As we were figuring out how to pay the hospital bill, pulling out every plastic card we had and wondering if they had dishes we could wash, the desk clerk came in with good news and one condition. If we did not ask for the source, someone had donated $500 towards her care. It still makes me cry when I remember that night. It was our own personal “Christmas Carol” event.

Crawling home, three hours in the snowstorm, we felt especially blessed to have been helped in our time of crisis with our beloved pet breathing deeply in the back seat. Foremost on our minds was the person or persons who had helped us when we needed help the most. We felt connected to the heart of charity and those who engage in it.

As weak as she was when we picked her up she tried to jump into the truck by herself. She had just wanted to be home. When we got there we set her up on the futon and began a week of 24-hour watch shifts. It took a couple of weeks for her to recover fully during which my husband and I rotated rounds, watching, administering meds and mostly making her feel safe.

Neither of us slept much, across the room of each other, I in the recliner Uta on the futon, we watched each other all night. Occasionally we would each open an eye to peek over for assurance that it was going to be okay and eventually it was.

We went through that Christmas period with this extraordinary “Secret Santa” gift on our minds. It was the only one given that year and the most important one received.

She has now gone through 4-16 week rounds of chemo, the cancer has become resistant and complete remission is unattainable. She was only 6 when her cancer arrived on scene, an average age I am told, but she just celebrated her ninth birthday. She has been living with cancer for over a third of her life.

One of the reasons we decided to treat her initially was that even just a year or two in a dogs’ life is a long time. With the prognosis of 1.5 years it seemed worth it. The “1 year equals 7” adage, not withstanding, preserving quality of life for a loved one in a measure that equals that great a portion of their life, is a very tangible accomplishment. To get three years has been an extraordinary experience and the best kind of bad luck.

So we learned to ignore well intentioned, but ill placed “good advice”, and everything we could about cancer. We have maintained as positive an attitude as possible so that she would not feel our stress and compromise her response to treatment. Early on we resolved to support her for as long as we possibly could, until her body gave out and her quality of life was degraded.

In the process we learned much more than we bargained for at the estimated cost of 4-5 thousand dollars. The shocking exact total, we don’t have, we stopped counting at some point and keep to an estimate of about $20,000, more or less, when all will be said and done. However we do know exactly how much time it bought her and that has become the more important number for us.

If we had these nine years to do over, starting on the day that we selected her from the litter, and knowing what we know now, we would surely do it again, in a heart beat. But of course we would do just a couple of things differently and here comes the part of our story most worth sharing.

First, you never know what the price of love and commitment will be. You don’t even know what you would do for love until challenged. We certainly could not afford to do this, but neither could we conceive of not doing it given the treatability of this disease, and that is more evident now than it was three years ago.

This was our choice we have no complaints about the cost. We did not have children to worry about feeding or putting through college. But even knowing that she would be afflicted with cancer, we would still have taken her home, because she is so sweet as most pets are and because we now know that we were the ones that she ultimately needed to maximize her life, both in span and in quality.

And two, never assume responsibility for more pets than you can afford to go the limit for. If you have limitless money and you know that you always will have it, then great have a zoo. However, if you don’t have limitless funds, then purchase pet insurance. It is not that expensive considering how prevalent canine cancer has become. Until you are in the veterinary oncologist’s office, you would never really know how often it occurs.

Let me repeat myself, as it is our new mantra, purchase pet insurance. It helps you, it helps your pet, it helps your family and it helps organizations such as this maximize the assets that they have to help others.

If you are on this website for the same reason we are, then it’s probably too late, but please tell your friends and your family. If we had done so before Uta got sick, we would not be as strapped as we are today, we will be paying for our loved one long after she is gone. We did get a second dog since Uta developed cancer and she “did not leave the lot” until she was insured.

We had no idea and would not have believed it had we been told, how far we would have gone with this until it was a real. When your pet is looking up to you for help it is too heart breaking to have to put them down due to lack of funds.

Treating canine cancer can be very practical and doable in most cases if you are prepared. It would have taken a lot of stress off of all of us had we accepted the likelihood that it could happen to us.

Today, we sit in gratitude to Canine Cancer Awareness, Inc. After three years of treatments we are so strapped that our greatest fear of having to stop treatment due to lack of funds is gone. We don’t anticipate that Uta will survive a lot longer, other issues related to aging and battling the disease have taken their toll and we are at the point of wondering if it is time to stop. What a huge relief it is to know that euthanasia will be a medical decision, not a financial one.

— Lorraine & Gary

The CCA Board of Directors has allocated $1000 to help pay the costs of Uta’s treatments. Please help Uta continue to fight this disease. Any sponsor donations made on behalf of Uta will be used to pay unpaid invoices and the checks will be sent directly to Uta’s vet.

To help sponsor treatment, you can click on the PayPal donate button below or send a check to:

Canine Cancer Awareness, Inc.
44 Devoe Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211

DONATIONS FOR UTA:
07-31-2011 $50 — William Johnson

UPDATE 7-8-2011—

My husband and I adopted Tucker from the Spokane Humane Society on October 8, 2008, after I volunteered there for the day. It was the best thing we have ever done. Tucker was a seven year old Yellow Lab/Rhodesian Ridgeback mix when he came into our lives…our 130 pound bundle of joy. His former human was an elderly man who could not take him with, when he moved into an assisted living facility. Tucker blessed our lives with love, loyalty, dedication and a deep devotion that we had not experienced with any of our other dogs. Tucker was my husband’s first magical bond with a dog. They were inseparable, and were best friends.

I felt a small lump by Tucker’s jaw on May 7, 2011. We called our vet (mobile) on May 10 and asked that he come out and take a look as it was now the size of a walnut. He came out the evening of May 11, Tucker was getting some swelling in his face at this time, and the mobile vet felt it was either an abscess or Lymphoma, He did not have the ability to do the pathology and other tests necessary to definitely diagnose, unless he actually did exploratory surgery. He suggested treating for an abscess and taking further steps if it wasn’t resolved.

The possibility of Lymphoma terrified me. I knew nothing about it. I didn’t know what to do so I went to the internet. That evening was my first exposure to CanineCancerAwareness.org (CCA). I have had dogs for nearly 50 years, and have never lost one to anything other than old age. I now realize just how incredibly lucky I have been.

Tucker’s face was completely swollen when we got up the next morning. He looked like he had a mouth full or marshmallows and one eye was swollen shut. I needed a second opinion, and a diagnosis. I was aware of a new vet in Spokane, who graduated last year from Washington State University’s Veterinary School of Medicine by the name or Gordon Armstrong. We tracked him down at the Indian Trail Animal Clinic. His office opened at 7:30AM, and they answered their phone earlier. They told me to bring him out, so off Tucker and I went for the 45 minute drive across town.

Tucker was diagnosed with Lymphoma on May 12. It was progressing at a hideous, aggressive rate. Between CCA and Dr. Armstrong, we were able to keep him comfortable and nourished.

I was on the CCA site daily, and sometimes multiple times. We followed Dr. Armstrong’s advice, medications and instructions to the letter. We also practiced CCA’s holistic approach and I made the cancer diet for Tucker. We were told it could be as little as a week and up to four, due to the aggressive nature of the Lymphoma when he was diagnosed.

We lost Tucker on June 17, 2011. Two years and eight months was simply not enough time for our lives together with this very special boy.

Tucker lasted five weeks with a good quality of life and comfort. I thank and credit Dr. Armstrong and CCA, the resources they provided including the ideas, advice, the cancer diet, and recommended herbs and supplements (we used Artemisinin, Omega-3 Fish Oil, CO-Q-10, C-500 and Ojibwa Herbal Extract-Essiac Tea), for giving us this absolutely precious additional time with Tucker that we had. You have touched our lives in numerous ways and beyond explanation. Thank you. We are so grateful.

I donated Tucker’s supplements to CCA’s Supplement Exchange, with the hope they might help another. It was heart warming to be able to do so, and I hope many others will use this medium to reach out and help others as well.

Rest in peace Tucker…thank you sweet, sweet buddy, for all your love. We miss our Tucker boy more than words could ever express.

We love you Tuck,
— Mom & Dad

Grace is an 8 year old English Springer Spaniel.

UPDATE 5-14-2011—

On April 10 2011 I took Grace for what was to be a regular check up. Instead the vet asked me if I had noticed her lymph nodes in her neck and behind her knees the were enlarged. I was then referred to a specialty hospital, there they did a work up on Grace and confirmed that she had lymphoma. Being that she was admitted through the Emergency department of the facility she got one of the available openings to see a specialist the next morning. Grace is very sweet and mild mannered and was quite a trooper through every thing. After her first treatment she is in remission.

We are doing the Wisconsin-Madison Protocol and Grace is doing very well. I am looking at cleaning out my house and get rid of things at a flea market or yard sale in order to raise money for Graces treatment. Grace is doing well and tolerating the treatment well and currently is still in remission. Grace is such an important part of my life, my children like to tease me that she is the daughter that I never had. This diagnosis was really difficult to deal with because my father passed away 2 weeks before her diagnosis. The thought of losing one of my best friends was over whelming, and I sobbed for hours after initially hearing the diagnosis.

The treatments have been a financial hardship but I will keep doing what I need to to be able to provide Grace with the excellent care that she has been receiving. After over a month of treatments she is acting like her sweet self again. It is wonderful to see her being her old self again.

— Kathy

UPDATE 6-14-2011—

I wanted to thank your wonderful organization for their help with Grace. She is going for week 9 of the Madison Wisconsin Protocol. She is doing great and she even feels well enough that she brought me one of her toys and wanted to play. Again thank you so very much!

— Kathy

The CCA Board of Directors has allocated $1000 to help pay the costs of Grace’s treatments. Please help Grace continue the fight. Any sponsor donations made on behalf of Grace will be used to pay unpaid invoices and the checks will be sent directly to Grace’s vet.

To help sponsor treatment, you can click on the PayPal donate button below or send a check to:

Canine Cancer Awareness, Inc.
44 Devoe Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211

DONATIONS FOR GRACE:

Keefer is a 10 year old German Shepherd diagnosed with Lymphosarcoma.

UPDATE 5-23-2011—

Hi, my name is Keefer and I have Cancer.
I just turned 10 a few months ago and live in Florida with my mom, a fur sister and fur brother, and some other pack members. I have lived here since I was a little boy. When we first found out I had Cancer, I knew it was not something very good. I didn’t feel so hot and my Mom cried a lot. A few months ago, I started to take some special medicine and I am feeling a little better and there are even some good things too! I get a ton of cookies, anytime I want, way more car rides than I use to, and certain days when we are in the car for a long time, I get a really special breakfast. I’m not really sure what Cancer is, but I know I love my mom and she doesn’t seem as sad since I’ve been going in the car to the doctor more often. She does seem to get worried a lot about something she calls “bills” until she met some people from Canine Cancer Awareness who made her really happy!

Hi, I am Jennifer, Keefer’s mom. Wow, where do I start? The day I met Keefer was probably the first day I found my way after many years “lost”. I had found myself divorced with two children, and a job paying barely enough to cover food for us all. I had to get another job to helps ends meet and that is where I met Keefer. Meeting this very special boy changed my life. I have had dogs my whole life, all of them special. But I needed this dog more than he needed me. That was the difference. From day one Keefer and I connected. He was already three and had been in several different home situations, but none of them were right for him and he had been returned. I knew I wanted to give him his forever home. For the first time in my life I found myself on my own, with children who were depending on me, both physically and emotionally. Any single parent knows how hard it is to carry this burden of responsibility. I knew my children were safe when I left to go work (now three other jobs); Keefer became my source of strength, comfort and the best companion ever. After many long and difficult years I am finally doing what I really love, teaching children who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Visually Impaired, and Deaf-Blind. Due to special training Keefer has he is my work partner on many projects. Through the years he has worked with me in my journey to help children with disabilities and their mission to communicate. He has comforted me and others in need, and protected me and my children. Now it is my turn to help him. Anyone who is able and willing to make any financial contribution to Keefer’s cancer treatments can know that it will change the lives of many people, not only Keefer’s.
Thank you.
— Jennifer

CCA allocated $1000 to help pay the costs of Keefer’s treatments.
Please help Keefer fight this disease. Any sponsor donations made on behalf of Keefer will be used to pay unpaid invoices and the checks will be sent directly to Keefer’s vet.

To help sponsor treatment, you can click on the PayPal donate button below or send a check to:

Canine Cancer Awareness, Inc.
44 Devoe Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211

DONATIONS FOR KEEFER:

UPDATE 2-17-2011—

While petting my three-year-old West Highland White Terrier, Lady Liberty (aka Libby), I noticed that there were a number of very large, raised areas on her chest. I called the Vet’s and made an appointment for later that day. I wasn’t too concerned as I assumed that it had something to do with the tick I had found on her a few days before when I bathed her, although she takes K9advantix monthly to prevent such things.

That evening, Dr. Keith and I talked about several different things this could mean. The veterinarian did a biopsy and said she expected the results to be back in four or five days. She sent us home with an anti-biotic after spending quite a long time on the floor playing and loving on Libby who gave it right back to the doctor! Libby has never met a human or another dog that she has not loved right away. She is the most social butterfly I have ever seen in a canine.

The next day, which was a Saturday, I spent most of the afternoon working in the yard. When I finally went in to clean up, I was surprised to find a message from Dr. Keith. When I returned the call, Dr. Keith said the test results were in already which alarmed me. I was told that Libby had Lymphoma and had about two weeks to live. Stunned, I listened to Dr. Keith say to come in at noon the next day and we would do an X-ray. I remember hanging up the phone, going down to the floor, and crying until there were no tears left. Then I spent the next few hours on the Internet finding out as much as I could about canine Lymphoma.

When I saw Dr. Keith the next day, we both tried to speak at the same time. I talked over her and said that I refused to accept that my sweet little mischievous baby would soon be gone. Dr. Keith apologized for blurting out what she did on the phone but said that the results had upset her way too much. Libby has some kind of endearing quality about her that no one can resist. I truly believe that everyone thinks that Libby has found something extra special in him or her and after meeting, considers that person her best friend! The X-ray that was taken did not show the cancer very wide spread. The doctor and I put our heads together and made a plan to start Libby on chemo treatments ASAP.

I found that there were only three Oncologists in the state, with two being too far away to be practical. On Monday, I talked to the third one and found that they only did chemo on Tuesdays. If I were going to try and pay for Libby’s treatments, I was going to have to keep working for that paycheck. I called numerous veterinarians in our area but no on knew of any one that gave chemo treatments. I enlarged my area and found a pet hospital that not only did the treatments but they were open 24/7. I made an appointment to consult with the owner, Dr. Neel, on Friday evening.

At the consultation, Libby had blood work done and was given an ultra-sound. Then Dr. Neel told me what she thought the best plan was. I was extremely happy to hear hr repeat everything that this layman had figured out in my research. In two days, we were going to begin the Wisconsin-Madison protocol at 11:00 am on Sunday, October 24, 2010. The best thing Dr. Neel confirmed for me was that Libby’s age of three was her most positive attribute in getting her into remission.

Libby and I have made the nearly hour drive most every Sunday since. When my friends remark that it takes a lot of time out of my weekend, I just smile. They don’t know about the private waiting room that Libby and I share while sitting together on the big couch while she gets her treatment. Sometimes there are other clients sitting with us and most people will ask about Libby and then share their pet’s story. There have been many new friends made and a few tears shed for others. The realization to me is that there are the people that really love their pets and it makes it an emotional bonding time.

Libby’s belly had been shaved for her ultra-sound and it still has not grown back in. My friend Miss Patty made Libby a green and black tartan plaid coat with matching blanket to keep her warm during her hospital visits. The first day Libby pranced into the waiting room with her coat on, there were many pleasant sounds heard. Libby seemed to know that she was adorable and the star of the day! She always tries to greet everyone personally, be it human or canine. I think that everyone from doctors and techs, to the young people in charge of the outside playground know Libby and come in to greet her and love on her.

There are some days that Libby’s white blood count is too low to continue with the treatment and we turn around and return home. There are getting to be more days that Libby is too tired to play. But she remains happy to take that ride up to the hospital and greet her friends. She is a real trooper as she really doesn’t protect all the things that she has had to endure! A couple of weeks ago, Libby had what appeared to be an infection from the treatments and had to be hospitalized for four days. I went up and visited her for several hours each day. She only wanted to lie in my lap and sleep on Mommy. The personnel said that animals that have visits from their families fair much better.

Being awarded a grant from Canine Cancer Awareness took some of the financial burden off of me. We are over half way through the protocol and I am confident that Libby will come out of this a winner! She has too many people (and other dogs) that are cheering for her. The wonderful people at Neel’s Pet Hospital think that once Libby becomes a cancer survivor, she needs to be trained as a therapy dog. They imagine all the happy hospitalized people, both adults and children, that can be exposed to Libby’s personality. They are sure that the healing process will be accelerated for anyone that comes in contact with my sweet little Lady Liberty!

— Diana

CCA has allocated $900 to help pay the costs of Libby’s treatments. Please help Libby fight this disease. Any sponsor donations made on behalf of Libby will be used to pay unpaid invoices and the checks will be sent directly to Libby’s vet.

To help sponsor treatment, you can click on the PayPal donate button below or send a check to:

Canine Cancer Awareness, Inc.
44 Devoe Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211

DONATIONS RECEIVED FOR LIBBY:

UPDATE 10-24-2010—

JJ, aka Big Sexy, is our nine year old Bassett Hound and the eldest of our crew which includes two Bassets from the Basset Hound Rescue of Georgia, one Carolina Basset Hound Rescue and one Basset who wandered up to our house and knew he had found the hound party of the century!

My husband and I have been married 12 years and don’t have any kids. Our family thinks we are crazy when we tell them our dogs are our children. We don’t dress them up or sit them at the table, but we give them all the love we have and they give us back 200%. It’s a great investment!

JJ, ironically, is the one we could count on to never get sick, never have digestion problems or cysts or injuries. He was born with a heart murmur but it has never given him any trouble. He has the typical Basset stubborn yet laid back personality and gets along great with his brothers and sister but they definitely know he is in charge.

One afternoon in early August, as JJ allowed me to help him off the sofa at bedtime, I felt a lump in his chest. Over the next few days it went up and down in size and we noticed another in his neck. We thought it was nothing, our others get cysts from time to time, but we made an appointment anyway. My husband took him to the vet while I was out of town visiting my family and I’ll never forget the phone call he made to me from the vet’s office. I was in the middle of lunch at a restaurant when my husband told me the vet thought JJ might have cancer. All his lymph nodes were swollen. We were devastated.

The biopsy results confirmed Lymphoma and the vet old me he could refer us to an oncologist but it would probably be several thousand dollars. Or we could just make him comfortable for his last few weeks. It’s a fast disease and at best we had a month. We looked at JJ, staring back at us with his usual bored expression and we knew we couldn’t let him go without a fight.

The oncologist confirmed the cancer and the estimate and we opened up another credit card just for JJ’s chemo treatments. My husband was laid off two years ago, as so many others have been of late. He builds furniture and works odd jobs when he can get them. I am an administrative assistant at a church.

JJ has completed 9 of the 16 treatments in the Madison-Wisconsin Protocol for the treatment of his Lymphoma which was stage IV. With the exception of the third treatment, he has done extremely well and had very few side effects from the chemo. He has lost a little weight from a loss of appetite early on but we are working on gaining it back. All his lymph nodes have gone down and his heart murmur has not been affected by the chemo. In short, he is doing fantastic!

We appreciate any help we receive and for the chance to share JJ’s story. We realize this is a difficult time of year and a hard economy. If nothing else, we truly appreciate any thoughts and prayers for our boy and for us in dealing with this situation.

—Shawn & Stephanie & JJ

Currently CCA is in desperate need of funds and is not able to help pay the costs of JJ’s treatments. Please step in and help JJ. Any sponsor donations made on behalf of JJ will be used to pay unpaid invoices and the checks will be sent directly to JJ’s vet.

Please give generously to JJ. To help sponsor treatment, you can click on the PayPal donate button below or send a check to:

Canine Cancer Awareness, Inc.
44 Devoe Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211

DONATIONS RECEIVED FOR JJ:

UPDATE 8-26-2010—

Our darling girl Chloe was diagnosed with lymphoma on July 11. Lymphoma is a very aggressive form of cancer and has attacked all of her organs. The cancer attacked quickly; there was no sign of it only one month previously when she had her annual checkup and shots. Cheryl and I are brokenhearted and are going to do whatever is necessary to fight the cancer and give our sweet girl a full and happy life. We began chemo the next day at Veterinary Specialists of Texas in Dallas. Chloe has responded wonderfully and seems her old sweet self again but she MUST have chemo once a week for about six months. These treatments will cost over $6,000.00 in total!

WE NEED YOUR HELP in this fight!

Some of you know of the reversal of financial fortune our family has suffered over the last two years. Briefly, we had to declare bankruptcy last November due to business and personal financial losses. I was laid off in July from Hotels.com (they closed the Arlington and Dallas facilities) so our health insurance, life insurance, 125 plan all end this October. Thankfully I am on short-term disability but the monthly payment is barely enough to cover utilities. I have applied for disability with Social Security but won’t know for a few months. With the loss of vision in my left eye by the end of the year and having been diagnosed with morphea last year, a serious autoimmune disease, things are pretty tough financially.

Those of you who know us well know that we’re facing all of this with courage and a positive outlook. What we cannot face is the loss of our Sweet Baby Chloe! We cannot bear the thought of losing our Baby; she loves unconditionally and brings a great deal of happiness to our lives.

The total cost of Chloe’s chemo treatments will be over $6,000.00! We need your help in this fight for Chloe’s life. We applied to Canine Cancer Awareness, Inc. for help with Chloe’s chemo treatments and they have agreed to help with a wonderful and greatly appreciated donation of $800.00 for Chloe’s treatments. The Magic Bullet Fund also funded by tax-deductible donations from wonderful people like you has agreed to fund an additional $2400.00. Both organizations need help from wonderful people like you!

Sincerely,
— Walter
Chloe’s Daddy

UPDATE 9-9-2010—

Chloe is doing wonderful. She completed treatment 9 yesterday (the heavy duty one) but is tolerating it well. Chloe’s next treatment is in two weeks.

God Bless All,
— Walter
Chloe’s Daddy

CCA has donated $800 in order to help pay the costs of Chloe’s treatments. Any sponsor donations made on behalf of Chloe will be used to pay unpaid invoices and the checks will be sent directly to Chloe’s vet.

Please also give generously to Chloe. To help sponsor treatment, you can click on the PayPal donate button below or send a check to:

Canine Cancer Awareness, Inc.
44 Devoe Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211

DONATIONS RECEIVED FOR CHLOE:

UPDATE 05-03-2010—

Ezekiel, “Zeke” was born in our home on Dec 26, 2000 and spent his 8 years 4 months with our family. He loved and protected us all and was a gentle giant at 110 pounds. In December 2008 we noticed a lump on Zeke’s neck. Our vet thought it was a salivary gland problem since it was the only “lump” found and surgically removed it in January after the holiday. We were all totally shocked when it came back as lymphosarcoma and we were told that it was very aggressive and he would probably only survive a few weeks. Zeke was not a good patient and hated to go to the vet’s so we did not pursue chemotherapy and found an excellent holistic vet. He proved to be quite a fighter and enjoyed life abundantly and joyfully, happily at home with his family. Zeke lost his battle on May 7, 2009 — 4 1/2 months later. We will always miss him and treasured the time we had with him. — Jani