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 6-30-2011—

On April 25th 2011 (my birthday), Jake was diagnosed with bone cancer in his tibia. Previously he had been being treated for hip dysplasia with laser therapy. On Saturday the 23rd I noticed he was really limping and thought it was his hips. He goes to daycare at the vet hosp so I asked them to check him out. Call back, bone cancer, advanced. No cancer in lungs but recommended amputation or it would fracture within days and I would have to put him down. Had the surgery 2 days later. The vet hospital was nice enough to keep Jake a little longer than normal since it would have been difficult for me to take care of him and my 4 ½ year old until he was in a little better shape. On the day I went to bring him home he was so excited, even in his state, that it broke my heart that he could still be so happy! He tried to run to the car and the nurse didn’t have a good hold of his sling and he managed to get out of the sling and dragged his remaining back foot across the concrete tearing the paw pads clear off his foot. Since this was the only remaining foot he had in the back, back to the hospital he went because he was unable to put any weight on it, therefore was unable to walk even with my help. He had to wear a boot for a month. More problems to come. Incision kept coming open, had to be re-sutured 8 times! On 6/29 he finally got his stitches and stents removed for the incision has closed. He now has to learn to walk on 3 legs. He is 2 months behind but I know he can do it!! The Cone of Shame and his sling days are soon to end. I feel so bad for him but he is still so happy! I think the trauma is mine not his! He has had two rounds of chemo and I have him on a list of holistic remedies. His first round of blood work came back excellent. I am hoping for a miracle. If I have a year I will be happy (ish). Jakey is such an important part of my life and my 4 1/2 year olds. I can’t imagine life without him. I can’t say thank you enough to the folks at the Canine Cancer Awareness group and all of the other support groups I have found for dogs with cancer and “TriPawds.” It helps to talk.

STAY POSITIVE FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR DOG!! YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS HIM MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE ON HOW HE RESPONDS. A HAPPY DOG CAN FIGHT THE CANCER BETTER THAN A SAD, DEPRESSED ONE. THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ISSUE OF THE CANCER IS YOURS NOT THE DOGS. CHIN UP!

— Kelly

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

UPDATE 8-6-2011 —

My Dakota was diagnosed with mast cell cancer in June of 2010. we started chemo in August & has been in remission since November, thanks to Canine Cancer Awareness that has made it possible. Dakota is doing very well & continues in treatment but we are in need of additional funds to continue his treatments. we are asking for any donations possible to keep my loving boy Dakota happy & healthy. Please, if anyone can help us we well be very grateful.

— Sandi & Dakota

UPDATE 8-12-2010 —

My Dakota is a 9 year old Shepherd/Chow with a heart & soul of a 9 month old puppy. Dakota came to me when he was 2 months old and we have been inseparable since. He’s always been strong and in good health, we hike, we take long walks, he goes to dog parks, dog beaches, day care and even has play days along with his sister. Back in June of this year, I took him to the holistic vet for acupuncture, he had been limping a little; he was checked thoroughly and had no signs of anything. Two weeks later he was due for his annual check-up so I took him to the regular vet for his blood work and all, a mast cell tumor was discovered, after tests and being seen by the oncologist it was confirmed that it was a grade 3 tumor in his lymph node. Never did I imagine that my healthy best friend would have cancer. He had surgery and the recommendation of the vet and the oncologist was chemotherapy. We have started chemo and he is responding well and thanks to Canine cancer Awareness who is helping us, my Dakota has a chance to extend his life. He has given me the best years of his life, so much happiness and I have learned so much from both my dogs and want to give him something more: extending his life.

— Sandra & Dakota

Canine Cancer Awareness, Inc. has donated $800 in order to help pay the costs of Dakota’s vet bills. Any sponsor donations made on behalf of Dakota will be used to pay unpaid invoices and the checks will be sent directly to the veterinarian.

Please also give generously to Dakota. 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

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 7-12-2011—

That’s what I named him when I adopted my Maltese Presley when he was just 2 years old in 2004. His previous owner had had a baby and Presley was beginning to play too rough with the baby as he was crawling. Once Presley came home he was such an energetic guy I decided to train him in agility. He has been competing now for 6 years, including at a national event. On June 4, 2011 I was brushing him out before a bath and felt an asymmetry in his rib cage. I looked, and could see a barely perceptible difference on his left side compared to his right side. Of course it was a Saturday, but I called my vet and took him in. They were stunned I could see such a slight change in contour. She did an x-ray and saw nothing of note. She aspirated the bulge and came back with a bad result. The aspirate showed some cancerous mast cells. I was devastated and confused. He had no signs of illness. So the following Tuesday Presley had surgery. I was able to be in the surgery and saw the huge tumor that was removed. It was actually under the diaphragm. It was about the size of a golf ball, very red and angry looking. I knew it looked more malignant than benign. It was not in an organ, but just attached to the wall of the abdomen and the tip of the sternum. A biopsy was taken and sent out. A few days later it was confirmed: mast cell tumor. We were then referred to a specialty vet for ultrasound. The ultrasound showed no other tumors in the abdomen. They also did aspirates of the spleen and liver. When the results came back, he was diagnosed with a grade III mast cell tumor with probable liver involvement. They said it was likely the cells in the liver were few in number, so chemotherapy was advised. We started the chemotherapy on July 11, 2011.

I am unemployed and have little savings. I was not sure how I would take care of Presley’s expenses. But I did not want him to suffer because I had no resources. I searched the internet and was lucky to find the Canine Cancer Awareness information.

I applied for the grant from Canine Cancer Awareness and was so lucky and blessed to receive a grant. I don’t know how I would have started chemo without it. Presley is a fit and otherwise healthy 9 year old. He plays hard and competes in agility. I am hopeful that he will get through this and be able to have a happy life for many more years. Presley is the joy and happiness in my life. I am so thankful for the help!

Thank you for caring and for your support, donors! Presley and I would be lost without you!

— Michelle and Presley

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

UPDATE 1-9-2011—

Puggy is my 9 1/2 year-old, black, male pug. Recently, he was diagnosed with cancer. He had a mast tumor on his back. At first I was very confused about what action to take next, but my vet assured me that surgery to remove it and send it to the lab was the best option. The results from the surgery will tell me what stage of cancer he has. There are 3 stages. My vet said that she has only seen one pug with a stage 3 cancer. I asked for help from Canine Cancer Awareness. To my surprise, I was granted enough funds to pay for his surgery! So, I decided to go through with the vet’s advice. During and after the surgery, he was such a good boy. He was so strong and he came home with me the very next day. He was so hyper that it seemed like he didn’t go through it at all. I am trying to keep him from jumping on the couch, but he is so stubborn and so determined to be back to his old self again.

If it weren’t for C.C.A., I would have had to save money for a long time and the longer I waited, the more the cancer cells could have spread throughout his body. I do not want to lose him. I feel like he has a long life ahead of him. Millions of thanks for the help from C.C.A. No one has ever cared for my pet and I as much as C.C.A. I am truly blessed. One day I hope to be able to give back to C.C.A. I now feel it is so necessary to help pets who have a chance of living through problems and who deserve a better life. My two pugs are so very precious to me. They are my babies and I love them dearly.

Thanks again, C.C.A. You helped change my life and my perspective on helping people when I can do so. I will keep all the pets you care for in my prayers and I wish C.C.A. a very Happy New Year!!

— Shelley and Puggy

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

UPDATE 9-10-2010—

Hello!

A few months ago I took my beloved rescued 9 year old Yorki-Poo Allyson to the vet for a routine check-up. My vet shocked me when she said she felt a large tumor in her abdomen. She did an x-ray and confirmed two masses in her liver. She took blood and suggested an ultra sound. The ultrasound confirmed the tumors, and a needle biopsy confirmed cancer. She has recently had a successful surgery to remove these tumors. The next stage to improve the chances of her recovery is chemotherapy.

The costs of Allyson’s tests and surgery has left me with severe financial difficulties. I was laid off permanently in May and my savings is depleted. Allyson has done so much for me I can’t bear to see her suffer. I suffer from an illness and her companionship is part of my therapy. She is the love of my life and it is killing me that I am in a position that I can’t do everything possible to save her. I appreciate you taking the time to read my story and thank you in advance for any help you may provide.

Regards
— Jennifer & Allyson

Due to an unfortunate lack of funds, CCA is not able to donate money in order to help pay the costs of Allyson’s treatments. Please help sponsor this worthy cause. Any sponsor donations made on behalf of Allyson will be used to pay unpaid invoices and the checks will be sent directly to Allyson’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 ALLYSON:
10-02-2010 $50 — Donation from Geralyn Colloton
11-05-2010 $25 — Lori Crabtree — Donation in the name of Sassy.

“A year ago today we lost our beloved Sassy and make this donation in her name.”

11-14-2010 $50 — Donation from Gina Megay

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 7-22-2010—

I was at the Oregon shelter that morning to help my 12 year old rottie diagnosed with bone cancer over the rainbow bridge. As a foster parent for the shelter I knew Dallas had just come back that morning from her 3rd home. I was in no mood for another dog, no mood to give my heart again, and definitely not in the mood for a puppy; somehow though I ended up leaving with her tucked under my arm like a tiny black suitcase mumbling under my breath about my own lack of sanity.

From that day forward she has brought nothing but joy and smiles into my life and everyone else she meet’s along the way. Dallas always wags her tail from the first rib back, greeting everyone with a friendly hello and a welcoming spirit.

I regularly get compliments what a well trained dog she is. I would love to take the credit, but I am sure I never did anything special; she just always seems to know what you are saying to her. However we do not actually use the D O G word in front of her because she really does not know she is one.

She has always enjoyed going for rides. She is so good that there have been times I forgot she was in the backseat. Other times she thought there may be a car ride and would sit in the car for hours, refusing to get out just in case. Because she is so well tempered and obedient she accompanies me most everywhere, whether a quick trip to the post office, laying by my side, or driving the ALCAN Highway, she is always happy just to be with her person.

I am convinced this miracle dog has a guardian angel watching over her. On Easter she was playing tug tug, her favorite game next to fetching the ball, when I noticed a little blood on her tongue. It seemed she had pulled loose one of her lower canine teeth and injured the gum tissue. I took her to a walk in vet clinic the next morning more worried about infection at her age (she was almost 9) and anticipating a script for antibiotics. Instead the vet immediately started talking cancer, abscess removal, surgery, and lab work. Whoa there Doc! This is just a loose tooth after all. I left thinking “that’s what I get for not going to my regular VCA vet”. But by Wednesday the injury to her gum seemed to be growing and there were more teeth being pushed loose from the pressure of the growth. I took her to VCA and the vet put her on a stronger antibiotic as well as doing a biopsy of the tissue. Just over the weekend the mass had taken on a life of its own and most certainly was no simple abscess. Monday morning, I was at the vet’s office waiting for DR. Simmons when they opened in a complete panic. While I waited the biopsy results also confirmed osteocarcinoma; bone cancer. Surgery was scheduled for that Friday morning. The treatment plan consisted of removing the cancerous portion of her lower jaw back to the pre molars for a clean margin and chemotherapy treatments. From that time on, my life became a whirlwind of vet appointments, online research, cancer chat groups and medication schedules. She recovered from the surgery like the trooper she is, our vet getting clean margins. Dr. Simmons took step by step photos of the surgery and I photo documented her recovery daily on facebook.

Her first chemo treatment was a month after surgery. I expected the worst and once again was surprised with the life and vitality Dallas radiates. She is now coming up on chemo treatment # 5 with 3 more to go. She will need 3 month check-ups, regualar blood work, bi-yearly xrays of the lungs, a special diet and supplements, but it is nothing compared to not having her in my life every precious day. Dallas was there for me when I had my own battle with cancer and now I am here for her. I never thought about the money or what I had to give up for Dallas to get the care she needs to live the full potential of her life.

I am so grateful for all the support and information available online, and more than anything I thank fate for bringing Dallas and I together and for watching over the both of us. I still can’t believe how quickly the cancer grew or how lucky we were to have caught it so early. I am thankful for the compassion and care Dr. Simmons and her staff has provided both me and Dallas. With the gray on her chin gone from post surgery she looks like she acts, a young pup enjoying every moment life has to offer.

Thank you Canine Cancer Awareness for all your help.

—Danika and Dallas

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

Please also give generously to Dallas. 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 DALLAS:
07-28-10 — $50.00 (Donation from Melissa — I Love you both M.)
08-25-10 — $3.00 (Donation from Amanda DiMauro)

UPDATE 6-19-2010—

In order to tell you Alfie’s story I need to tell you mine so you will know just how much Alfie is needed and loved. My first husband tried to kill me by lacing and Anacin 3 capsule with 10 times the lethal dose of cyanide. It left me with brain stem damage damage and lots of pain. But, my story has a happy ending.

Joe, my new husband brought into my life a little ball of fur named Alfie. He is so full of love and an excitement for life. Everyday he wakes us up with his happy barks, and then he runs out into the yard like he had never been outside before. At night when I go to bed he will lay down by my feet. During the day he is right by my side. When my pain gets so bad and the tears begin to fall, he is right there and licks the tears from my cheeks. When I look into his little eyes I feel my will building back up. That’s not where his love stops. He is Joe’s faithful hiking partner and our grandson’s playmate and protector.

When Alfie was diagnosed with Nasal Carcinoma our hearts sank inside of us. We couldn’t even imagine the void that would be left in our life without Alfie. How do you explain to a little boy that his playmate is no longer here. The treatment for this is very expensive. I live on social security disability. Joe has devoted his life to care for me. Together we live below poverty level. I felt so lost looking at Alfie with the blood coming out of his nose. My heart was breaking. But, I knew we didn’t have much time. Dog diagnosed with nasal carcinoma only live about 95 days without treatment. Alfie was diagnoses on April 2. I called Santa Cruz Veterinary Hospital and make an appointment to see Dr Stone the Oncologist the following Wednesday. I didn’t know how we were going to pay for it. The one thing I did know was that Alfie had been there for me through many days and nights of pain, and we were not going to turn our backs on him. Alfie needed a miracle Dr Stone told us that he would need 16 radiation treatments. They would be 4 days a Week, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. The cost Low $6,123.88 the high $7,534.56. We will have until October 4 this year to pay it back.

One day while I was on-line I typed in canine cancer. There are many sites that say the will help. So I started filling application after application. All of them came back saying because of the economy they had no Money. Except Canine Cancer Awareness, I went to there site filled out the application. Because of my disabilities I can’t write very well and they could not read my e-mail address. They didn’t toss the application to one side and just forget about it they sent me a letter, to ask me for my e-mail address. I faxed it to them. Then they needed more information from Dr. Stone. I called the Hospital, talked to Scott and he faxed me the information they needed immediately and I faxed it to them. With all the faxing back and forth and the wanting for more information I felt hope beginning to come back. When your waiting for something it seems like time moves so slow. But it was only three days. There in my e-mail box was a letter from Canine Cancer Awareness. My husband and I both set in front of the computer and I open the e-mail. We were both so excited it was better then any Christmas I can remember. They were going to help!!

Thank you Canine Cancer Awareness for helping us give a Alfie the miracle of life. You are truly his guardian Angle. We would be amiss if I didn’t say thank you to Dr. Stone and the oncology staff and Santa Cruz Veterinary Hospital for the exception care, compassion and support you are giving Alfie. Now Alfie’s story has a chance for a happy ending!

— Susie

CCA has donated $1000 in order to help pay the costs of Alfie’s treatments. Any sponsor donations made on behalf of Alfie will be used to pay unpaid invoices and the checks will be sent directly to Alfie’s vet.

Please also give generously to Alfie. 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 ALFIE: