Story:
Buddy is my gorgeous, 7 year old Golden Retriever. Anyone that knows him, will tell you how he is the sweetest, happiest, gentlest dog you could meet.
Unfortunately, in February this year we started to notice 1 or 2 small sores on Buddy's skin. Initially, the vet suggested it could be an allergy; so we were treating him for this.
However, in May when we realised it had not improved and more sores started to appear we changed the approach and started to treat him for a bacterial infection with several different types of antibiotics. With this not improving, but getting worse over the next two weeks, we reached out to Bristol Vet Specialist for an appointment with the dermotology department but had to wait 3 weeks due to how busy they were. In the meantime, they suggested we conducted a biopsy to confirm what this was. A few days later we had the devastating news that unfortunately, he was diagnosed with a rare form of Lymphoma (Epitheliotropic Lymphoma). This horrible disease attacks his skin and causes lesions and sores to grow all over his skins. More information here: https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&catId=102903&id=8955916
After the diagnosis, we changed our specialist appointment in Bristol, from Dermotology to Onocology. At the start of July we met the amazing Oncology Team at Bristol Vet Specialist where they assessed Buddy and discussed the treatment plan. Although we were told at the time that the disease is not curable, the plan would be to kept it at bay and keep him comfortable and to live a happy life for as long as the treatment continues to work.
Treatment:
From this appointment he started chemotherapy and has since had a type of chemotherapy every week since. (Chemotherapy for dogs is either a tablet given to him in normally chicken or cheese or through an IV which takes a couple of minutes). The side effects have been minimal and he has coped with it very well.
Video of him taken by the Oncology Nurses while having treatment:
He has had a fantastic response and currently with almost complete clinical remission. His skin has gone from being covered 60% in sores, to one small closed sore - (28/09/24). He is back to swimming in the sea, which is his favourite thing to do!
Video of him playing at the beach:
Due to the complexity of the disease, some of the chemotherapies have been successful, but he has already become immune to others and no longer responded to them. As it stands we have tried 4 different types of chemotherapy, with him still responding well to 2 of them.
The treatment plan is to continue this intense chemotherapy course for the next 8 weeks (1 treatment a week), with the hope that if he continues to respond well it will be reduced to 1 treatment every 3 weeks.
Financials:
Current amount spent: £10,940.68
Insurance Limit: £7,500
Weekly Chemotherapy Treatment Cost: £640
With him having such a good, normal quality of life and currently responding so well to the treatment we absolutely will not and cannot stop with the treatment due to money. He deserves to be given the chance to fight this for as long as he can. We of course are doing absolutely everything we can to cover the costs, but due to such high costs any help would at this point be really appreciated.
I will continue to post updates and photos.
Thank you so much,
Molly, Hannah & Buddy xx
Organizer
Molly Haskins
Organizer