Gizmo's Cancer Fund

In 2007 I went to pick out a puppy so Bandit would have a friend. I spent some time with all the puppies, but the runt who was born without a tail just came and curled up in my lap, so I knew this was going to be our new family member. Gizmo has always been the sweetest dog, everyone that meets him just loves how sweet and cuddly he is. Even at almost 7 years old he still has the sweetest puppy face, and I still get asked if he is Bandit's puppy.















Gizmo has loved moving to Colorado, there is so much more for him to do outside with his family. About 6 months ago we noticed a bump in between his toes that he has been licking at. The vet originally diagnosed it as an interdigital cyst. We were told that these cysts are common, and most of the time will always be on the dog. We tried months of things to get it to shrink down. We did salt soaks, topical medicine, and antibiotics. We tried keeping a bootie on him until he figured out how to get it off as soon as we walked out the door. We were just doing everything we could to try to make it so it was not bothering or hurting him. He never acted like it hurt him to walk on it, even so we limited the number and lengths of walks he was going for just so we wouldn't chance hurting him.















This brings us to about a month ago. One night he started screaming, so I held him and his dad was helping me pet and calm him down. He was scared and shaking and we noticed a substance sticking out of his cyst. We took him to the vet first thing the next morning. He tried to empty as much of the cyst as he could and put a cast on Gizmo so it could heal. After about a week he had a bandage change, and was then able to get his cast off right away. At that time I noticed the cyst had almost doubled in size. I brought him back in the next day to get another bandage and a cone and we decided removal of the cyst was going to be the best option. I did not know it at the time but the vet had taken a sample of the tissue and sent it in to be tested. When I brought Gizmo in for surgery, they had me go sit in a room and wait for the vet because he wanted to speak with me. He told me Gizmo would not be having surgery that day, because what we thought was a cyst, turned out to be a mast cell tumor.















Gizmo has cancer, I still cannot believe it. My up until now healthy happy boy has something far worse than I imagined. I made an appointment for him to see an oncologist the following morning. She looked Gizmo over (of course everyone who meets him comments on how he is the cutest dog ever) and then sat down with us to talk about his type of cancer and our options. The type of cancer Gizmo has can spread and metastasize to the organs in his abdomen. She thought he might be able to have two of his toes removed and hopefully have wide enough margins to get all of the tumor. We took him to meet the surgeon so he could look Gizmo over and see if he would be able to walk with only two toes. Then came the estimates for the bills. Of course we want to do anything we can to help Gizmo, he is supposed to have a lot or years left. Unfortunately the hospital does not do payment plans, you either have the money up front or your animal does not get care.















Since his diagnosis and vet visits, we traveled back home and he has gotten worse. His tumor has doubled in size and he can no longer walk on his foot. We thought we would have a little time to try to scrape some money together, but he needs to have surgery as soon as possible. The hardest thing as a pet parent is to watch your baby in pain, and not be able to do much about it. Gizmo who is normally happy and playful, just wants to be held. He is on 3 different types of medicine to try to make him comfortable until he can have his surgery. He has to wear a cone when we are not home with him so he does not take his bandages off.















We have been spending all of our money on vet visits, and of course we would spend whatever it takes to take care of our pets. Unfortunately with the price of the tests and surgery he needs, we just don't have it. We are both working as much as we can, but it would take us a long time to get the money saved up, and I don't want to see him in pain or getting worse. We were supposed to get married next year, but that has been put on hold because Gizmo means the world to us, and our family would just not be the same without him.















We are starting this fund hoping we can get Gizmo his surgery as soon as possible, so he can start to feel better. The donations you give will help Gizmo get the surgery and care he needs, and help keep our family together longer. No donation is too big or small, and from our family to yours we sincerely thank you.