BOMBI - BOSTON TERRIER, 6.5 YEARS OLD
Stage 5 gastrointestinal lymphoma
Bombi has been the love of my life for the last 6.5 years. He has always been there with me at my lowest and hardest moments, as well as my happiest moments (until someone else offers him food).
He always finds a way to melt the hearts of people, and loves being around humans more than he does with dogs (must be the food thing). 
He is a cheeky and playful boy and adores chest & belly rubs. He will also find any means necessary to squeeze in and sleep on your lap.
Just before Christmas, Bombi started to regurgitate his dinner daily. When we took him to our local vet, they felt a lump in his intestines and suspected he may have ingested a foreign object. He went for an ultrasound and xray, afterwhich the vet suggested for Bombi to go through surgery immediately to remove the foreign object.
During surgery, the vet did not find any foreign object, instead, they discovered an enlarged lymph node. This could be caused by an infection, or could also mean something more sinister. After taking a biopsy, Bombi was sent home on Christmas Eve with various antibiotics and steroids so he could be with us.
Since Bombi's surgery, the medications provided did not ease his symptoms of ongoing vomiting, diarrhoea, and lack of appetite for any longer than 2 days. With his drastic weight loss down to 3.75kg, we took him to a specialist hospital to get to the bottom of his condition.
After another round of extensive blood tests, we were presented with 4 possible scenarios.
A) Adrenal gland dysfunction
B) Inflammatory bowel disease
C) Cancer of the GI tract
D) Cancer somewhere else that is causing a secondary inflammation of the GI tract
After performing an adrenal function and liver function test, the vet confirmed function was normal. Moving down the list, the vet had intended to take another sample of the lymph node via a fine needle aspirate, however the ultrasound showed that the lymph node had reduced in size, which made it difficult and risky for them to proceed with the aspirate. This gave us hope that it may be inflammatory bowel disease which can be managed long term instead of cancer.
We decided to go straight to an endoscopy where the vet would take biopsies of his stomach and intestines. By that stage, our vet bills has reached $5k.
Three weeks ago today, I received a call from the specialist hospital with news I never wanted to hear and it broke my heart. My little love of my life has been diagnosed with Stage 5 gastrointestinal cancer, with a prognosis of 77 days survival time (without treatment). This form of cancer is not very common and espcially not at a relatively young middle-age of 6.
As the cancer has spread through his stomach and intestines, his only treatment option is chemotherapy. Given the aggressive nature of this cancer, chemotherapy may extend his life for 3-6 months, and in a few cases 12 months or more.
We have completed the first cycle of chemotherapy and he seems to be responding well to treatment. So far he has no further vomitting and diarrhea, and has regained a healthy appetite.
We have every intention to continue with his chemotherapy, however this is proving to be taking a toll financially.
As of today, we have spent $8.5k on vet bills, with another estimated $5.5k for his next 5 cycles of chemotherapy (without complications). If he survives through the end of chemo, another endoscopic biopsy will be taken, estimated at $2k.
The money raised from Gofundme will go towards his medical fund and any excess will be used for supplements and alternative natural therapy to hopefully extend his life in remission longer than 12 months.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read about Bombi. I never thought I would do this, but he means the world to me, and if you can share and pass this along, any donation small or large is appreciated.
The bank account details for any offline donations are below. Please leave a description or your name if you like so I can add this to the offline donations list.
Account Name: Michelle De Cruz
BSB: 062-347
Account Number: 1060-7546
