Erik turned 3 years old in January 2025.

Around my birthday in November, 2024, he started showing some strange signs of behavioural changes and wasn’t acting his usual, happy self. He became distant, lethargic and seemed unhappy.

It wasn’t sitting right with me so I took him to the vet who referred us to the Small Animal Hospital in Glasgow (University of Glasgow) for MRI scans and other investigations. These are things that cannot be done up in the Highlands of Scotland.

When we got there, he started acting his usual self so we came home (150 miles away) with our dog seemingly back to normal.

That night, his eyes started drooping and he started having seizures. The following morning we were referred back to the SAH in Glasgow where they did MRI and CT scans and found a rather large tumour growing in his brain. (Approx 2.5-3.4cm in diameter)

He went for surgery that Friday (29th November) which lasted all day but they managed to remove the tumour, in one piece. That’s the good news but although it’s a positive that it came out in one go, we can’t be sure that there are no cells from the tumour still present in his brain tissue.

On the 13th December, we got the news that the tumour had been tested and it came back high grade, which meant it was cancerous and not good news.

On Thursday 19th December, I travelled back down the road to discuss with the SAH our options going forward. This involved treatment called Radiotherapy which was quoted to be around £9000. We managed to negotiate at this point to get it down to £6000.

We had already spent all of our savings trying to keep our lovable pup with us and we were very lucky that we were in a situation that allowed him to have the surgery but we have maxed out our insurance, had no funds left and were faced with a possibility of having to let him go much too soon.

He is such a beautiful soul and is so, so loved, not just by us or by our children but by all who meet him! We can’t imagine life without him.

That’s when we turned to GoFundMe and asked you to help us. Although he is through his Radiotherapy, we are now facing bills for ongoing medication. Some will hopefully only be for a few months but others may be years.

If you can spare any change for Erik, to help him live comfortably and reduce the chances of it growing back, then we would be eternally grateful.

Funds have previously gone towards treatment costs, travel to get him to his treatments as we live 150 miles away and medications.

We’ll soon be in touch with the hospital again to discuss his medication and what we’re all comfortable doing. What’s great is that he shows no signs of pain or discomfort and is back to his usual self!

Let’s get him in remission!

See below for a photo timeline.

November 2024: Erik visiting the vets for a second time, really not himself.

Early December 2024: A few days after Erik’s surgery, we visited him in hospital but he had been given opioids. Never want to see him like that again!

December 2024: Erik came home after his surgery and we were still very much unaware that the tumour he’d had removed was infact an extremely rare brain tumour.

December 2024: Things were going well until he rubbed the scab off and had to have it glued back together.

January 2025: Erik’s CT Scan showed excess fluid in his sinuses and a strange formation around the bones. We had to have a biopsy of the fluid and postpone his treatment.

February 2025: Treatment finally started and Erik was going to spend 4 weeks in the SAH in Glasgow for Radiotherapy treatment. This consisted of 20 small doses.

One week into treatment he’d made lots of friends and was getting plenty of attention. He was his usual self and doing great!

March 2025: Half way through treatment and we were reunited with him for the weekend but most importantly, Erik was reunited with his ball.

March 2025: Finally able to come home after his Radiotherapy treatment and treated with a new ball!

End of March: Erik is doing extremely well considering all he went through. You wouldn’t know he’s been unwell. We’re still not out of the woods but for now, lots of cuddles on the sofa with mum and dad!