Give Lucky a Chance to Beat Cancer

Hello, I’m Vic Chico and I am trying to raise funds to cover Lucky’s upcoming fight against Osteosarcoma, bone cancer in his leg.

It all seems like it happened so fast. One day he’s fine chasing the ball and within a couple of days he’s limping with a big bump on his leg.

I thought maybe he had bruised it jumping against the fence where he loves chasing squirrels/possums when they go across. After day two of limping I realized maybe it might be a little more serious, so I took him to the vet.

We arrived and the first thing the vet tech asked is if his head muscles had been diminishing over time. I didn’t really notice, so didn’t think much of it. After finally getting the muzzle on him they were finally able to sedate him (he hates the vet) and get some X-rays.

What happened next is the worst news I’ve gotten in a long time. The vet said all signs point to Osteosarcoma, bone cancer, that had already started to eat away at his hind leg. It’s so hard to bear because he can’t speak and shows no sign of discomfort even though I know it’s got to be bothering him.

So the story of how I crossed paths with Lucky is really that of Luck. He was a stray that was running up and down my street on a 105 degree day in Sacramento. A neighbor down the street had seen him running up and down the street, and tried to wrangle him. I guess somehow he got away and was found hiding under another neighbor’s truck in the shade. Luckily they saw him and gave him cold water and a rope/leash to contain him. After a while the across the street neighbor, Kurtis, was able to tie him up in his yard. Kurtis at the time had two dogs and they were going crazy with Lucky in the yard. At this time my friend Bryan and I were building a fence in my yard and I told Kurtis I can tie him up in my yard while we work. He had already called animal control and they were on their way.

The animal control officer arrived and used the microchip detector on him and found no chip. Unfortunately Lucky had hurt his eye and it looked pretty bad. The officers advice was to post lost and found notices, however, he couldn’t bring him to the shelter because they were full. I was stuck between letting him go or bringing him home.

Well I brought him home. My parents were pissed. Not only did I not tell them but we had not had a dog in a long time and weren’t prepared to care for one. The first night. I had to tie him to the tree in the backyard so he wouldn’t dig his way out. Bad idea - he destroyed the plant wall my mom had against our chimney. From then on I knew I have to train this little guy.

The past six years had me doing just that. Teaching him all the commands, potty outside, shake hands, say thank you, find your ball, DONT chase the skunk!

To sum it up…. I love this little BIG guy. He’s got the heart of a puppy, but the size of a mini horse. I’d do anything to fight for more time with him. I’ve got a nephew who loves seeing him on FaceTime, but hasn’t seen him in person yet. I want to take him crabbing in San Fransico. I want to take him camping. I want him to see the ocean for the first time. So many more memories to be had. He’s only six.

The good news is that the X-rays didn’t show any detectable spread of the cancer, so the vet gave amputation as an option. Even though cutting off the leg gets rid of the main site of cancer, there could still be micro metastatic tissue in the body, so chemotherapy after amputation is usually prescribed.

My goal with these funds is to cover the amputation, so I have peace of mind that at least the main cancer is removed and won’t metastasize further into his system. Chemo comes later as I understand, so I’ll cross that financial bridge when I get to it.

As most of you know I am a handyman preparing to get my contractors license. Around the beginning of August this year I started a new handyman job, but unfortunately came down with a bad case of Gout in my ankle and was unable to work for the rest of the month.

After recovering from gout Sept thru November has been really slow, so funds have been tight. To top it off I get this ton of bricks thrown in my lap. It’s been a rough 72 hours, but I pull through knowing my good buddy can’t tell me the pain he’s in, so I fight through with all I’ve got. Thank you for reading our story and would be forever indebted to all who donated. I’m not one who really asks for help often, so doing this kinda makes me uncomfortable. Unfortunately I’m in desperation mode now, so this is my Hail Mary. From the bottom of my heart and from Lucky, thanks for reading our story.