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If you’re reading this, you probably know (or know of) our big friendly giant, Kilo. On December 6th, 2016 we were told that our big friendly giant had cancer.
It started with a large mass underneath the base of his tail—yes, on his butt. One morning, Kilo was noticeably different—calm, relaxed, quiet—all of which were alarming because he is usually off the walls and knocking things off the shelves, only for the single reason being pure excitement.
We took him to Overland Veterinary Clinic to have some tests done and find out if he was in serious danger. After hours of x-rays, blood tests, ultrasounds, and countless other tests, the doctor had made a discovery. In the ultrasound, he saw that Kilo had a number of growths and masses on his abdomen, and made it clear to us that in his experience, when he sees something like that, 9 times out of 10 it is cancer.
He gave us a few options; we didn’t want to choose any of them.
First Option: Do nothing at all, hope for the best. I think it’s obvious why we couldn’t go this route, the mass on his butt made it very uncomfortable for him to go to the bathroom. Who knows how much it would continue to grow? There would be no quality of life for him within the next several months.
Second Option: Surgically remove the as much of the mass as possible, without damaging his anus (sorry) and have it tested for cancer, while ignoring the masses on his abdomen. The doctor made it very clear that it is incredibly dangerous to repair or remove anything in the abdominal area, as there are vital organs and arteries that surround the area that—if damaged—could be of severe, or even fatal consequences.
Third Option: Surgically remove as much of the mass as possible, without damaging the anus (sorry), and then flip him over and attempt to remove as much as possible from his abdominal area, and then submit samples to the lab and have them tested for cancer.
This was very heavy, we had to make a decision sooner rather than later. We had a conversation about if we thought the risk was worth taking, if we thought he was strong enough to make it through the surgery, and 100 other points. We decided to move forward with the third option, which was to attempt to remove as much as possible from both areas.
Three days later Kilo went in for surgery and about 8 hours later we found out that he pulled through! He had an incredible doctor who performed the surgery. The doctor gave us a brief summary of the procedure, he explained that he removed as much as possible, but didn’t touch any areas he saw as a huge risk. We were grateful that he knew that we would prefer him to do EXACTLY that, instead of taking a huge risk and possibly losing Kilo in the O.R.
The doctor then broke the devastating news that Kilo did in fact, have cancer. This hurt—BAD. He talked about Kilo’s strength and explained that he believed, in his professional opinion, that Kilo could benefit a great amount from chemotherapy. Because Kilo’s cancer was minimal at that time, chemotherapy could possibly stop the cancer from growing any further, or at least slow it down rapidly.
Tuesday, March 21st—Kilo completed his final radiation treatment. He is happy and playful, but still recovering. He has a radiation mark (pretty much equivalent to a sunburn) about the size of a cantaloupe on his butt; however, still this hasn’t kept him from jumping all over us.
Kilo will have several follow up visits in the next few weeks to determine his state of health, and to find out if he with need any more radiation treatments.
As you probably know, this stuff is not cheap—Chris has now spent roughly $10,000 on Kilo’s medical expenses, and still owes about $12,000 to credit cards.
Chris has paid for almost everything thus far, but the rest of the family plans help him out, it’s just a matter of when we can afford to. Please note, we decided to move forward with these decisions because we felt that every single penny that would be put in to Kilo’s recovery would be worth it if it buys more time for him in his current state, which is happy, youthful, and full of energy. We feel, that considering Kilo’s age (about 8 years old) he deserves a real & honest chance to fight this.
With that being said, we are definitely not too proud to accept donations if they are offered. If you would like to contribute—or if you have the means to contribute, please know that absolutely anything helps.
It started with a large mass underneath the base of his tail—yes, on his butt. One morning, Kilo was noticeably different—calm, relaxed, quiet—all of which were alarming because he is usually off the walls and knocking things off the shelves, only for the single reason being pure excitement.
We took him to Overland Veterinary Clinic to have some tests done and find out if he was in serious danger. After hours of x-rays, blood tests, ultrasounds, and countless other tests, the doctor had made a discovery. In the ultrasound, he saw that Kilo had a number of growths and masses on his abdomen, and made it clear to us that in his experience, when he sees something like that, 9 times out of 10 it is cancer.
He gave us a few options; we didn’t want to choose any of them.
First Option: Do nothing at all, hope for the best. I think it’s obvious why we couldn’t go this route, the mass on his butt made it very uncomfortable for him to go to the bathroom. Who knows how much it would continue to grow? There would be no quality of life for him within the next several months.
Second Option: Surgically remove the as much of the mass as possible, without damaging his anus (sorry) and have it tested for cancer, while ignoring the masses on his abdomen. The doctor made it very clear that it is incredibly dangerous to repair or remove anything in the abdominal area, as there are vital organs and arteries that surround the area that—if damaged—could be of severe, or even fatal consequences.
Third Option: Surgically remove as much of the mass as possible, without damaging the anus (sorry), and then flip him over and attempt to remove as much as possible from his abdominal area, and then submit samples to the lab and have them tested for cancer.
This was very heavy, we had to make a decision sooner rather than later. We had a conversation about if we thought the risk was worth taking, if we thought he was strong enough to make it through the surgery, and 100 other points. We decided to move forward with the third option, which was to attempt to remove as much as possible from both areas.
Three days later Kilo went in for surgery and about 8 hours later we found out that he pulled through! He had an incredible doctor who performed the surgery. The doctor gave us a brief summary of the procedure, he explained that he removed as much as possible, but didn’t touch any areas he saw as a huge risk. We were grateful that he knew that we would prefer him to do EXACTLY that, instead of taking a huge risk and possibly losing Kilo in the O.R.
The doctor then broke the devastating news that Kilo did in fact, have cancer. This hurt—BAD. He talked about Kilo’s strength and explained that he believed, in his professional opinion, that Kilo could benefit a great amount from chemotherapy. Because Kilo’s cancer was minimal at that time, chemotherapy could possibly stop the cancer from growing any further, or at least slow it down rapidly.
Tuesday, March 21st—Kilo completed his final radiation treatment. He is happy and playful, but still recovering. He has a radiation mark (pretty much equivalent to a sunburn) about the size of a cantaloupe on his butt; however, still this hasn’t kept him from jumping all over us.
Kilo will have several follow up visits in the next few weeks to determine his state of health, and to find out if he with need any more radiation treatments.
As you probably know, this stuff is not cheap—Chris has now spent roughly $10,000 on Kilo’s medical expenses, and still owes about $12,000 to credit cards.
Chris has paid for almost everything thus far, but the rest of the family plans help him out, it’s just a matter of when we can afford to. Please note, we decided to move forward with these decisions because we felt that every single penny that would be put in to Kilo’s recovery would be worth it if it buys more time for him in his current state, which is happy, youthful, and full of energy. We feel, that considering Kilo’s age (about 8 years old) he deserves a real & honest chance to fight this.
With that being said, we are definitely not too proud to accept donations if they are offered. If you would like to contribute—or if you have the means to contribute, please know that absolutely anything helps.
Organizer and beneficiary
christopher reese
Beneficiary