Helping Milo kick cancer’s butt!

Hello everyone

My name is Amy and I have started this page in order to hopefully raise some funds, to help our beautiful boy Milo during his fight with cancer.

Please, please take the time to read our story below, we are so appreciative of your support;

Milo is a 3 year old Miniature Dachshund, with a personality as big as his gorgeous chocolate button eyes. He genuinely means everything to us and his 2 Dachshund sisters ❤️.

On March 18th 2022 - our world was tipped upside down. Milo had not been himself for a couple of days, he had been drinking lots and lots of water and we initially thought it was a stomach bug, so took him along to the vets to be checked. At the vets, he was his normal reactive self, barking at all the dogs and thinking he is a Doberman - (any Daxie owner will know this is standard procedure!!!!)

The vet calls us through and we put Milo on the table. As the vet feels his tummy……..he then tells us he can feel something in Milo’s abdomen. I could literally feel the blood drain from my face. Any one that is a dog owner, will know this is the last thing you want to hear be your worst nightmare.

The vet told us to take Milo home and to bring him back the next morning for exploratory tests. At 9pm that night, we were sitting in our living room, when we realised that Milo had been to the toilet and had passed a clot of blood.

At this point, I called our vets back for some advice. They had their emergency line directed to the Queen Mother Animal Hospital, which is a teaching hospital for small animals and is attached to the Royal Veterinary College based in Hertfordshire.

After a conversation with the on-call vet, they asked us to bring Milo in. After a nerve wracking wait in the car park, our worst fears were confirmed. The vet explained that she could definitely feel two masses within Milo’s abdomen and this had been confirmed by an ultrasound that they had carried out.

Milo at that point also had a very high temperature and we were asked to leave him at the hospital overnight, so that bloods could be taken and analysed. He had never been with anyone he didn’t know overnight before and leaving him was one of the hardest things we have ever had to do.

Below is a picture of our gorgeous boy, as we were cuddling him before he was admitted.

After a sleepless night, the vets called and explained that Milo’s bloods were showing high levels of calcium. At this point they said to us that they were sure he did have cancer, however they were not sure what type it was. They further explained that they had carried out a much more in depth ultrasound, which showed up blood in Milo’s abdomen. Again, they were unsure why he had blood in his abdomen and have given him medicine to stop the bleeding.

We were told that the vet from the Queen Mother Animal Hospital, would continue to monitor Milo and would call us back in the evening, with a further update and plan moving forward. We were extremely fortunate to receive 2 calls a day about Milo, the vets are so busy but never failed to ring us when they said they would.

After what felt like we were waiting forever, we received a call on Saturday evening from the vet. They explained that they had still not been able to identify the type of cancer Milo had and due to this, they asked us if we would consider a biopsy.

During the conversation, the vet explained that the biopsy was a risk. They still did not know what would happen, due to the blood in Milo’s abdomen and were concerned that he would bleed too much. In our mind there was never a question in giving him every opportunity we could and therefore we agreed to the biopsy. Our thought process was that if they could find out what cancer he had from his samples, they tailor treatment to him. This would give him the best shot at recovery.

After another very restless night, we reached Sunday morning. As normal we received a call from the vet, who said that Milo had done well over night. She explained that his biopsy would be completed at 12.30pm. Crying down the phone, we asked her to give him a cuddle for us and to tell him we love him. She said of course she would do this ❤️. The vet explained that we would receive a call again at about 3.30pm.

Again, through the agony of clock watching, we waited patiently for our call. At 4pm, the phone range and it was vet. She explained that Milo had done brilliantly in surgery and the whole procedure had only taken 10 minutes.

It was established that both of his lymph nodes within this abdomen were very enlarged. One of the lymph nodes had distinctive, raised blood vessels that had more than likely been seeping the blood into his abdomen - they were unable to sample this node. However, had successfully removed 3 samples from the other node, which would enable them to sent the samples away for detailed tests and staining.

The vet then stated that they were so pleased with how Milo had coped with the biopsy, they would like to start his chemo that day. We jumped at the chance!! Anything to help our lovely boy. The chemo given was used to treat varying types of cancer, which included lymphoma. We were assured that whilst they did not have a definite diagnosis, this chemo would help to treat him in the short time, until his biopsies came back.

Monday morning’s phone call could not come soon enough. The vet explains that Milo has eaten something……….the relief. Although, this news seemed small in comparison to everything else over the previous 72 hours, it was exactly what we needed to hear. Milo was fighting and his buffet of chicken, hot dog and ham was definitely helping!! The chemo had gone well and the vets were monitoring him, to check that his stools were normalising. Then the words we were dreaming of were mentioned ‘we are looking at when we can discharge Milo, to come home’. The relief was overwhelming, to have our boy home with us, where he could rest and relax, was our goal.

It was explained to us, that if Milo continued to progress the way he had then the vets, would look to discharge him on Wednesday. There are no words to describe the relief of hearing this.

At this point the vet then says that they need to talk to us about money……

We had already decided, that we do whatever it took to support Milo’s recovery. Dogs are so much more than just pets, they are family and he certainly means everything to us! The vet explains that the cost for the treatment and his stay for 5 days had cost £4977. Luckily we do have insurance, up to £7000.

However the next part of the story, is why we have started a go fund me page;

Since Milo has been discharged, he continues to deal with his cancer like a true warrior. Please see the picture below, as proof of this!!!!

Following in from the extensive biopsies, we have since found out that his diagnosis is ‘B cell Lymphoma’, however Milo is actually an extremely rare case and the type of Lymphoma he has is also very rare.

It was discovered that he has Bence-Jones protein in his urine, which are normally associated with multiple myeloma. This is hardly ever seen in conjunction with his type of Lymphoma and he is essentially fascinating the vets at QMAH. And in the words of the vet, they are learning as they go along and will try everything they can for him, as this type of cancer is very rare in both animals and humans.

Moving forward, we were told that Milo would need 19 weeks of chemo, at a cost of £400 a session. This includes his chemo, blood work and urine testing at each visit. Milo’s treatment cannot simply be given to him orally at home and he has to be taken to the hospital once a week, to have chemo injected into his little paw.

Milo does have a 1 week break, at the end of every 4 sessions of chemo, this is included in the total 19 week treatment plan.

His chemo started on Sunday 20th March 2022 and to date he has had 3 chemo sessions. Here he is below, after receiving his most recent chemotherapy. He has bandages on both legs, as apparently Dachshunds are very difficult to inject into, as their veins in their legs are so small;

Our £7000 insurance limit has meant that up until last week, we had approximately £1500

left on our insurance. However last week we were told that Milo’s white blood cells were not strong enough that week to receive chemo.

The vets were recommending an enzyme be given to him, which should really hit the cancer and would therefore mitigate impact, due to the delay in him having chemo, whilst he was given a course of antibiotics to boost his white blood vessels. The cost of this enzyme, including the administration of it was £900-£1000, again there was no doubt in our mind and we agreed that he should have it.

As you can see from above we have approximately £500 left on our insurance and Milo still needs to have 12 weeks of chemo at £400 a time. This is essentially a cost of £3,600, which is a lot of money to us.

Milo means the world to us and as a family, his fight is our fight. We will do everything it takes to give him the treatment he needs but it’s no secret, that will personally struggle to raise the money on our own.

And so this is why fellow friends and followers we are asking for your help. Whilst asking for financial help is never something we would normally do, our boy deserves the best chance at life and so any help you can provide, would mean the world to us and Milo ❤️.

We are so proud that even when our boy is so unwell, he is helping our new generation of vets at the Royal Veterinary College. We have agreed that they can keep and monitor his samples, as they work to find the best treatments, to treat not only his specific cancer but others that will experience this in the future.

Milo continues to fight this evil disease like a true warrior and will always be our hero, no matter what…….

Thank you for reading our story and supporting our journey - love Amy and Milo xx