Todd's Fight Against Cancer

My world completely shattered that day. I immediately scheduled an appointment with an oncologist to have the tumor and the affected anal gland removed. I didnt have much money but luckily was able to get enough of a limit on care credit to get the surgery done. The surgery was a success and for a few months I could breath again. But this awful nightmare of a cancer is highly malignant and often aggressive. At his 6 month re-check they found recurrence of the tumor and suspected spread to his sublumbar lymphnodes since they were a little swolen. Another surgery would have been too risky and much more invasive than the last, but also impossibly expensive and not likely to be curative. 

So I had to make the gut wrenching decision to opt out of another surgery and just hope for the best.

Since then he had been doing seemingly well up until recently.  Within a month the tumor has grown exponentially and he has developed hypercalcemia, which I've been told is a sign of late stage, rapid decline. Our vet put him on prednisone to mitigate the damage hypercalcemia could do to his kidneys. After a physical exam he was concerned that his lymphnodes could begin to push in on his colon causing life threatening obstipation. He gave us a prognosis of about 3 months without intervention. Thats when I learned about IMRT radiotherapy. 

It has a high efficacy rate with this kind of cancer in late stages. It would decrease the size of the tumor and lymphnodes and could increase his lifespan up to a year or more!  But the catch is, it is astronomically expensive for someone in my position. On average it can range between 8,000-10,000 dollars, which is just so far beyond the realm of possibility for me.

I've never been one to ask for help, and I'm especially uncomfortable with asking for money from strangers. But this dog is my family. He means everything to me and i cant give up on him. Ive seen other people have incredible success with crowd funding, so i figure it couldn't hurt to try. I have zero social media following or know-how, so I'm just putting this out there into the void, and praying for a miracle. 

Right now he still looks very healthy for his age, he still has energy, and plays and loves food. He still very much himself. One of the darkest parts about this whole situation is  that I'm going to have to make the call to have him euthanized while he's still in good spirits like he us now. He's not going be an old graying, weak and withered dog who looks like he's dying of cancer and needs to be mercifully put out of his misery. Eventually he just isn't going to be able to poop anymore. Mentally, he wont be ready to go. I cant even picture what that day is going to be like. Ive never dreaded anything more.

So to you kind stranger, if you are reading this, I thank you for taking the time to do so ( im sorry, I know this ended up being a novel) I  ask, if you are willing and able to make a donation, whether big or small, it would make a significantly positive impact on our lives, and be profoundly appreciated beyond measure. All donations will go towards Todds life-saving radiotherapy and follow up scans and bloodwork. Like I said, i don't have a social media following so if you aren't able to donate that is perfectly fine and understandable, but if you would please consider sharing our story, that could be just as valuable.

Thank you so much and God bless❤❤❤