In Honor of Bodie Lee:

From Kathryn, Bodie’s mom:

On Thanksgiving Eve, I was in Pennsylvania for the holiday visiting and preparing to go wedding dress shopping with my family on the east coast. Ronnie was planning to join me from Oregon first thing Friday morning to go to his first Buffalo Bills game in NY. The tickets were my gift for his birthday, and if you know Ronnie, it’s been a lifelong dream to attend a Bills game.

For the first time in our lives, we were in a place to be able to afford the trip of a lifetime. Ronnie often half-jokingly says the only thing he cares about are the Bills, and our dogs. This game turned out to be a landslide Bills win in the snow, and a record game for Josh Allen, everything he had dreamed of seeing.

In the weeks leading up to our trip our 3 year old dog Bodie had been acting off. Intermittent moments of not wanting to eat, and not having as much energy as normal. We took him to the vet just to make sure nothing was wrong. We had bloodwork done, and everything came back normal, and the vet said as far as they could tell he was a healthy, happy, puppy.

Before Ronnie left, we decided to get a second opinion. After another round of uneventful tests, they decided to do an X-ray to rule out a blockage, or anything else that might be causing an internal issue. Because of the holiday our vet was closed, so they both spent hours in the emergency room waiting for results. Because he was young, and otherwise in great health, the doctors were not expecting to find anything out of the ordinary. That’s when they discovered a large mass believed to be growing on his spleen, which needed to be addressed immediately. Ronnie rushed him to another emergency room, which was better equipped to perform surgery. At this point, we weren’t sure he was going to make it through the night. I decided to fly home, hoping to see my baby again, and Ronnie canceled his trip. We tried to sell the Bills tickets, but ultimately ended up giving them away to a local Bills fan. Ronnie did it without question, as sometimes you have to pick your home team over your “home team”.

The X-rays were misleading. Once the operation was underway it revealed that the mass was not on his spleen, and was then believed to be on Bodie’s liver. This was beyond the scope of the surgeon, so he was stitched up and Ronnie rushed him to DoveLewis. He underwent a blood transfusion and another surgery, where it was discovered the mass was actually on his kidney. The surgery required removal of his entire kidney due to the size of the mass.

He was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer that typically impacts dogs under the age of 1, which made his prognosis significantly worse. Over the course of the next month, there were several more hours of emergency room visits, and phone calls with the triage team at DoveLewis.

Despite ups and downs, we were able to celebrate Christmas and New Years as a family. On New Year’s Day though, he started displaying symptoms again. After consulting with his doctors, we decided to bring him back for a check up. We had an appointment scheduled with the oncologist the next week, so we were hoping there would be a way to keep him comfortable until we could learn what further treatment would look like. During that appointment, they did a precautionary scan. The doctor told us that there were multiple abnormal growths in his abdomen. At this point, we were told it would be a day by day prognosis, and he was prescribed additional medication. We spent the next day taking him to all of his favorite places, and doing our best to stay positive. We had hoped to have a celebration for him with our friends over the weekend, but his health continued to decline, as his body was losing the battle. Sadly, we had to make the hardest choice of all…to say “goodbye for now” to our sweet boy, and end his suffering.

Bodie Lee was a fighter, like his namesake, the late Jon Huber(“Brodie Lee”). His mother was in a kill shelter and only spared when it was learned she was pregnant. Ronnie saw one picture of him and knew he was ours, without a doubt. We applied for his rescue adoption that day. He wasn’t “supposed” to be born, he wasn’t “supposed” to be able to survive with this cancer from infancy. We got him at 8 weeks and he’s been brave for us every day since.

As some of you know, we also lost our 5 year old pug 2 years ago very unexpectedly.

Both of these medical emergencies have been costly, not just financially, but even more so emotionally. We did everything we could to prolong his life, and were prepared to do whatever it would take to allow him to live a long and healthy life. Our dogs are our world. We’re those people.

To turn our heartache into a positive, we’re starting this GoFundMe to make a donation in Bodie's name to DoveLewis, to help animals in need. Help us make a positive difference in the lives of animals, the people that love them, and to celebrate our Bodie Lee. Even if you can’t donate, we’d be grateful if you could share to spread the word. And if your situation allows, please consider adopting a rescue. We don’t deserve them, but they deserve the world.