Support River's Cancer Treatment

We are raising money to help save our dog River's life as she urgently needs life-saving surgery. This sweet girl had a rough start to life as a stray found on the streets of Detroit in 2016. We adopted her the month after she was rescued, and she has been the most amazing family dog ever since. Sadly, she has been dealt a poor liver and has been battling cancer on and off since 2021.

In March 2021, right after turning 5, River got very sick, and we discovered she had a massive tumor growing on her liver. By the time she started showing symptoms, the cancer was already massive, and we needed to get it removed, or we would have lost her then. We were devastated, and we fought so hard to get her the help she needed. Her surgery was a success, without complications, and she went back to her healthy, happy self. We followed up every 4 months for the first year, then every 6 months for the second year. Her very last follow-up appointment with oncology was at the 2-year mark; this is when they noticed something once again on her liver.

In November 2023, it was confirmed that Rivers's liver cancer had returned, and it was once again hepatocellular carcinoma. We were devastated, but there was good news: Michigan State University was doing a clinical trial with high-dose radiation for her exact type of liver cancer. River underwent three high doses of radiation the week before Christmas in 2023. I drove our girl every other day, two hours each way, to get her this treatment. We had lots of side effects from the radiation, but our girl was doing great. In June 2024, we found out her tumor had already shrunk 35%! We were so excited that the treatment worked and hoped it would continue to shrink and stop growing.

Sadly, at the start of October, she started throwing up again. Then, a week later, we noticed the yellow tint to her eyes. Our sweet girl, who has fought so hard over the last month and was doing so well, is now having complications from her cancer once again, and without treatment, we will have to say goodbye.

With the exception of the tumor and the life-threatening complications it is now causing from getting so big, River is in excellent health. When River first had cancer, it was in her left lobes; those lobes have regrown and are now normal and healthy. It is her right lobes that have the cancer this time around. Her cancer can be entirely removed again and allow her to live out the rest of her years as a healthy, happy dog. Her tumor is causing life-threatening symptoms, including jaundice and pressure on her primal vein, which is restricting blood flow from her liver to her intestines.

This sweet girl still has a healthy appetite and wants to play. Her family, including three children (11, 9, and 5), loves her. River means the world to us, and we just cannot give up on her without trying. She is so healthy and so good. Despite all that she has been through, this sweet girl still goes to every vet appointment, wagging her tail.

Sadly, our family cannot afford the large vet bills that can save her life. After Rivers's first surgery in 2021, my husband went into end-stage heart failure. He underwent open heart surgery and had an LVAD implanted in the beginning of 2022, but this has caused him to be unable to work. In 2019 when I was 6 months pregnant with our youngest and my husband ended up in the cardiac ICU for a week, River never left my side. When my husband lost his Grandma to cancer in 2020, River stayed by his side for weeks. River is always there when we need a friend or a hug. Anyone who meets River, even those who are not fans of her breed, absolutely loves her as she is the biggest sweetheart. River means the world to him, myself, and our three kids. Our family has dealt with and overcome so much the past few years; we will keep fighting no matter what.

Any help to save our girl would be greatly appreciated.