Summary

We all have, or dream of having, that one soul dog. Lilly is mine. She is my heart, my best friend and truly one in a million.

At just 4 years old, my athletic, healthy, playful Great Dane was suddenly diagnosed with aggressive bone cancer.

Lilly has recently lost her entire front leg and shoulder to try to save her life. Now she needs chemotherapy & ongoing scans to give her the best chance of more time. Time thats worth having.

I did everything I could to protect my girl. She is insured with £8k lifetime cover, but her veterinary costs have well exhausted her insurance, my credit cards, and our savings. Her treatment is estimated to cost £33,274 in total. We have already spent £10,200 through our pet insurance, personal savings & credit cards. However we still need to come up another ~£23,000 to afford her chemotherapy & scans. To make matters worse, we are not even including the cost we will have to find for rehabilitation & physical therapy.

Asking for help is incredibly difficult for me. I have spent years helping other dogs. In the last five years, I have taken in nearly ~80 bullies, great danes or other large breeds who had nowhere else to go. I dedicated so many hours to their rehabilitation and turned my business into a non-profit rescue sanctuary. I payed for so many dogs in need out of my own pocket . Please know, I am not saying this because I expect anything in return. That's not who I am at all. I just want people to know that I would never ask for help like this unless I was truely desperate and had exhausted every possible option.

I’ve dedicated so much of my time and effort fighting for other dogs... and now it’s my own girl who needs me to fight for her to ensure she doesn't have to compromise on the medical care she needs.

If you can spare anything at all, please help me give my girl more time. And if you can’t donate, sharing her story or helping fundraise in person would mean just as much. I am hoping to arrange a couple of fun dog-related events where any funds raised will be dedicated to Lillys treatment

Please help us make this happen. We need more adventures. More memories. More time with our girl.

The Full Story (long version)

Nobody wakes up in the morning thinking, “Today I'm going to be told my young, healthy dog has cancer.” Unfortunately, that was our reality with Lilly.

Lilly is our beautiful 4 year-old, fully insured, Great Dane, and she truly is one in a million. In her physical prime — an extraordinary example of what a Great Dane can be. She is 47kg, incredibly fit, muscular, agile and driven to work, smashing every stereotype of the lazy, couch-potato Great Dane. She takes part in high-intensity sports like GRC, and was working towards her BH title in IGP. Her athletism, jumping and training aren't just things Lilly can do - they're a huge part of what makes Lilly that one in a million.

Then, almost overnight, everything changed.

During a routine vet appointment for a injury to her leg, by chance, we discovered a tumour in Lilly’s front leg on her X-rays, it was suspected to be osteosarcoma — an extremely aggressive malignant form of bone cancer. There were no symptoms.

Thankfully, Lilly is fully insured for veterinary treatment up to £8000 per year and we could have her immediate referred to an oncology specialist.

Lilly’s initial full body CT scans showed no visible evidence that the cancer had spread to her lungs or other organs. However her entire left front leg and shoulder blade had to be amputated right away. This gave us hope and the opportunity to fight for more time with her.

Why we're asking for help.

The initial investigations, CT scans specialist cancer staging and major surgeries have cost us £10,200, this well exceeds her £8k annual insurance, and we are just at the start of her journey.

Lilly needs six rounds of carboplatin chemotherapy every 3 weeks starting as soon as her amputation wounds have healed (we have an appointment on the 24th of Sep to confirm they are good to go). Each round of carboplatin costs £1700 every 3 weeks. Alongside blood tests and two repeat cancer staging CT scans after round 3 and round 6, each costing £2500-3000. After this, we will start metronomic cyclophosphamide and a diuretic, we hope this will be £300 per month for 12-18 months. If possible, we hope to check if Lilly is a suitable candidate for a custom prosthetic front limb to help her walk and reduce her heavy weight on her remaining front leg. We assume this will cost £2,000-£2500 based on the pricing on their website- but it may cost more because she is a giant/heavy breed.

The numbers are eye watering. Her care is going to cost £33,274 in total. We have already spent £10,200 through our pet insurance, personal savings & credit cards. However we still need to come up another £23,000 to afford her chemotherapy & regular cancer screenings. To make matters worse, we have not even taken into consideration any costs for rehabilitation or physical therapy needed for her to learn to walk again.

Lilly's pet insurance renews at the end of March, when another £8,000 of cover becomes available. Not only is this no where near enough to cover the costs of her treatment... but Osteosarcoma is so aggressive, that without treatment starting now, we cannot expect her to be here in 6 months.

So we're doing something we genuinely never imagined we would have to do and asking for help.

We've set Lilly's fundraiser at £20,000. Although we have exhausted our financial means, we will still continue paying everything we reasonably and possibly can ourselves, claiming every penny of insurance towards her treatment and any money we have will go towards her care. I plan to fundraise in person too. Perhaps arranging some fun dog training or give-it-a-go dog sport events on site to raise funds for lilly's treatment. If anyone has any ideas for things I could do to raise money for her, I would truely appreciate any suggestions or ideas.

We don't expect other people to carry the responsibility of her treatment for us. But if enough people can spare even a few pounds, collectively it could make an enormous difference to what we're able to give her.

At only 4 years old, while she's still happy, strong and fighting, we're going to give her every reasonable chance we possibly can.

We know there are no guarantees with osteosarcoma. We're just trying to give her more time - and make sure that time is worth having and gives her the best quality life we can possibly give.

More time to recover.

More time to learn how to run again.

More adventures.

More goofy Great Dane moments.

More time being Lilly. ❤️

If you can donate anything at all, thank you. And if you can't, sharing Lilly's fundraiser could help us just as much.

We'll keep everyone supporting Lilly updated throughout her chemotherapy, recovery and rehabilitation so you can follow our girl every step of the way.

Thank you for reading this ridiculously long story and helping us fight for more time with my baby, my pride and joy, Lilly. ❤️