Help Lis, The Tongueless Corgi, Beat Cancer

Our journey is not smooth, but we are hopeful and not giving up! Our dog Lis is the goodest 14 years young Welsh Corgi boy who recently was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of his tongue. His x-rays didn’t show any lung metastasis, so he was cleared to go through the surgery as this is the only way to save his life with this type of very aggressive cancer. Sadly, the tumor was right in the middle of Lis’s tongue, so the doctor had to remove most of his tongue. But the healing of it didn’t go as expected. On the second day after the surgery, all the stitches broke and fully released the root piece of his tongue (that’s what was left after the surgery). This piece was initially stitched to the lower part of the jaw and made kind of a food highway to his throat, but due to the broken stitches and the inflammation, it was standing vertically (like a gate) and covering 70% of the entrance to the throat. Because of that Lis wasn't able to eat by himself and we were very concerned if he would be able to do so after the tongue heals. But our amazing boy is very determined and food motivated, and after "eating" through the feeding tube in his neck for a couple of weeks, he said "Enough!", and started eating by himself. No tongue, not the best disposition of what's left in the mouth (because of the broken stitches), and he still found the way!

Our amazing boy made lemonade out of those lemons, but our journey didn't end there. We received the histopathology report and while the tumor was resected with clean and good margins (which is very good), because of the high mitotic count of the cancer cells and the evidence of lymphatic invasion in one area our oncologist suggested 4 rounds of chemotherapy with Carboplatin to kill the small cells that might be left circulating in the system.

We spent a lot (all of our savings) to pay for the tests and very complex surgery and could really use your help with covering some costs and saving a little bit of money for the chemo treatments and oncology follow-ups as fighting cancer is not a cheap journey for sure.

You might think that Lis is too old for this shit, but we assure you that every vet who sees him never believes his age. We are sure that this is not the time to give up on him especially now when he does so well even despite all the obstacles on his way, and that he is “still standing better than he ever did. Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid.”

Back in pup times, Lis took part in various magazine photoshoots and even for the Queen Elizabeth Jubilee celebration promo, he victoriously travelled in Europe, swam in the Baltic Sea and then flew across the Atlantic Ocean with his humans to settle in Canada. This new experience is not as pleasant, but we are sure that with our help he will conquer every obstacle on his way, adjust to this new life and will be able to retire gracefully when he is really really old.

Your support means a lot to us - a share, a cup of coffee, a pizza equivalent, we’ll appreciate any help, really.

Keep Lis in your thoughts, please. This boy means a WORLD to us.

Lis, the goodest boy and his humans: Anna and Lena