Medical For Rue

Hi I’m Evan. I am asking for your support to help cover medical expenses for veteranarian bills for Rue.

Rue (Kendall Rue Rosemary as named by Sydney) has a large mass on her rear leg that has grown significantly over the past year and now requires medical treatment to improve her quality of life. Rue is a 5 year old collie/australian mix. Her favourite things to do are running beside my bike, beach time, swimming, paddle boarding, rolling in snow and being anywhere with me. She smiles anytime she’s asked and has never been able to control her excitement for life.

Our family has experienced significant life changing circumstances over the past 3 years leaving me unable to currently provide her with the care she needs. While I’m hopeful her situation and the mass on her leg itself is non cancerous and can be safely removed, we are in need of funding to seek veterinary care, diagnosis and potentially surgery to remove it.

A few years ago, in 2017 and again in 2020, I lost both of my Nova Scotia Duck Tollers, Beckett and Rex to canine cancer.

First Rex, was diagnosed in 2013 with squamous cell carcinoma- whose prognosis was 2-3 months. However, at the time, under different life circumstances, I was able to provide him with treatment, which gave us 4 extra years together.

During that time, my daughter and I became close with the team at the Animal Cancer Center at the University of Guelph. We dedicated much of our free time to raising money for Pet Trust Fund helping support efforts to further animal cancer research and treatments, Sydney with her lemonade stands and myself running (how I actually started running). With help from friends and family, we raised several hundred dollars and I ran my first 5k at the University of Guelph Annual Dog Jog with Beckett supporting the Ontario Veterinary College- Mona Campbell Centre For Animal Cancer. We continued our support in the following years and as Rex’s health improved, we joined the OVC Animal Cancer team at the University of Guelph for several events including The Smiling Blues Skies Walk to End Canine Cancer.

Through Rex’s treatment and secondary cancer in 2015, he became a donor for the Institute for Comparative Cancer Investigation through the program’s Companion Animal Tumour Sample Bank (CATSB) located at the University of Guelph. The CATSB is a biorepository of specimens from naturally occurring cancers in companion animals, primarily dogs and cats. The most prevalent types of cancers in the CATSB are: hemangiosarcoma, osteosarcoma, mast cell tumours, lymphoma and soft tissue sarcoma. With client consent, samples are collected from patients of the Ontario Veterinary College Health Sciences Centre and the Mona Campbell Centre for Animal Cancer. CATSB's objective is to facilitate basic, translational, and comparative cancer research, thereby advancing the understanding of cancer and improving treatment options to benefit both companion animal and human cancer patients.

Sadly, again in 2020, my other Duck Toller, Beckett was diagnosed with late stage osteosarcoma in his front leg. With the help of friends at the Animal Cancer Center, I made the painstaking decision to say my goodbye to Beckett a short time later.

Asking for help from others is not something I’m able to do easily. But I love Rue more than I care about my own pride, how I’m viewed or what anyone thinks about me.

I’m hopeful that some of the goodness we’ve put out into the universe has helped or inspired others and that Beckett and Rex’s lives helped in some small way the work to advance animal medicine.

My pets, Rue and Paco, Beckett and Rex have been my best friends, my reason for everyday on the hardest days, always beside me- even as I write this message.

Please consider, only if you are able, to make a small donation to my efforts to help Rue get better and feeling more like herself so we can continue our adventure together. No amount of time is ever enough time but we really need a little more and we really need help getting there.

thank you

Evan