
Miss Willow’s ongoing Cancer Costs
Donation protected
Hi my name is Anne and I’ve had dogs all my life. I grew up with Afghan Hounds all had been Re-homed but one.
Willow is my 5th Afghan Hound, she was about 1 year old when her prior owner could no longer care for her. She was the first dog who I felt bad when I left with her, she had been well cared for and truly loved.

In the past I had only had male dogs and Willow was the first girl. She is the sweetest, silliest and best travel dog.
She is now about 8 years old.
Starting back in September, she became very sick in the middle of the night. We took her to the vets, she had 105 fever, high white blood cell count. Was put on antibiotics and other meds and she seemed to get better. After about 3 or 4 days, really sick over night so back to the vets. This time we were told her spleen was enlarged and the bloodwork showed no white blood cells, low platelets.

off to the emergency hospital and she was taken in as a triage case. I really did not think she was going to make it.
Before they will work on your dog, they give you an estimate with a high and low cost. We had to pay upfront $2,300 and was hopeful they would be able to figure out what was causing her to be so sick. After staying 3 days, they still could not figure out why she was so sick. Put her on more meds and let us take her home. My poor baby was so weak, we had to carry on and off the bed, up and down the stairs so she could relieve herself. Every few hours she needed to go outside, she was so weak. After about 5 days she could start walking and getting up and down the stairs.

Again, as soon as she finished the meds, she would get sick again. This time I could see her starting to decline again so off to the Emergency Hospital again. This visit was $2,800 and still no idea what could be causing her to get so sick.
Finally the hospital had an internist took a look at her, and finally someone had an idea what it might be. The doctor had an idea it might be Multiple myeloma.
Multiple myeloma is a rare condition in dogs that can be rewarding to treat, with most dogs tolerating treatment well, though it is rarely cured and relapse is expected in most patients.
So $8,000 later we now know what was making her so sick. Because multiple myeloma is very rare and makes up less than 1% of all cancers in dogs, so it may not be the first suspected cause of your dog’s symptoms.

Willow has done great on the current medications Melphalan and prednisone. She has to go back regularly to get bloodwork tested and depending what the oncologist sees, it’s been every 2 to 3 weeks. Each visit with bloodwork done is $500 - $600. The monthly cost of the chemotherapy medication is $178 a month.
I have borrowed from friends and close to maxing our credit cards. And I am not sure how much more I can handle without help.
Multiple myeloma is rarely cured, and dogs who achieve remission are expected to relapse. Fortunately, multiple myeloma is manageable so long as your dog is checked by their veterinarian often. The oncologist said 1 to 3 years.
I am asking you to please share this story with everyone you know, and at this point every little bit will help.
Please help keep Willow being silly Willow!
Organizer

Anne Sanchez
Organizer
Miami, FL