Donation protected
Dear friends and family; we've found ourselves in the difficult position of needing to reach out for support. Many of you know or have seen pictures of our pup Roxy.. She is our best friend, our fur-kid, and family member. We've been so blessed to have spent over a decade with this highly driven, intelligent, and perceptive Belgian Malinois, and the bond we've formed with her over this time is like no other.
In early September we noticed the side of Roxy's face swelling up. Our fears were confirmed with a CT imaging scan and a biopsy; the mass that was growing around the back of her jaw, out of her cheek, and up against her eye socket was malignant, still growing, and had a high possibility of cancer cells traveling into her lymph nodes and the rest of her body.
The emotional toll of this news was devastating - if untreated we may only have a couple more months left with her. From here we were faced with some of the toughest decisions we've had to make, along with huge vet bills for scans, consults, biopsies, etc.. and this was still just diagnostic. We decided to seek treatment with a radiologist at one of the few specialty veterinary hospitals offering the kind of technology and treatment that could help her. Which meant another CT scan, an ultrasound of her other organs (which thankfully look good!), a lymph node biopsy, and finally 3 rounds of aggressive stereotactic radiation therapy.
She received her final round of high-intensity radiation Monday, October 28th, and has a follow up appointment in two weeks to see how the mass and lymph nodes are responding, and then most likely we're on to chemotherapy to kill off the remaining cancer cells.
Needless to say, she is absolutely worth it to us. Spending all these years with Roxy has been the greatest gift we ever could have imagined. She managed to reach our hearts like nothing else in this world. She is more than family; she's our rock, our foundation. She inspires us and teaches us how to seek out joy and playfulness when the world seems so cold and hopeless sometimes. We grew up with her through our most formative years together, getting her as naive high school kids, going through college, entering adulthood. She's been there for us, the most loyal and devoted companion, every step of the way. Now it’s our time to be there for her and give her every fighting chance to beat this thing and have the highest quality of life throughout her golden years.
She'll be 12 years old on January 5th, and otherwise still the strong, playful, healthy girl she always has been. She still swims, leaps, climbs, fetches – all the incredible things that a Malinois can do with such ease. Prognosis is thankfully looking good.
Its tough to ask this of you, but whatever you can spare would help us out tremendously, even if its just a share. We've been maxing out our credit cards and depleting all of our savings, and without working much (driving back and forth to a vet 2 hours away, for many subsequent days), the financial burden is getting very real. By no means are we expecting to reach our goal here, but this is in the ballpark of what we're up against so far, before any thought of chemo.
We thank you all so much for continually being here and offering us a sense of community and friendship throughout this difficult time. Our debt, our gratitude, and love for you all is so very real. As always, if you ever need an extra hand or an empathetic ear, we are always here! Thank you so much. <3
In early September we noticed the side of Roxy's face swelling up. Our fears were confirmed with a CT imaging scan and a biopsy; the mass that was growing around the back of her jaw, out of her cheek, and up against her eye socket was malignant, still growing, and had a high possibility of cancer cells traveling into her lymph nodes and the rest of her body.
The emotional toll of this news was devastating - if untreated we may only have a couple more months left with her. From here we were faced with some of the toughest decisions we've had to make, along with huge vet bills for scans, consults, biopsies, etc.. and this was still just diagnostic. We decided to seek treatment with a radiologist at one of the few specialty veterinary hospitals offering the kind of technology and treatment that could help her. Which meant another CT scan, an ultrasound of her other organs (which thankfully look good!), a lymph node biopsy, and finally 3 rounds of aggressive stereotactic radiation therapy.
She received her final round of high-intensity radiation Monday, October 28th, and has a follow up appointment in two weeks to see how the mass and lymph nodes are responding, and then most likely we're on to chemotherapy to kill off the remaining cancer cells.
Needless to say, she is absolutely worth it to us. Spending all these years with Roxy has been the greatest gift we ever could have imagined. She managed to reach our hearts like nothing else in this world. She is more than family; she's our rock, our foundation. She inspires us and teaches us how to seek out joy and playfulness when the world seems so cold and hopeless sometimes. We grew up with her through our most formative years together, getting her as naive high school kids, going through college, entering adulthood. She's been there for us, the most loyal and devoted companion, every step of the way. Now it’s our time to be there for her and give her every fighting chance to beat this thing and have the highest quality of life throughout her golden years.
She'll be 12 years old on January 5th, and otherwise still the strong, playful, healthy girl she always has been. She still swims, leaps, climbs, fetches – all the incredible things that a Malinois can do with such ease. Prognosis is thankfully looking good.
Its tough to ask this of you, but whatever you can spare would help us out tremendously, even if its just a share. We've been maxing out our credit cards and depleting all of our savings, and without working much (driving back and forth to a vet 2 hours away, for many subsequent days), the financial burden is getting very real. By no means are we expecting to reach our goal here, but this is in the ballpark of what we're up against so far, before any thought of chemo.
We thank you all so much for continually being here and offering us a sense of community and friendship throughout this difficult time. Our debt, our gratitude, and love for you all is so very real. As always, if you ever need an extra hand or an empathetic ear, we are always here! Thank you so much. <3
Co-organizers (2)
Kenny Hatt
Organizer
Stroudsburg, PA
Brittney Coleman
Co-organizer