Rumples Chemo Fund

Randy Wong-Westbrooke is organizing this fundraiser.

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I write this today on the one-year anniversary of Rumpelstiltskin aka Rumples coming into my life. Today October 9th is his Gotchya Day! My whole world has changed because of this little guy. We don't know much about his past, but the sweet fluffball arrived at Hopalong Animal Rescue, had a spiffy vacation at the Jessica Holt and Gino Belleci residence, and then made his way into my family.

Rumples has taught me so much this past year. He's shown me how not just to care for him, but how in order to do so, I really need to take care of myself too. I had been looking for a dog who could be my emotional support animal and I was so excited when Jessica and Gino told me that he'd be the perfect doggo to step into that role. If he could be held like a baby the rest of his days he'd be a happy camper. His calm demeanor can permeate a room and he listens to me and helps me ground like no other. His bossiness comes out when he's hungry or when you've stopped petting him for like two seconds and he gives you the largest stink eye. He gets to enjoy mountains of fluff of blankets and beds and his Ron Swanson approved meat-based treats. He knows when you're trying to sneak in the peanut butter or sweet potato. He was quick to claim my room as "His Room" and my bed as "His Bed". I wouldn't expect less from the golden Mr. Princess.

It was always the plan to bring Rumples along with me to grad school. He's here with me in Los Angeles as I start pursuing my MFA at UCLA. He's just been approved to come to class with me now as my Emotional Support Animal and I'm so happy I'll get to keep him by my side often. But just a couple of weeks before we moved down here we got some scary news.

While I was away from home for two weeks in August, my dad was giving me updates on how he was doing. At first we thought he just was a little blue from missing his human, but he continued to be lethargic, he was hardly eating, and everything about him changed. I got home from my flight from New York at 1am and when I went to his side, expecting him to be happy to see me, he expressed no interest in me. I was so scared and confused. The next morning I called all of the emergency vets and most of them were booked. But PETS Referral Center said I could come. I'd have to wait, but there would be a chance that Rumples could be seen that day. I waited for hours. While I waited and was giving him a full body massage I noticed he had large lumps on his neck. I updated the front desk with my discovery and they took note. Rumples was triaged and declared stable and we were told to go home and come back in a few hours. It was near 10 o'clock at night when I finally heard the word "cancer".

The vets at this center handled giving me this news and giving me the time and space to process so gracefully and with such care. I'm so grateful for all of the comfort and encouragement they gave me that day and the following days as we went through several expensive tests to figure out exactly what kind of cancer Rumples was facing. Fortunately, after days of wondering and waiting, we learned that he has one of the most common kinds of lymphoma and it's the less severe kind. That means he's more likely to respond to chemotherapy and his prognosis will be longer.

We were presented with the choice to decide to go through with chemotherapy or only continue with palliative care until he was ready to say goodbye. I talked with him and listened to him and I saw that he wanted to fight. I could sense he still had so much more life and spunk in him and I was right. Rumples is currently in Round 2 of his CHOP Chemotherapy Treatment and is doing so well. The PETS Referral Center and VCA Hospital have been so generous in their support of making sure the treatment we started in the Bay Area could seamlessly continue at the Veterinary Cancer Group here in Los Angeles. Overall, each session can range from $150-$750 a week until the end of December. This will add up to be around $8000+.

I am so happy I adopted Rumples and am able to give him as happy of a life as I can give the senior pup. We never know when our health is going to take a sharp turn and it's so scary when you feel helpless with your fuzzy loved ones and they can't tell you what's wrong. As bittersweet as it is to share this news on his Gotchya Day, I want to honor my commitment to him to love and care for him by sharing our story. I'm coming here through this fund to reach out to my community for support in this challenging time and transition. If you have the means to provide a monetary donation, or have words to share, or any other forms of energy to send our way, we will be so grateful for your connection.