Link To Story: What Happened To Wallie

On December 16th, our entire lives stopped when we took Wallie to get a CT scan and they found metastasis cancer in his lungs and stomach.

Wallie was our everything. He wasn’t just a dog, he was our best friend, our family, our soul dog.

If you’ve followed his journey online, you already know how much love he brought into the world. He had so many people rooting for him, supporting him, and sending prayers. We’re truly grateful for every single one of you.

We dropped everything, including work, to focus on him and give him the care he deserved. We did what any loving pet parent would do and spent every single second of every day with him the past month.

We advocated for him.. We stayed up late reading studies and trying to find answers.. We were willing to do absolutely anything for him.. And we did...

One of the hardest parts of this journey wasn’t just the diagnosis, it was how quickly so many doctors seemed to give up on him because of the severity of his condition... We were repeatedly told to “think about his quality of life,” which we did. But we weren’t ready to accept that as the only answer. We wanted to at least try. We wanted to believe Wallie still had a chance.

That’s when we discovered the EGFR vaccine research led by a Yale professor — and for the first time, we felt something we hadn’t felt in weeks...

HOPE.

We dove into the research. We watched the webinars. We joined communities of pet parents who shared their experiences and vouched for the vaccine giving their dogs more time. We made it our mission to get access to it. We tried everything we could to make it happen. But due to the holidays and delays, time wasn’t on our side. Wallie’s condition continued to decline.

On January 11th, we had to make a very heartbreaking decision. Wallie had a restless night. We got ready to head to the ER in the morning (where he had been admitted a few times due to his seizures) and gave them a call to give them a heads up. However, we were met with rejection. We asked to just get him examined to see if any fluid was in his lungs or stomach, but they were adamant there was nothing they could do for him anymore given his diagnosis. We were coldly and bluntly told they couldn’t help with anything but we could bring him in so they could help put him down…

We understand medical limitations, but to be turned away when we were simply trying to help our boy felt devastating. In that moment, it truly felt like nobody wanted to help him, except us... we decided to do an at home euthanasia and filled the room with his favorite people and toys. We let him have the best last day and finally put him to rest.

This GoFundMe is to honor Wallie and the love he brought into our lives and to help us recover from the unexpected expenses we took on while trying to save him and keep him comfortable during his last moments.

These expenses include CT scan, biopsy, X-rays, emergency vet visits, an overnight hospital stay, oxygen chamber support, medications, fluids, and ongoing care to keep him stable and comfortable.

We also want to donate 25% of all funds raised to the Canine Cancer Alliance , an organization supporting the development of the EGFR vaccine for dogs battling cancers like osteosarcoma and hemangiosarcoma.

During Wallie’s diagnosis, when most options felt like dead ends and so many people dismissed the possibility of hope, the EGFR vaccine research was the first thing that gave us something to hold onto. It gave us a reason to keep advocating. It gave us a reason to keep trying.

And because of that hope, we were able to spend one last Christmas, one last New Year, and a few more meaningful days with Wallie — time we will cherish for the rest of our lives. Even though we couldn’t get the vaccine in time, we want to keep pushing this forward so other dogs have a better chance than we did.

We appreciate any donations and completely understand if you can’t. We’re truly grateful you took the time to listen and help share Wallie’s journey. Thank you to everyone who messaged us and shared stories about your pets with us as well.

Love,

Ken, Jen, & Emmie