Higgins is our six-year-old Boxer who, along with his Boxer brother Goose, are the lights of our lives. He is the softest (seriously, everyone tells me how soft his fur is), cuddliest, mischievous doggo, and we love him dearly. In June, Higgins was diagnosed with a mast cell tumor on one of his feet.

We opted to have the tumor surgically removed right away, as it was rapidly growing in a location on his foot where getting adequate margins was already a concern.

Higgins' surgery went well but a few hours after coming home we noticed his toes were very swollen. His sutures were removed by our vet the next morning and he went through three and a half weeks of bandage changes every 3-5 days while the incision healed on its own.

During that time, we received the pathology/histology report of the mass - it was determined to be a low grade 2 mast cell tumor and unfortunately the surgeon wasn't able to get clean margins on one side and the deep tissue area. We had a consultation with an oncologist who has recommended radiation therapy to attack the remaining cancer cells in his foot. This treatment has a 95% success rate of the cancer not returning to the area after one year and a 90% success rate after three years. The estimate for radiation treatment is $5,000.

Because Higgins is a Boxer and he has some pre-existing issues: enlarged heart, scar tissue on his lungs from pneumonia when he was a wee pupper, and ideopathic head bobbing syndrome (he's a particularly special guy) we have had many staging tests done to make sure he is a good candidate to go through the 18-20 days of radiation, where he will need to be under a light anesthesia every day. Good news: all of those tests have concluded we have a green light for radiation. His heart and lungs look good after xrays. The abdominal ultrasound showed no signs of the cancer spreading to his organs. And finally, a fine needle aspiration of the lymphnode on his affected leg shows no cancer cells.

The dollars from this fundraiser will go towards the $5,000 for his radiation treatment. We have spent over $2,000 on the surgery and subsequent follow up treatments, and myriads of tests.

We deeply appreciate any amount you are able to donate.