The Most Amazing Day (Faith in Humanity Restored)

Hello Simply Folks,

I have been absent from here for a little while due to some health complications from a bad concussion and have had a hard time looking at a computer screen.

Today has been honestly one of the best days of my life, and I thought I would share it with you all. I will warn you, this story will start with sadness, but by the end, it should leave a smile on your face.

We are dog owners, I have shared photos of my 3 boys on here in the past. Our 3 year old Vizsla "Gunner" has been having trouble with his teeth over the past few months, and developed a bump around some teeth on his upper jaw. Both us and vet believed it was an abcess tooth/teeth, and he went in to have the "bad" teeth removed (2 to be exact). However, a few weeks went by, and the bump didn't go away, and Gunner started getting picky about eating again. So, we took him back to the vet, and they put him under for another surgery to discover that the bump was a mass...this mass was later biopsied and he was diagnosed with a rare form of fibrosarcoma cancer. We were then referred to Veterinary Specialists of North Texas to take the next steps...after lots of tests and lots of $$$$, it was determined that our Gunner would need a partial mandibulectomy to remove a section of his jaw and hopefully ALL of this damn tumor. They are pretty uncertain if they can get it all, which means he will need to go through radiation and chemo following his surgery. Our first thoughts were obviously heartbreak and worry for our boy, but also, how in the hell are we going to pay for this. I'm a blue collar guy who gets by with what I make, but, I am by no means a rich man...and let me tell you, those quotes they gave to me for all of these procedures and treatments are much more expensive than I could ever imagine.

My Fiance works at a dog daycare, and one of her clients who has had 2 dogs go through bone cancer treatments of which my Fiance took care of, this kind woman started a GoFundMe page to give our Gunner a chance. This GoFundMe was posted this Monday 10-8 and as of this morning we had about $500 in donations from friends and family. Here comes the amazing part...a Twitter page called WeRateDogs (@dog_rates) has 7.5 MILLION followers. These amazing people got a hold of our fundraiser, and needless to say, our donations went from $500 to over $15,000 in about 4 hours!!! I could never imagine feeling this much hope and joy in such a dark time in my life, complete strangers completely changed by life in a matter of hours. I have been crying tears of joy and happiness all day...I was once a pessimistic man, my outlook on life has completely changed.:):):):):):):)

The cancer specialists have given Gunner pretty good odds to live the rest of his life so long as his surgery this Thursday goes well and the treatments that follow. We are going to fight this so long as it doesn't impact his quality of life negatively. If your interested in seeing future updates on his fight with cancer, the lovely woman who started this campaign will continue to update the Fundraiser page throughout the process.


Cheers!
Mike and Kim

https://twitter.com/dog_rates/status...16834549755904

Mike, that is great news and will hopefully help Gunner fight and win this battle with cancer. People are constantly astounding me and perhaps you and Kim too!! :D
Pat

We will be gunning for Gunner, we wish you all the best, give him a big hug on our behalf and kep us posted with progres

there are still nice people out there... a lot of em right here on this forum - very happy for you hope it all goes well

Well that explains why I didn’t see an end of contest pic of your flowerhorn! So sorry to hear about Gunner. You started the “Mans Best Friend” thread which was such a great idea. Hope you and your best friend make a full recovery!
Patty

Mike,

Sorry to hear of all.the troubles you have been having. :(

That is awesome news though on the crowd sourcing success and on the prognosis for gunner. I hope things continue to look up. Its refreshing seeing people coming together to help others like this.

take it easy with that concussion!
al

Great story with a happy ending Mike . Thank you for sharing it with us here .

Thanks for the kind words everyone, I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. The fish are all doing great, flowerhorn is HUGE, and It would seem most of my Giant Blues are females..I've had 4 of them lay eggs for my big Alenquer. Once things settle down, I might try to put a pair in a 20g and see what happens.

My last update on everything was on this thread, so I figured I'd toss another one in since I've found some time to escape for a little bit for anyone who cares.

-Gunner is doing pretty well considering the circumstances, he is on his last few days of radiation camp, which was very hard (not just on him, but us as well)...the treatment consisted of 6 weeks, 5 days a week, we have to drop him off before work and pick him up afterwards. This on top of working full-time, taking care of our other animals, and trying to find time for ourselves...I can only imagine if I had to add kids to the mix :D The first 4 weeks, he was relatively unaffected, last week...it started catching up with him, he's starting to get slower and showing the affects of the radiation more and more (drooling, hair loss, picky eating, etc.). The doctors are optimistic that he should make a full recovery and will hopefully be cancer free in the next couple months...fingers crossed. The hardest part is almost over, but he will need a lot of aftercare, attention, and check-ups in the future...I'm just happy and relieved to put the radiation treatments in the rear-view.

-I've done some shuffling around in the fishroom. Before, I had 2x 150gallon tanks with Discus and a 75 that housed my Flowerhorn. I've taken the best of the discus stock and condensed them into 1 of the 150 gallon tanks, and put the slow growers and less "attractive" ones in the 75gallon. The Flowerhorn has grown, he's around 9-10" long now, and his head is pretty darn big...so I decided to move him into the vacant 150 gallon by himself.

After this last week of treatments is over for the pup, I should have more free time and plan to get back into the swing of things with the fish as well as forum activity.

Hope everyone has been doing well.
Cheers!

Thank you for the update Mike. I missed this thread the first go around but i'm glad i got to see the update. People can always astound you when you least expect it and i'm glad they were able to help you financially during this tough time. I hope Gunner keeps doing better and better. Please keep us updated.

Hi Mike, good to hear Gunner is over the radiation part and hope he continues to feel better and remain cancer free. Please keep us updated with his progress :D
Pat

That’s great news Mike! I hope Gunner bounces back from his ordeal and everyone’s life can get back to normal soon. Thanks for keeping us updated. Look forward to seeing a pic of that Flowerhorn once things settle down.
Patty

Thank you for the update, a big hug to Gunner and my compliments to you and your family for supporting him in his fight