Juneau's Cancer(s) Battle

All pet owners know that feeling, the feeling you get when you meet your new best friend and feel that instant connection. The feeling that you just knew you were meant to take them home with you. At least that’s how I felt when I met Juneau, this little Golden Husky puppy, back in April 2014. She was just what I wanted in a dog: playful, a sweet snuggler, a true companion, spunky, and a complete sass! And now, this spunky, sassy girl needs our help.

A few weeks ago, we noticed a strange lump that seemed to have grown overnight under her eyelid right on top of her left eyeball. After getting it checked out at the vet, they thought it looked like just a fluid-filled tear duct that needed to be drained. However, once our vet got in there to drain it, the prognosis changed to a cellular mass. The biopsy results came back last week, and our poor girl was diagnosed with an aggressive carcinoma.

Wanting to know if we had a chance to beat this diagnosis, I took her to a pet hospital for further testing to see what the spread might be, and to get a consultation on surgery. Through that, they discovered a second and unrelated mass on Juneau’s spleen. This one could rupture at any moment, and cause her to bleed out internally. Basically, a ticking time bomb. 

Despite the two bleak diagnoses, they believe that both were caught early enough that Juneau has a chance to fight them both off with surgery. Despite the bad news, if it weren’t for the eye tumor, we would have never known about her spleen until it had ruptured and she started to bleed internally. 

Sadly we don’t know if the spleen tumor is cancerous or benign until it’s removed and biopsied. The great news is that there are no signs of internal bleeding or spreading so far, so the chances of the tumor being benign are 50/50. If it is benign, then removing it and the spleen is curative! If not, we’ll be buying her about 6 more months, maybe a little more depending on chemo & how fast other tumors appear and grow.

Thankfully, the vets also believe the eye tumor is localized, so a low chance of having spread right now. This means removing her eye and the tumor could also be curative! There’s also a chance the eye could be potentially saved, pending results from another lab. 

While performing these surgeries may only result in 6 more months with our baby girl, in the end, there is a 50% chance we’ll get years added to her life. She is such an important part of our family, and we feel that we can’t not take that chance for her.

If you are able to and would like to help donate towards Juneau’s surgery fund, we would be forever grateful. As anyone that has gone through veterinary surgery knows, it is a very expensive thing. With Juneau’s case requiring a splenectomy and a second advanced surgery on her eye, the total cost is a little over $10,000 (not including any possible chemo treatments she might need).

We are hoping to raise enough funds to cover some of the costs and help us be able to afford these procedures. ANY amount that you feel compelled to give is very much appreciated by both our family and our sweet Jooby-dooby-doo.