Help Rosie Beat Lymphoma and be a Survivor

Hi My name is Tina Cunningham and this is my best friend Rosie. We call her Rosie Posie a lot of the time, She turned 7 years old on November 28, 2021.

In April of this year we found a lump under her jaw that was later determined to be Lymphoma. The long medical term is Lymphoma-Multicentric CD21+ B Medium sized cell LSA with high MHC II. We took a proactive approach to treating her with what is called a CHOP protocol. This is a combination of different types of chemotherapy medications and prednisone (a steroid). Rosie did great through the whole 12 week series of treatments and achieved remission very early with minimal side effects. The oncology department we chose to treat her at is in Akron, Ohio and is called Akron MedVet.

A couple of photos of Rosie on her final day of treatment and all of the goodies they gave her...

Unfortunately, on her second recheck after chemo (October 29, 2021), about 2 months, they found her lymph nodes to be enlarged once again and performed an aspiration to check for cancer growth. It came back positive. Everyone was heartbroken. We had a few days to decide what we were going to do. Rosie's oncologist, Dr. Bloch, explained our options with great detail. One of these options was to treat her symptoms of the cancer until Rosie's quality of life began to decrease and then put her to sleep (usually about 4-6 weeks). The only thing is Rosie just isn't ready to go yet. She is still full of life and love and eager to please and protect her family.

We decided to go ahead and try to get her into remission once again with a chemotherapy called Tanovea. It is usually very effective with the type of cancer that Rosie has invading her body. This drug is administered by IV and comes in 5 doses over the course of every 3 weeks (all 5 treatments will take 15 weeks to complete). Rosie has completed 2 doses so far as of November 30th. I don't have anymore credit available to continue with her treatments unless you all can give me some help. Her treatments are very expensive at a little over $1,200 each. She also has several medications she is taking that are not included in this total that include, turkey tail mushroom supplement, daily vitamins, canine probiotic, and prescription medications to help with side effects of vomiting or diarrhea if she has them. She has also needed an antibiotic on two occasions when her blood counts were low to provide additional protection to her immune system. The most encouraging is Rosie has done so well with this new chemo medication and the cancer has been very responsive to it in a very short time. There was a significant change in the cancer growth after the very first treatment.

This is very difficult for me to write. I have often been on the other side of charitable giving. This is the first time I have actually asked for help like this. I owe it to Rosie. She has been my companion through some very difficult times the last 3 1/2 years, job loss, divorce, single parenting, college finals and graduation, a nervous breakdown, and the beginning of a new career I am still waiting to start if someone would just give me a chance. I know times are tight for a lot of people, believe me I know, but if you would be so kind as to help me buy a little more time for my best friend you have my word I will pay it forward when I am able to do so.

Thank you for your time and thank you for contributing. May God Bless your kindness and compassion!

Pictured below is Rosie with her sister and favorite playmate, Mitzy also me and my best friend.