Josie's cancer treatment

Hello friends and fam,

As some of you know, Josie has recently undergone radiation treatment for a cancerous mass that was found on her thyroid in the spring. It's fairly large, and entangled with critical vessels so it cannot be surgically removed. It was super scary to discover this, and really unexpected given her good health. At eight years old, she still loves to hike, wrestle, swim, and haul around massive logs with ease. Josie is a happy, healthy, sporty girl and I'm so thankful.

Luckily we caught the cancer early, so she hasn't yet experienced any adverse effects from the tumor i.e. difficulty breathing, swallowing, low energy, etc. and we're thankful for that too!

After multiple visits to the oncologist and after many scans and tests, the Doctors suggested that Josie receive a radiation treatment known as Stereotactic Radiation Therapy (SRT) to hopefully shrink the tumor in size and then follow up with an oral chemotherapy treatment known as Palladia. The closest center for the radiation treatment was in Portland, OR which required 1 session every week for 5 weeks. This meant that Eric (Josie's dad) took her to Portland after work so he could take her to her sessions first thing in the morning every week for over a month. Bless his heart for all the driving, time off work, and hotel stays. And happy to say that it all went well and Josie's prognosis is looking pretty good.

The SRT should shrink her tumor so that it won't endanger her ability to breathe or eat but in order to keep the cancer from spreading Josie is taking a light chemotherapy dose of Palladia multiple times a week. She has reacted very well to this and shows zero side effects. It's amazing that after all of this she is still so vibrant, so we are very grateful to the teams at VCA Northwest and the Animal Medical Center of Seattle for helping our girl out.

The grand total for her treatment including diagnostics, specialist visits, radiation treatment and Palladia was $13,535.81. Ouch.

Right now I'm looking for help raising $6,767.90, or half the cost of her treatment. Big thanks to Eric for footing the bill upfront because I have not had the finances to contribute in a meaningful way.

It's unfortunate that life-saving preventative care for a dog should be at such and exorbitant expense. With all of the animals that need caregivers in this world, very few of them would be able to afford something like this. With that said, I reeeeally suggest everyone reading this get pet insurance if you don't already have it for your animal, we wish we had done so.

Thank you all for reading, we really do love this dog a crazy amount. I appreciate everyone who has cared for, loved on, and tossed sticks for my girl over the years. You guys are the best.

<3

Lauren & Josie