Tuck's Cancer Diagnosis

Hey everyone,

Out of sheer discomfort of asking, we have gone back and forth about launching a GoFundMe. However, "It's better to ask for help than to remain stuck in fear and uncertainty," so here we are.

And we are beside ourselves with worry about our beautiful black and white spotted best friend.

On Friday, March 8th 2024, we brought our 9 year old dog Tuck, to the vet for a dental cleaning and to hopefully get some answers as to why he has been having off and on sneezing fits and nosebleeds. See, last February (2023), I got a text message from our dog sitter saying that Tuck sounded like he couldn’t breathe. He sent me a video of it, and it turned out to be “reverse sneezing,” which is pretty common in dogs. I told Joel, our dog sitter, to just hold his hand over his nose to allow Tuck to reset his breathing. Joel texted back and said that it worked and we thought everything was fine. This sort of thing happened to Tuck once in a blue moon, so we didn’t think anything of it. That is, until we got home that night and Tuck had another fit. Later that weekend, when we noticed that he had a bloody nose, we got worried and brought him straight into the vet.

The vet treated his symptoms with a steroid and a decongestant. Initially we were worried that it was some kind of infection that he had contracted during a dental cleaning in January of 2023, or maybe even some kind of throat irritation from the procedure itself. It’s so hard with pets. They can’t tell you what hurts. So we spent months of trial and error.

What was probably the most confusing thing for so long was that these symptoms would often disappear for weeks or months, and when the symptoms would return, they could be mild to severe. Sometimes he would just have his reverse sneezing, and sometimes he would have a bloody nose. Each time we saw blood, it was always straight to the vet, where the vet would try their best to treat his symptoms. It always seemed to help, of course, until the next time that his symptoms appeared.

Googling symptoms always seem to point to a worst case scenario, like cancer, in both humans and animals. And you know you’re not supposed to believe those things, so that’s what we thought with Tuck. Particularly since the idea of a dog having nasal cancer, at least according to Google, was so rare.

But our veterinarian wanted to try their best to check Tuck’s nasal cavity to rule out the idea of cancer, which is why we brought him in on March 8th. We were going to do a dental cleaning and an X-Ray to see if they could find any kind of blockage. We were hoping for something simple, like a stick or some other foreign object. Tuck is a beagle through and through, and if his nose isn’t glued to the ground, he’s chasing some other animal. We thought it was entirely possible that he got something stuck up there while he was busy being the classic dog that he is.

When we dropped him off on Friday morning, the doctors told us that if we didn’t hear from them around noon, then they didn’t find anything and they’d call us around 4pm to let us know Tuck was ready to be picked up. On my planning period, I called Christina. She didn’t answer. I called again, and no answer. Then she texted me that she was on the phone with Easthaven. My heart sank. Shortly thereafter she called me back, heartbroken. She said that they found a mass in his right nasal cavity, and the three doctors at Easthaven strongly suspect cancer. They were saying things about quality of life, humane euthanasia, and a timeline on Tuck’s life. It was so surreal. Beyond these occasional symptoms, Tuck is a healthy dog. He loves chicken, cheese, walks, and chasing animals in the backyard. You wouldn’t know anything is wrong.

Our veterinarian is considering three possibilities, two of which are cancer (a malignant or benign tumor), with the other being a fungal infection called Aspergillosis. Unfortunately, the only way to determine what is going on is through more testing that Easthaven does not have the ability to do at their office. We were referred to Oakland Veterinary Hospital in Bloomfield Hills for biopsies, a CT scan, a rhinoscopy, and other testing. On Wednesday, March 13th, we got an the estimate for Tuck's testing. It will cost over $5,000, not including any treatment.

If there was ever a good time for this news, this wasn’t it. On the same day that we got the estimate for Tuck’s testing, the school district where Christina and I work, Ann Arbor Public Schools, announced that they will need to cut at least $25 million dollars from the 2024-2025 school year budget. This means the possibility of pink slips for teachers and a raise freeze. We are terrified at the idea of having to choose between this potential, but very real, financial burden and having to care for our sweet boy.

Tuck came into our lives in a very unique way. We initially were taking care of him for Christina’s mom, Maria. Back in 2014, she told Christina that she wanted to get a puppy. Christina offered to help, finding Tuck, along with his brothers and sisters, for sale in Maybee. One Saturday morning in June 2014, we went to the farm and tried to pick out a dog for Maria. As we walked up the driveway, we said “how are we going to choose one?” All the puppies were so cute, falling over themselves as they explored the yard. All besides one, a white one with big black spots. He walked right up to Christina and sat perfectly on her foot. Tuck chose us.

As that summer wore on, and Maria came up to visit from North Carolina, we were starting to dread the day that Maria would take Tuck home. He brought so much joy into our home. Maria still doesn’t believe this, but the night before she left, when we were supposed to bring Tuck down for her to take him home with her, our car’s radiator died. It was late and Maria had to leave early in the morning, so we were gonna have to keep him. Darn!

Our dogs see us through so many of life’s changes. Tuck has seen us graduate college, get our first jobs in teaching, lose our best friend Jack, and buy our first house. We firmly believe that, if given the right treatment, Tuck will be around for many more years to help guide us through more of challenges that life will throw our way.

The amount we are hoping to raise for Tuck should cover his testing and a good portion of his treatment. Anything that you’re able to contribute, even just sharing this Go Fund Me, helps immensely in keeping our little family together.