Having always had dogs growing up, I have followed in that family tradition and at this point in the story had 3 dogs of my own and 1 foster dog. One of my dogs, Riley, had been diagnosed a year and ½ prior with Osteosarcoma. Riley had her leg amputated and immediately started chemotherapy. This was expected to give Riley 10-12 more months with us. We were fortunate financially to have been in a position to do that for Riley. Not many people have that opportunity. Because I view my pets as family and since the options were available my philosophy was that it’s just what we do for family. After 2 months of chemo treatment Riley’s cancer spread to her lungs. Since the chemo didn’t appear to be working I turned to the more non traditional methods like Reiki and Holistic medicine. I also thought this to be the perfect time to put my "power of positive thinking" philosophy to the test.
One of our biggest adventures was taking a last minute trip to walk in a canine cancer awareness event called 2 Dogs 2000 Miles. The Final Mile was the part of the walk that anyone could participate in and it was a walk into Boston Massachusetts. People from all across the country came to walk that final mile and Riley and I were privileged to participate. We got her a wagon and off to Boston we went. This was the trip of a lifetime and brought Riley and I even closer than we already were. She also gained a ton of fans from this event.
Riley also became a Certified Therapy Dog with the intention of me taking her into hospitals to visit children with cancer to uplift their spirits.
Pretty soon Riley and I were the traveling fools and her Facebook group grew by the hundreds. Riley became a part of peoples everyday lives and people soon started posting to her group that she was such an inspiration to them for living such a wonderful life while battling cancer.
Over the course of several months Riley had developed two more types of cancer and subsequently had those tumors removed. Her fans continued to support and root her on no matter what.
If you’ve ever had to care for a sick animal or human for that matter, you know that it begins to consume you and nearly every part of your day. Most of my attention went to Riley. Many times it would take about 40 minutes to fix her meals. We often had to change up her food and try 3 or 4 different things when her appetite wasn’t at its best. Giving Riley her medications and supplements took up a lot of time as well. The daily functions of caring for Riley while sometimes time consuming and frustrating (when she would not eat, or when she would spit her pills back out at me after licking the cream cheese from around it), helped me to become a better person and strengthen our bond beyond what I thought imaginable. I was lucky to have Riley’s other mom and human 2 legged sister to share in the responsibilities of caring for the whole household. It’s not something one person alone can do and function adequately.
Riley surpassed her 10 – 12 month life expectancy and earned her nickname of “the miracle dog”. One of my most proud moments for Riley was to see the smiles on the faces of patients and family members alike when I took her to the hospital to visit her grandma. As soon as Riley and I would enter the hospital with her in her wagon, the smiles were immediate. Everyone wanted to pet her and hear her story. Mom loved her visits from Riley; she even had me put Riley (who weighed 72 lbs I might add) on her bed so she could reach her and give her treats. Often times people would come into moms room and ask if Riley could come visit their family member who was down the hall.
On the way to one woman’s room her daughter told me her mom was in really bad shape and was becoming withdrawn and depressed to the point where she hadn’t spoken or moved in days. When we walked into her room the daughter said “look mom, there’s a puppy here to see you”. The mom slowly turned her head towards me and Riley. The instant her eye caught Riley she smiled and gasped and reached out with both arms and said “oh my, look at that beautiful baby”. I wheeled Riley closer to her and picked her up so she could pet her. The mom was smiling the whole time she was petting Riley. As I looked over to the daughter, she had tears in her eyes. This was the happiest she had seen her mom in months. Two days later when I went back to visit again her room was empty. I didn’t have the heart to ask the nurses where the lady had gone. I just told my Riley she did a great job. No matter where that lady went, Riley made her trip there a little bit better.
By this time Mom was moved into a rehab facility to start recuperating. Mom had a photo of Riley on her wall beside a photo of us 4 kids. Everyone that came to her room asked about the dog. No one really asked about the kids and that’s ok. I promised Mom I would bring Riley to the rehab facility to visit so mom could show off her grand pup. On January 26th at 1:00am my heart felt like it was ripped out as Riley took her last breathe with her in my arms and left me with a sense of sadness that too many of us suffer, and none of us understand. The cancer had overtaken Riley's lung and her breathing became too much of a struggle. Riley's 2 Reiki practitioners both told me that Riley would let me know without a doubt when it was her time to go. Riley told me, with out a doubt that it was her time to go.
This is bump #2. Bump #2 was and still is a tough one to swallow. Telling mom was also very difficult. Riley was the calmest of all my dogs and mom had always bonded with her the most.
This is bump #2. Bump #2 was and still is a tough one to swallow. Telling mom was also very difficult. Riley was the calmest of all my dogs and mom had always bonded with her the most.
Riley’s fans from her facebook group mourned the loss of her almost as much as we did. As much as I despise bump #2 for happening I learned so much from my 15 months with Riley. I learned about the unconditional love and trust of a companion animal. I learned a lot about traditional and non- traditional medicines in the role of treating someone with an illness. I learned the incredible bond that people can form even when they’ve never met, all for the love and common interest of a dog. Many people crack on social media, as I once did, but I was able to give over 1000 people the joy of following Riley as well as form lasting friendships with people who are supporting me and my family to this day.
I was once told by an intuitive counselor that Riley was going to get cancer anyway, it’s what we chose to do with it that would make a difference in people’s lives. If even for my mom and another’s mom, Riley made a difference.
