A woman from Okehampton has created a fundraiser in honour of her dog who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Ellie Allen originally created the fundraiser to raise money for her golden retriever Max’s chemotherapy treatment but after receiving devastating news on Tuesday, April 8 all of the funds will be going towards canine T-cell lymphoma research.
The five-year-old was diagnosed with lymphoma on April 4 after an emergency referral to a specialist centre where he stayed overnight and had further tests due to his fast heart rate and ongoing fever of 40.05C.
Lymphoma describes a diverse group of cancers affecting white blood cells called lymphocytes.
The prognosis for lymphoma is variable and without treatment life expectancy is between four and six weeks.
Ellie said: “I was given two options. Steroid treatment which will often improve quality of life for a relatively short period, or chemotherapy with the aim to achieve remission. Max has never given up on me, and I am not prepared to give up on him.”
Ellie was quoted £7,000 for chemotherapy treatment but had already reached her insurance limit with all the investigations and referral to the oncology specialist.
She started a crowdfunding page with the aim of raising the necessary funds and donate the rest of the money to the Animal Cancer Trust who support owners of pets diagnosed with cancer, providing education that owners can use to help alleviate suffering and make informed treatment decisions.
To raise money for the crowdfunder, Ellie was planning on walking the three peaks in 24 hours alongside Max.
But before she could begin her fundraising plans she was told heartbreaking news from the vet.
Ellie continued: “I picked up the phone to hear ‘We have the results back from the aspirated lymph node and I’m so sorry’. He lay there as calm as ever, as if he wasn’t carrying the weight I felt, the heartbreak. Dogs don’t measure time the way we do, they just live, moment to moment, even when the moments are running out.”
Max was diagnosed with large granular lymphoma, a T-cell type that is very rare and associated with a short prognosis due to how aggressive it is. The median survival time is four weeks.
“Chemotherapy is an option, but it’ll likely make him very sick and may only prolong his life by a few months. I just can’t put him through it so he’ll be medically managed with steroids until the time comes.”
Ellie made the decision to change her fundraiser to Canine T-cell lymphoma research.
Canine T-cell lymphoma research focuses on understanding the disease, improving diagnosis, and developing more effective treatments. It’s a heterogenous group of lymphoid malignancies with variable outcomes and aggressive behaviour.
Ellie will still be hiking the three peaks in Max’s memory.
So far she has raised just under £2,000 for research into canine lymphoma.
To donate to Ellie’s crowdfunder, search ‘I'm raising £5000 to go to research into canine lymphoma’ on Justgiving.com