In Bailey's memory

A lot has been happening since I last wrote an entry. On March 4th Bella gave birth to seven puppies. Though the puppies were delivered by c-section at the clinic, we lost all seven : ( One pup,Ivy, hung on for nearly two days. The first pup, much larger than the rest, was dead and most likely had been so for a few days which made the environment for the other six toxic. The plan was to have Bella spayed which had been started before the c-section. Meg and I saw and held Ivy, and I think Bella would have been a good mom, as she was very attentive to Ivy the eve. that we visited them both at the clinic.

When we brought Bella home after Ivy died it was very sad to see how she coped. She adopted a pink stuffed cell phone and a purple stuffed dog named Betty as her pups. They went with her everywhere, and she guarded them fiercely from Cooper and Amelia for the next three weeks.

I couldn't believe the bad luck that I had been having with my dogs! The whole idea of allowing Bella one litter of pups, which included getting another male dog, Cooper, was to give me the piece of mind, should Bella get lymphoma, that I would not have to go through what I did with Bailey in tracking down her relatives in order to find her a donor match. Since Bella had been spade that plan was over. Dr. Sullivan did freeze stem cells from the dead puppies which would allow either Cooper or Bella to have a haploid transplant, a new procedure allowing transplants from blood relatives a match or not.

As Meg was counting on a Bella pup I contacted Bella's breeder who just happened to have a litter of puppies from Bella's mother and a relative of Bella's father. I was considering getting a female puppy and breed her with Cooper once. However, though I did get a beautiful lemon beagle pup, Juniper (Junie) I decided against more puppies. There are just too many dogs already in shelters who are being put down because they have not been adopted.

Junie and Bella have the same DNA since they are half sisters, and Meg took a sister of Junie's she named Roxie who though had a hernia, recently had surgery and is a little "spitfire" : ) Should Cooper get sick we can used the frozen stem cells from the dead puppies, and Bella, Junie, and Roxy can help each other out should one of them get sick. As you can see I do not ever want to have to track down dogs again!

My next order of business, besides finishing my book about Bailey is to get a nonprofit organization started for the purpose of accepting funding for a linear accelerator for veterinarians in W. Washington and elsewhere. Due to politics I am not sure if Dr. Sullivan will be able to use the linear accelerator at Washington State University after July ( Google the story in the Seattle PI about transplants for pets, May 12th, and I sent a letter to the editor May 14th, which can be found online as well). Before pets can be transplanted they need irradiation. Dr. Sullivan has everything he needs at his clinic to perform transplants except a linear accelerator for the irradiation.

I made a collage titled "Dr. Sullivan's Waiting Room" that I intend to make prints of and sell--the money from the prints and my book will go towards purchasing a linear accelerator.

My after school "Art from the Heart" kids have made pet quilt wall hangings which are being sent to Washington State U. and the Fred Hutch Cancer Center. Though the quilt they sent to Oprah was signed for we haven't heard anything back form her, and may very well not. We have made more quilts, but I have not decided who they will go to yet.

To anyone who reads this and has a pet who has either died from lymphoma or who is currently fighting their battle with this terrible disease, my heart goes out to you! I do know what it is like, and I just want to see the pets we love dearly have a chance to beat their cancer! I am so grateful to Dr. Sullivan and His wife, Dr. Westfall for giving back to pets what they gave to humans-- many dogs gave their lives to find a way to cure lymphoma!

Sincerely,

Cathy von Haartman cathyvster@gmail.com

One year later

I am nearing the anniversary of Bailey's death which was Jan. 17th. Though I have been told with time, the pain of losing her will lessen I have not found that to be the case yet. For those of you who have followed Bailey's story you know that although I believe in altering pets due to the fact that too many pets alrready are in need of good homes, but because of how difficult it was to locate Bailey's family members in order to find her a donor match I decided to allow Bella and Cooper to have one litter of pups since a donor registry for pets like they have for people is not in place yet.

The new up and coming transplant procedure is haploid transplants which we were preparing for Bailey to have using an unmatched sibling. I even refinanced my house to pay for it. In haploid transplants unmatched relatives can be used as donors which is great for those needing transplants who have relatives who are not a match, but still doesn't help those who need transplants who don't have access to blood relatives. Bailey's only match, Clifford was too close of a match to her which is why she did not develop any graft vs. tumor which is needed to kill off any remaing tumor cells. Clifford, though different sex, was as near a clone to Bailey as you can get. Unfortunately, this was not known till after the transplant had been performed. Another reason for a registry is that in people transplants using unrelated donor matches are more successful which most likely be true in pets as well..

Bella is in heat so we may be looking at puppies in a couple of months. I think that Cooper is old enough to play his part. Amelia turned two on Christmas. We have had her a year now and though I don't have the bond with Amelia, Bella, nor Cooper that I had with Bailey I do understand that they are still young and it will take time to develop. I remember that Bailey as a pup was a handful, and I have now multiplied her by three lively beagles. They all have their little personalities and get into a lot of mischief. They remind me of goats--climbing up on things they shouldn't and eating anything and everything : )

I am putting my energy now into trying to find funding to get a registry started for pets like they have for people and to find funding for Dr. Sullivan to have access to his own linac machine which is used for the irradiation before the transplant can be performed. This machine would need to be housed in a special building. Many hospitals are getting rid of their linac machines (they are obsolete for people, but would be fine for pets), but the cost of moving them and building housing for it is pricey. WASU, where Dr. Sullivan currently goes to have his patients get the irradiation is far away, and I am not sure how much longer he will be able to use their equipment due to politics.

I am trying to get my book finished up which will tell both Bailey and Comet, Dr. Sullivan's first successful, transplant dog, stories for kids. So many chidren are touched by this terrible disease, a disease in which there are those who recover and sadly, those who do not. If I can get it published any profit will go to what Dr. Sullivan is doing.

Too, students at my school are making paper quilt squares which have drawings of pets (I have an art class on Thurdays after school) which are fashioned into colorful quilt wall hangings which will be given to those who can help with funding a registry and equipment for Dr. Sullivan. The quilts take a long time to make, but the end result is really quite impressive. Dr. Sullivan said if he could perform the whole transplant in one place the cost would go down dramatically. We have made a beautiful quilt for Oprah but getting it to her may prove to be dificult. I know she loves dogs and since she owns Goldens, who are more susceptible to lymphoma (the third most common cancer in dogs) than most breeds, I would like for her to be aware of Bailey's and Comet's stories.

I will add pics. soon of Amelia, Bella, and Cooper and of the quilt my students made for Oprah.

Cathy

Six months later--

It has been nearly six months since we lost Bailey, yet the pain of losing her is still within me. My husband has an electronic game which for some reason plays a little tune every eve. between 5:15 and 5:45 which oddly enough started playing after Bailey died, and even though I don't consider myself to be religious nor into psychic this or that, I have convinced myself it is Bailey letting her presence be known.

I told Dr. Sullivan that I don't think I could ever go through the process of tracking down doggie relatives for a dog needing a transplant ever again when I took Bella in April to be spade ( beagles are more susceptible than most breeds to lymphoma). My husband and daughter, Meg, thought I should let her have at least one litter of pups which because I have big concerns about the plight of too many pets already in need of good homes I was against . After discussing the matter with Dr. Sullivan I left the clinic with an unaltered dog. Bella would be allowed to have at least one litter of pups which would all have their blood tested before being given away ONLY to worthy people. Meg wants one, and though I know I will want to keep them all--impossible-- I will keep one as well.

We made it through Bella's first heat cycle--not my favorite thing to deal with. At the end of it we acquired a male puppy, an adorable tri-colored beagle who we named Cooper. Cooper is as mellow and sweet as Bella is intense and prickly : ) The plan is for the two of them to have a litter of pups. I have to say I am enjoying Cooper as a pup more than I did Bella, most likely because we got Bella just before Bailey got so very sick and died. I have never had a male dog before, but we loved Cliffy, Bailey's donor brother, so much, and I must say Cooper has captured my heart as well : )

Meg, Bailey, and went to Rockaway Beach in Oregon the past six summers. Bailey had her lymphoma diagnosis and then transplant the last two trips. Everyone who gave her attention was given a mini version of her story. I am not sure I even want to go this year. Meg just showed me the pictures of our past beach visits with Bailey which of course brought tears.

Though I love Amelia, Bella, and Cooper I am not sure that another dog and crazy as it sounds perhaps any living thing will ever match the feeling that is ingrained in me when I think of Bailey. Call it unconditional love between master and dog or maybe it is the extreme measures I took with the hope to save her. However, as I do have four grown children I don't want anyone to think that I love or care more for my pets than my own children.

As Bailey ate three of the recalled pet food brands before she died even though she died Jan. 17th and the big recall wasn't a few months later, I will always wonder if this didn't play a part in her death. Kidney failure was the beginning of her down fall. She seemed fine to me on the 14th--her blood levels were showing signs of improvement. She developed a kidney infection on Mon, looked very ill to me on Tues., the day the British photographer came to do a story on her, and died early Wed morning. I have been told by the store where I purchased the dog food that it was on store shelves as early as Nov. I don't have any clinical proof that the tainted dog food caused her death (tissue samples we had left were sent to a lab in April by her veterinarian), then again there was not another dog anywhere who had had a transplant followed by a relapse. Her immune system was already compromised.

I am trying to move on--being consumed by sadness will help no one. My goal for the summer is to finish the book I am in the process of writing about Bailey for children, and I am very interested in seeing more being done to make it easier for other pets diagnosed with lymphoma to have successful transplants. No one should ever have to go through what I did to save their dog. You know, if it would have worked I would have something to show for it--my best friend laying next to me on the couch. Sadly I don't! The next best thing is to help put something into place such as a donor registry and a cancer center in W. WA so other pet owners don't have to feel the loss that I feel as I am typing this blog entry. However, even though I am Baileyless I know that what we did will pave the way for other sick pets surive their cancer. I will never regret that we opted for her to have the transplant--HOPE is everything!

Though I am not nec. religious I hope that when my time comes I will be reunited by a little dog, who went through so much to beat her cancer. Bailey wanted to live--she was a strong willed and determined little dog. However, the vet. tech. who was with her when she died said he saw that look in her eyes--she was ready to let go. Her time had come. I just feel so very, very sad that I wasn't there with her to say goodbye.

Cathy

In Bailey's Memory

It has been nearly six weeks since I got that call from the clinic early in the morning with the bad news--Bailey had died. I think I was in shock the first day and managed to get through it quite well. The days after that have not been as easy. I still can't believe that Bailey died, and I can hear her little sounds, feel her soft ears and the coarser fur associated with her ticking, and see the different expressions on her face knowing which each one meant-- be it I'm hungry, come sit with me--stop doing art, or I need to go out. She always knew when something out of the ordinary was about to happen, and she really hated it when anyone argued--she would run upstairs and go lay on my bed.

We felt that Bella, our puppy, would like some company so we adopted a one year old rescue beagle from Tennessee that we named Amelia. The two have great fun playing together either wrestling each other or runnning around the house parallel holding the same toy in their mouths. They are double trouble, however, often finding things to chew on that are not chew toys : ) Amelia reminds me of Bailey somewhat due to her ticking. The thing is though, that as much as I do love Bella and Amelia they are not Bailey--I just don't have the connection with them yet that was built up over the seven years that we had Bailey in our lives.

Bailey died of multiple organ failure (liver, kidneys, lungs, and bone marrow) due to the lymphoma. She had a blast crisis due to multi drug resistant lymphoma. The prednisone, chemo. treatments, and blood transfusions could not get her back into remission which is often the case in dogs--they don't go into a second remission. It did look as though the DLI was working as there was evidence of an immune system reaction building up in Bailey, but sadly the lymphoma won out.

I have her ashes in an urn on the mantel along with her picture and the only Christmas ornament I bought last Christmas, a beagle angel. I am not so sure the ashes were a good idea as I could not take the urn out of the box for weeks. Bailey is back home, just not the way I had hoped. We may spread her ashes around Green Lake where we walked daily every morning and take some to Rockaway Beach in OR--sadly this year's writing in the visitor cabin journal will not be full of hope as it was the past two summers. I am not sure I really even want to go back.

So I am sad, and it doesn't take much to bring tears. Life is just not fair! (I am just not sure how many people there are who have worked as hard as I did to save their pet) . However, Dr. Sullivan's first and third transplant dogs are doing well. If I had to do it all over I would have done nothing different. Dr. Sullivan gave us hope! Yes, it is disappointing that we spent a lot of money and put so much time and energy into locating Bailey's family members with the hope of finding her a donor match, that the transplant didn't work. You see, Bailey really did not have a suitable match--Clifford's stem cells were too close to Bailey's--transplants don't work so well with identical twins either--that Bailey did not develop any GVH disease, though too much is fatal, some is needed to kill off tumor cells. Because we only had a blood sample from Bailey's mother as her father is dead we were not really sure how close of a match Clifford was--98% was the guess.

The only thing that gives me comfort is in Bailey's memory I am putting my time and energy with others into putting a donor registry in place for dogs, cats as well, (this can be accomplished by using the pets that are donors at the many pet blood banks across the country) and see a transplant center built in W. Washington. Lymphoma is the third most common cancer in dogs. Work is being done on this as we speak, but as with everything it will take funding. Not a day goes by when I meet someone who either lost a dog to this terrible disease or knows someone who has. As more and more transplants are done cost should go down--most likely tranplants will be covered by pet insurance. Even though I had access to information on Bailey's family members, many pet owners do not. I did not have an easy time in locating her siblings--it took me over a year--sadly the only donor match she had proved to be too close of one which is why the transplant did not work.

Losing Bailey has been like losing my child--she was a family member. She will always be with me in my heart. Bailey was the best--a courageous little dog who wanted to live, but the lymphoma was stronger than both our wills for her to do so.. Her lifespan was cut in short by half. Every time I look at my wrist I see my tattoo bracelet of a single forget-me-not flower and the word Serendiptiy--her AKC registered name was Serendipitous Bailey Girl. I so do hope my dream becames a reality! I never want to lose another pet to this terrible disease again!

Life After Bailey

The past few days have been full of sadness--I can't remember ever shedding so many tears. I want something I can never have again, Bailey. Though I have lost many pets--my mixed breed dog, Tinsel, died from Cushing's Disease four days before Bailey's transplant, Bailey's death has been the most difficult for me to cope with. Maybe, because I had such a close bond with her, or maybe because of all the hard work I put into trying to save her. I really believed that she was going to make it!

Bailey's full name was Serendipitous Bailey Girl--I had the word, Serendipity tattooed along with the flower, a single forget-me-not on my wrist, a few months ago, as I want to remember Bailey and the past twenty months for the rest of my life. I know the pain of losing her will fade with time, but the memory of my precious Bailey will be with me forever!

Today I returned Clifford, Bailey's donor brother, to his owners in Eastern Washington. He was so much like Bailey in looks and personality--98% the same! We will all miss him, especially Bella. We want to adopt a rescue beagle in a few weeks, a young adult, so Bella will not be alone.

I am thinking of ways to work through my sadness-- I need to get back to work on my book about Bailey's story, however, painful it will be. Her story will not have the happy ending I had worked so hard and wanted, but hopefully what we did for Bailey will give other pets a chance to beat their lymphoma!

I want to thank everyone who has expressed sympathy for our loss.

Cathy

Bailey is no more : (

Today at 6:15 am I received the phone call I was dreading the most! I could tell by the caller ID that it would not be a good call. Bailey died this morning at the clinic in Bellingham a little after 5 a.m. Though she had a peaceful night she simply stopped breathing. Sunday's visit was really so great--I took her for a walk in a local park. I am glad I have our walk as one of my last memories of her as she really seemed to be feeling quite well. She developed a fever on Monday associated with a bacterial kidney infection. Her blood work was better yesterday, and her temperature was back to normal, but when I saw her yesterday, her breathing was labored, and since she was sedated, she was somewhat lethargic. She held on long enough for the journalist from Great Britain to photograph her for a story, yesterday, however (this had been prearranged weeks ago before she had to go back to the clinic). Her story has really been about timing all along. I think that was the last thing she did for me-- Bailey like me, wants her story to be told!

We have no regrets for what we did in trying to save her. In Bailey's memory I hope to raise funding for a transplant center to be built in W. Washington headed by our wonderful veterinarian, Dr. Sullivan and to get a donor registry in place for pets like they have for people. Lymphoma is a common cancer in pets. The technology is there to save them. After all it was laboratory animals, dogs, that gave this life saving procedure (bone marrow/stem cell transplants) to people. Dr. Sullivan's first transplant dog, Comet, has been cancer free since June 2004. Clifford, Bailey's only sibling match, proved to be too close of a match for her which is why she did not develop any Graft Versus Host Disease which is needed to kill the tumor cells.

I can't put into words the sadness and emptiness that my family feels. Bailey was the best and will be sorely missed! I will end by thanking everyone who helped me in my quest to save Bailey which includes the Halletts, the owner of Comet, owners of Bailey's family members--in particular the Suttons, owner of Clifford who allowed him twice to help Bailey by allowing him to be her transplant donor and to undergo tumor vaccine injections before the donor lymphocyte infusion, the press, and of course to our wonderful veterinarian Dr. Sullivan and his staff at Bellingham Critical Care Veterinary Clinic. I know this morning's phone call was not any easy one for Dr. Sullivan to make!

Bailey and me : )

Yesterday I took Clifford up to the clinic in Bellingham because Dr. Sullivan thought it would be a good thing if Bailey could get a blood transfusion from him. I was told that she was listless and wouldn't eat. I saw her CBC (complete blood count)-- she had eight lows on different blood tests. She perked up when I came and ate the treats I brought her. I took her to a local park, and we walked slowly in the snow along a creek. She was quite happy to be outside and smell all the good smells. She ate two fast food chicken sandwhichs--mind you this is not a diet I would recommend, but the important thing is that she ate. She loved being with me in my car listening to the msuic that she is use to. It was difficult to leave her, but I will be seeing her tomorrow, as a journalist from Great Britain is going to write a story about her.