Bailey's Story (Part One)
Bailey, our five- year old
beagle, was diagnosed with lymphoma, a common cancer in dogs on April
1, 2005--not a joke! We were told by two different veterinary
clinics in Seattle, WA with chemotherapy treatments we could prolong
her life for another year. However, eventually the cancer would take
over and that we would have to have her put to sleep. Though we
took her for a checkup to see why she was limping (just a sprain), the
end result was devastating news--Bailey was going to die, even though
she did not look or act sick!
Five days after we were given
the unexpected, bad news an article appeared on the front page of a
local newspaper, the "Seattle Times", about a golden retriever named
Comet, who after being diagnosed with lymphoma had been given a stem
cell transplant by two Bellingham, WA veterinarians, Dr. Edmund Sullivan
and Dr. Theresa Westfall. The procedure was performed at the Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in June 2004. Comet had been
cancer free for almost a year -- he went on daily five- mile runs with
his owner. We called Dr. Sullivan's clinic that very same day
and made an appointment to meet with him the following week.
Dr. Sullivan told us that the
most challenging part of the procedure, in addition to the cost, would
be finding a donor match which would consist of tracking down Bailey's
relatives, convincing each owner to give me a blood sample, and if their
dog was a match to have their dog be Bailey's donor for the transplant.
I felt confident that I could
easily do this. Unfortunately, due to incorrect and lost records and
in the fact that many of Bailey's siblings had changed owners once
or twice, this task proved to be one of the most challenging of my life--it
took me over a year to track down Bailey's mother, half siblings,
and five littermates!