Jake T.
Jake is part of our family. We have had him since he was 4 weeks old, My daughter fell in love with him at first sight.
Jake, my daughter, and I escaped domestic violence when he was only 8 -9 weeks, but not before he was abused by my ex-husband, who had threatened to kill Jake. Jake was burned on the side of his nose, which left a circular scar. The 3 of us left in January of 2016 and started to live our best life. Jake has been by our side ever since and my daughter calls him the ‘glue that holds us together.’
He grew up to be a hyper, lovable dog. He loves going running with me, getting in the river, and going to the beach. He goes with us everywhere - to visit grandma, to drop off my daughter at school, and sometimes even to the office to work with me!
A couple of months ago, I noticed that he was getting tired after running 2 miles, which seemed odd since he was used to running 5. Shortly thereafter, the little scar on his nose started getting bigger, and started to bleed. I thought maybe he had scratched too hard and it got infected, so I cleaned it and applied antibacterial ointment. After it kept growing for a couple of weeks, I took him to the vet who did some tests and determined that Jake had a high grade Mast Cell tumor. When I heard the news my heart was shattered. I had just taken a pay cut at work because of the impact of COVID-19, and I just could not believe my strong baby boy had this disease. We were referred to a specialist who said surgery to remove the tumor followed by radiation and/or chemo was our best shot at saving his life.
The estimate for the treatment was money that I did not have, but was desperately trying to get. I applied to Care Credit and a couple of credit cards but the money I got approved for was still not enough for surgery and follow up treatment. I did not know what I was going to do, but I was sure I could not let my baby go without a fight. I started looking for financial assistance for dogs’ cancer treatment online and I came across this wonderful organization (dogslife). Dogslife came to our rescue in the most difficult time of our lives. What they are doing for my baby boy and for our family is beyond wonderful. I can NOT imagine my life without Jake, and I can not even imagine the sadness it would cause my daughter not to have him with us.
I am forever thankful to Dogslife. You have truly changed our lives and from the bottom of my heart I want to say, THANK YOU! Thanks to you and your wonderful cause, Jake gets another chance at life and we get to enjoy him, hopefully for many more years to come. I truly do not have enough words to express how grateful my daughter and I are.
- Nataly T. (May 2020)