Toby Selig

Entrant's Name
Toby Selig

City
Lynnfield, MA

Share Your Pet's Story (in 150 words or less)
For those that don't know, our 4 y/o boy Toby, A lab mix was diagnosed with B cell Lymphoma back in March 2016. This came as complete shock to our family as he had no symptoms. He went in for his regular shots and we were told we have 2 months if we don't ask fast. What options did we have? Steroids to give us 2-3 months, Chemo that gives an avg. of 10 months OR ---- there is no or! Every night became a sleepless night for me, all i would do is search and search for something, anything to help us. I found this foundation that was funding a study on 12 dogs that had this terrible disease. It started about 4 years ago and it is the only known treatment that can give a longer remission if not a cure.

In the past 7 mos, our life has been a roller coaster. We started with the most successful chemo protocol ( CHOP). After treatment # 1, his disease progressed and we saw very scary symptoms. He lost over 20 lbs, would not eat ANYTHING and was so weak he couldn't jump, didn't want to climb stairs, and sometimes his bed was just too far away. This ripped my heart apart. I refused to give up AND SO DID HE. I took him to Tufts for a second opinion and they told me if I didn't put a feeding tube in soon I would loose him to undernourishment as he is decomposing. I cry as I write this - we fought. I decided to take a few days off from work and stay with him 24 hrs/day and try EVERY kind of food possible every hour. If he ate 1 bite of steak every hour, this was something. By day 6 at his returned appointment he got on a scale and gained 10 lbs. Everyone was is disbelief, not me. I promised to nurture this baby and get him strong again. He became strong enough to withstand another dose of chemo and with continued care - he is now 3 lbs over his normal weight( up 23 lbs), no symptoms, and eating better than most humans ( mama preps his fresh food).

A miracle is in the making... my boy is feeling good and I discovered that the T cell Infusion project was accepting more dogs into the study!

Toby is one of the fortunate dogs that is currently in the T Cell infusion study. He has had 2 infusions and is coming due for his third. Many other fighting dogs are in a similar situation. They have fought so much and just need a little more. Donations are so critical right now to not only give this group a fighting chance but to help the current and future dogs diagnosed.

Today I am asking for your support. Help us find a cure so that our family can get through this - AND future pets have an option if that unfortunate day comes.

Thanks for the bottom of our hearts,
The Selig Family