I will never, ever… forget the day that our vet told us that the growth in Emma’s jaw was “cancer”. We immediately refused to believe what she was telling us, this was incomprehensible to us… and could not be happening to our sweet little girl!
I spent hours on various websites researching diseases in dogs… cancers, tumors, benign tumors… just looking for anything that would help me to prove to our vet that this wasn’t cancer and that she was wrong. Unfortunately I was wrong… and Ron and I were heartbroken.
We followed up with two specialists, we were told that our options were to have her jaw partially removed, this could possibly extend her life by an additional 10-12 months (if we were lucky)… or do nothing and keep her comfortable. We were very concerned about her quality of life. We knew that we would have to help her to eat… this was heart-wrenching to us and knew we couldn’t do it. We would not put her through that, she deserved better and deserved dignity.
Her cancer grew rapidly… from the day of diagnosis to the day our vet came to our home to help us say goodbye to Emma… it was 34 days. We kept her pain free as best we could and we knew that she would help us to know when it was time and she did… the morning that she stopped eating we knew. Our wonderful vet came to our home and together we helped Emma to gently, peacefully cross over to the Rainbow Bridge, while holding her tightly in our arms.
We started Emma’s Foundation to keep her memory alive… and to also help other dog owners who cannot afford the cancer treatments for their beloved pet. We want to make a difference in the lives of our pets and for the people who love and need them. We know Emma would be proud!
RIP Sweet girl until we meet again… 8/4/00-8/19/10
