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Meet Cancer Treatment
Grant Recipient: Guide Dog Comet
Comet is the second guide dog who we have had the
pleasure to assist. She has been active for years
working by the side of Chikako Mochizuki. Chikako contacted us
on April 5, 2011
about obtaining a
Working Dog Cancer Treatment Grant
as her
beautiful guide dog, Comet.
My name is Chikako
Mochizuki and I am currently a graduate student
attending University of Kansas located in Lawrence,
Kansas. I am blind and currently working with a lovely
dog guide named Comet who is a female Yellow Labrador
Retriever trained at the Leader Dog for the blind
located in Rochester Hill, Michigan. Very recently (just
last week) she has been diagnosed with a type of
malignant tumor known as thymoma. She is still a happy,
healthy and strong dog even though she is approaching
her tenth year. She and I have been working toward our
doctoral degree in History at University of Kansas since
January of 2003. The only effective treatment is for her
to have surgical removal and if the tumor would be
successfully removed there will be a great chance for
her to make a full recovery. At this point she is still
strong and I firmly believe that she could withstand the
surgery. However, being a student from Japan, neither my
parents, who were retired, back in Japan nor myself, who
is a graduate student could afford this expensive
treatment that would most likely be several thousand
dollars. At the same time, the time is very precious for
without surgical removal treatment my Comet only has
about six months to live, according to my veterinarian,
Dr. Jarrette. I truly would like to complete my
dissertation and achieve my doctoral degree with Comet
and go on to my new teaching/researching career with
Comet.
Here is
Chikako's story about her work
and her special girl, Comet:
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Comet has gone through the surgery on Wednesday, April 13th. A team
of Veterinarians headed by Dr. Marcus Unis were able to remove the
tumor completely. She has been under intensive care since right
after the surgery. She has a tube in her chest to pull out fluid in
the chest. She had a tube for oxygen supplement until April 15th.
On April 16th they took out the tube and so far her intake of oxygen
is normal. The tumor was biopsied and the result came back
yesterday. According to what I heard, the tumor is indeed thymoma, a
rare type of cancer for canines.
Very fortunately the tumor is non-invasive. She does not need any
additional post surgery treatment such as radiation treatment.
When she gets better, I will be able to send you the video of Comet
and myself to report her healthy condition. Once again, thank you so
very much for the grant and assisting me making my Comet back to her
healthy condition. Although she is not yet quite there, she should
be soon.
(More coming soon about Comet)
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