Anyone who has lost a much loved pet knows how painful it is. It’s truly losing a member of your family. We lost our beloved dog Si on April 20th, 2013 after he fought cancer, and fought it hard, for a year. I know this is a ride to raise money for human cancer research but that research can also help our pets. Cancer is a leading cause of death in companion animals and dogs and cats get cancer at about the same rate as people do. They also get the same kinds of cancers, like bone, brain and lymphoma.
I made a deal with Si a year ago when we started chemo that we would give him anything and everything he needed as long as he was up to it. He was 103 pounds of happy and all of his doctors, from his oncologist to his surgeon to the veterinarian assistants loved Si. But after a year of battling cancer we could see in his eyes that Si was ready to go. He was done. Done with all the pills, needles, x-rays and IV drips.
He went so peacefully. We were with him petting his head rubbing his belly telling him how much we loved him and how we will always love him. How we were so lucky to have him with us. He knew what we were saying to him. He knew how much we loved him and how much he loved us and in his typical “I do everything for my mommy and daddy because I love them” way, he just closed his eyes. Si was only 6 years old.
Cancer touches all of us – men, women, children and pets. I believe we can help cure cancer by funding lifesaving research at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
All of us participating in Obliteride will come together August 7-9, 2015 to tell cancer we're not gonna take it anymore! Join us. Join Team Si, or help me achieve my big fundraising goal. With 100% of every dollar donated going directly to cancer research at Fred Hutch, we can make a direct impact on research to save lives faster. If you can’t ride yourself, I hope you'll donate as much as you can to my effort because you believe in me, what I'm doing and that together, we can defeat cancer.
Please donate whatever you can to my ride. Any amount helps. I’m doing it for my big man Si.