Survivors and Celebrations

Walker's Story

We brought "Walker" home at 8 weeks old and eagerly anticipated his arrival. We had lost our nine year old male Golden, "Nutmeg" a year before to cancer. Hemangiosarcoma of the heart. He died rather suddenly with no warning. One minute he was running after a ball and nine hours later he was dead. We were devastated and it took about a year before we finally got another male Golden. Walker was everything to us. He was never sick as a young puppy and we even waited a year for him to be neutered since I had read that would enable him to grow fully and I wanted to do everything I could to prevent cancer in this dog! Unfortunately, despite the organic dog foods, vitamins, plenty of exercise, etc., Walker began peeing blood at ten months old. We thought it was a bladder infection and the vets treated him with two different antibiotics, assuming that it would go away. To make a long story short, Walker had a very rare form of bladder cancer, and despite a hefty surgery, the cancer was deep inside the neck of the bladder and the specialists could not get it all. We did not go with chemo or radiation since the doctors said he had at best two months. We never dreamed we would lose our precious Walker at 15 months! Walker's cancer had only been seen once before in a dog and the vets were in shock when they saw this type of cancer. Since Walker's death, I have spent hours, days and months on the internet researching canine cancer. I have learned that Goldens seem to be affected more than the general dog population, when it comes to cancer but still, about 65% of dogs will die from cancer! Will I get another Golden Retriever in the future? Now, I can say yes (Walker died in March 2010) but I am going to try and do everything I can to help in finding a cure for pet cancer! Our pets should not have to suffer and this is becoming so rampant. Hopefully there will be a cure soon. Walker was with us such a short time but will be in our hearts forever.