May 18, 2025 – Searching For Hope

@haleyandthedane 9/1400 t-shirts sold!!! We have to make a decision before the weekend on Dior’s cancer treatment (surgery, chemotherapy, immunotherapy). Yesterday, Texas A&M confirmed the cancer has NOT SPREAD to his chest or abdomen and we are so thrilled by the news that allows us to move forward with treatment!! 🤞🏼 Having a price put on our son’s care / life like this has been financially heartbreaking and emotionally gut wrenching. Every prayer, donation, and share goes such a long way, thank you for believing in our fight ❤️🤞🏼🐾 We are raising money via GFM, Venmo, Zelle & t-shirts through my small business @DymondsCo - jammies for dogs link in my bio for more info! #cancersucks #cancerfighter #chemotherapy #dogcancer #greatdane #dogmom #fightingcancer #immunotherapy #amputation #osteosarcoma ♬ original sound – haley

As our fundraising goal starts to feel further and further out of reach (although we have sold 14/1400 t-shirts and our GoFundMe continues to climb), I’ve shifted a lot of my energy toward researching more treatment options – not just for Dior, but for every dog and dog parent who might face this in the future.

Over the past few days, I’ve pulled together everything I’ve learned into two new resources to make this information easier to find and understand:

👉 Comprehensive Osteosarcoma Treatment Options
👉 Understanding Osteosarcoma in Dogs

I never expected to spend so many nights awake wondering why anyone would choose to be a veterinary oncologist. How can you care for so many dogs you know won’t have good outcomes? Because there are exceptions to the literature. I learned that what used to be considered the best treatment for dogs – a protocol involving immunotherapy, was actually retired in vet med and reintroduced to pediatric medicine. I can’t stop thinking about how unfair that feels, when a lot of people would agree with me in saying they consider their dogs to be their children.

I was also surprised to learn that none of the oncologists we’ve spoken with brought up immunotherapy until I mentioned it first. In fact, I was the one who introduced Dr. Snyder to the ELIAS Immunotherapy. Since then, I’ve been digging even deeper because it seems like many dog parents aren’t hearing about all the possible options – just chemo and surgery.

If you read May 17th’s update, you already know we’ve decided to follow Dior’s lead. He’s still fighting, so we’re going to fight 10x harder for him. I desperately want to move forward with the surgery and have even thought about skipping the Tuesday appointment to help save the $300 that we have been quoted towards everything else. I have some emails I will send out this evening and keep you all updated.

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A Moment From Today 🐾

Earlier today, we took the dogs for a walk, and one of our neighbors down the street spotted us. He ran to his front door and excitedly told his kids to come outside to see “the dogs that look like horses.”

As they rushed out the door in awe, I silently prayed they wouldn’t come all the way over… not because I didn’t want to say hi, but because I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold myself together if they asked about “the tiger one,” as their son called Dior as he stood on the driveway.

Some days are harder than others… but I know we’re not alone.

Thank you for walking this road with us, for sharing, for giving, and for caring—not just about Dior, but about all the dogs like him who deserve more hope.

With love,
Haley, Dior & Family 🐾