Taxi was my first golden and the reason I fell in love with the breed. A big, happy, frisbee loving red boy. I was supposed to babysit for him for a month, which turned into 6 months, which turned into a year. His owner never came back for him, nor would I have relinquished him. We only had 2 years together before lymphosarcoma took him at age 10, despite surgery and every medical treatment we tried. This was my devastating introduction to canine cancer. So I rescued Brie, a deaf golden-sheltie mix that had been shifted from home to home for most of her life. She was a very quiet and gentle girl who lived solely to curl up in her big arm chair and to get hugs and loves as often as possible. Sadly, an inoperable fast-growing tumor developed below her eye after only 13 months with me. My third golden, Trek, was my heart-boy. He was a wild-child that I rescued from a family that didn't want him any more. He graced my live for 6 wonderful years before hemangiosarcoma forced us to make the decision to send him to the Bridge. I miss this huggable lovable boy every day. Brandon and Taylor were both senior fosters from Golden Retrievers in Cyberspace. Silly Brandon was a Cushings boy who loved me almost as much as he loved his food! Taylor was a totally adorable gray faced senior who, despite neurological problems, managed to take enormous pleasure in every day. Both Brandon and Taylor went to the Bridge within months of each other as the result of cancer. Miss Lulu was a foster who was lucky enough to find her very own loving home. She arrived with a life-threatening case of pyometra but surviived it to find a loving family where she thrived until cancer took her after only a few years.

Despite advances in the treatment of cancer, we are losing our kids to this disease at a horrifying rate. I pray that research will come up quickly with improved treatments that will keep our kids going until a cure is found. They need our financial support. Until that day, all we can do is to educate ourselves, keep our babies as healthy as we can and check them regularly for any warning signs that can be treated early. Oh ... and love them to pieces every single day.