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Danielle's first visit to the vet produced some very bad news. She has several malignant tumors: one anal, one in her abdomen surrounding her colon and bladder, at least 3 in her lungs, and one on her back. She is currently in no pain, eating well and seems to be enjoying life at her foster home. Her foster family will give her the opportunity to enjoy the remainder of her life with them and provide "hospice" care as long as Danielle is comfortable. Her condition will be monitored by the vet, and Danielle will get a diet specially formulated for cancer patients. She is also getting flax seed oil and cottage cheese which has been known to actually shrink some tumors. She is getting lots of love and attention, and hopefully her last weeks will be the best she's ever known.

Update: 4/9/02

Danielle has done better than we would have dreamed in foster care. The vet gave her an optimistic 3 months back in early September and here it is April! She has slowed down considerably, but she continues to be very
excited about dinner time and loves biscuits, and is even up to short walks once in a while. This poor puppy mill mama who spent her first years caged now spends her days lounging on the couch or snoozing on the water bed and never has to be confined. We recently had company and set up an air bed for them to sleep on, her foster dad (who didn't want to get attached) decided that it was perfect for Danielle since it was lower to the ground and we
left it up for her and that's her new favorite place. There have been days when it seems she can't possibly go on much longer and then she seems to come back as strong as ever. She's never had it so good and she's decided
to enjoy it as long as possible. She is very grateful to ESRA and her sponsors for making these last few months the best she's ever known.

Update: 5/4/02

Our foster baby, Danielle, lost her battle with cancer this morning. Her body was giving out and she was unable to stand or walk any more. She went quietly in my arms and is no longer in pain. We were so lucky to have had her in our lives the past 8 months and to be loved my her. She had an amazing will to live and surpassed our expectations by being with us much longer than we had dared to hope.

Thank you to everyone in ESRA who was there for her and for us. Thanks to all her sponsors and everyone who emailed us with thoughts and compassion. A special thanks to Debbie Kersey who helped me find the courage to let Danielle go.

She is now in a place where her body is again strong and there is no such thing as cancer. She isn't physically with us any more, but Danielle will always be in my heart.

DANIELLE'S GENEROUS SPONSORS TO DATE:
Ann Black	a gift from Monty
Karen Bruskin
Patricia Nahin
Ann E. Doherty	in memory of Happy, my grumpy little springy Springer
Naomi Hashimoto
Gary and Margaret Hanes	in memory of Maddie in Texas
Denise and Fred Meindl	in memory of Winston
Judy Aten	in memory of Maggie
Kenneth and Diane Ariosto
Susan Patterson	in memory of Duncan
Debra and Dave Dasenbrock	in memory of our beloved Trampoline
David Miles & David Higgins
Jamie & Ed Balazs	in memory of Mick
Craig & Sue Vasseur	in memory of our sorely-missed Betsy
Bob Knell	in memory of my best friend Samantha
Kenneth & Diane Ariosto
Josephine Kelsey and Richard Han	in memory of Fritz
Shelley Dueringer