Pretty little Meggie Mae of Dallas was brought into ESRA's care in December of 2017. This little girl's life has had its fair share of ups and downs from that time on.

Sadly, her owner of many years passed suddenly last year. She was extremely bonded to him, and they were inseparable. His family reached out to ESRA, and we agreed to bring her into our care and begin the search for a loving home. For a middle-aged, very active healthy girl, this would not have been a difficult task at all, yet outward appearances do not always portray an accurate picture.

At now almost 7 years of age, Meggie had come to ESRA as an intact (non-spayed) female. There was a short waiting period to have her spay done while in foster care because she had come into heat. Once that cycle had completed, she was spayed. Unfortunately, complications arose in the form of a hematoma, and she needed to recover from that. During the recovery period, a couple of small masses were discovered along her mammary chain (for those not familiar with the term, the mammary chain is part of the female dog's reproductive system -- the breasts and surrounding tissue encompassed). Because it is widely documented that intact females can be at greater risk of developing mammary gland cancer, we opted to have the masses removed and submitted to a lab for a pathology report. Unfortunately, our concerns were not unfounded and shortly after the removal of these masses, a diagnosis of mammary adenocarcinoma, Grade 2, was given: Cancer. Our worst fear had been confirmed, and now a decision had to be made on just what to do.

A couple of treatment options were provided, and a bi-lateral mastectomy was recommended by her veterinary specialist/surgeon of Veterinary Specialists of North Texas. The removal of both mammary chains with as much tissue as needed to provide clear margins (no cancer), is a complicated surgery with a difficult recovery. However, in a young, active, otherwise healthy female, it can often be a better option, providing a faster full recovery with less chance of the cancer spreading than if done in two separate procedures. As luck would have it, while Meggie has recovered from the removal of the two initial masses, another small 2 mm mass has presented itself in the mammary chain on the opposite side of the first mass removal. While this type of cancer can progress rapidly, it has been caught in the early stages in Meggie, and radiographs have revealed that the cancer appears to be contained to the mammary chains only. Hence our decision to go forward with the bi-lateral procedure.

Along with complications from this type of surgery comes quite an expense for the surgical procedure and post recovery. ESRA is committed to providing Meggie with the best option to ensure a bright and healthy future. With the help of ESRA's financial supporters and those who offer continual encouragement by sharing their success stories and their good thoughts and prayers, we are hopeful that we can provide Meggie Mae a future filled with many bright and happy tomorrows.

Your support, either financially or otherwise, is greatly appreciated during Meggie's time of need. Her surgeon seems hopeful that we can provide her with a future typical of any healthy Springer her age, and we are committed to helping her achieve just that.