Mattie's Cancer Battle

Last week, Mattie was given the worst news a cancer patient can get. They found many more tumors on her liver which means the chemo was not at all helping. She and I decided to get a second opinion and start her on some holistic remedies. She was doing great, still chasing ducks & playing outside with grandpa. But yesterday she started bleeding from her mouth and had to rush her to the emergency clinic. There was so much blood and by the time we reached the clinic, she couldn’t walk. One or more of the tumors has mastisized and blood began to build up in her abdomen. A horrible vet walked in and unemotionally told me to murder my child because I was cruelly causing her extreme pain, but I just couldn’t. I couldn’t murder my own child. I yelled at her to leave me with my child and give me another vet. My dad took off work and rushed to the clinic to help us, but when he saw her face, her perfect sweet kind face, he couldn’t do it either. She was still lifting her head and barking at the puppies in the other room, and wagging her tail, and man did her ears perk up when her grandpa came in. Her ears perked up and she quickly sat up for grandpa to pet her head. After that, a wonderful vet, Dr, Boon,came in & sat on the floor by Mattie and assured me that the other vet was wrong and would be reported to the owners. She said Mattie was not in any pain, just discomfort and pressure. So, she gave Mattie a pain patch and some meds to help with the bleeding and we took her home. I stayed with her all night. She tried to get up a few times but she just couldn’t go far without toppling over. So I just made a pallet beside her bed and held her hand all night and prayed for God to do whatever it took to make her comfortable and happy again. When we woke up this morning, she wasn’t looking well at all and I could feel it was almost time. I was going to go get some sub-q fluids to help her with dehydration but just after I got off the phone with the vet, she looked up at me, took her last 3 breaths and became still in my arms. It took less than a minute, but I was holding her head and telling her how perfect and brave she is and grandma was on the other telling her that it’s all ok. I held her for a long time in my arms and she looked just as beautiful and perfect as she’s always been. I’m so happy that she’s at peace now but I don’t know how I’m going to be able to live without her. I miss her so much.

About my kids

I adopted Checkers 15 years ago from a local shelter. On the day I met him, he was to be put down since he had been there over 7 months, so I asked if I could adopt him instead and he's never left my side since. He has been so great taking care of Mattie. Any time he can sense that she's hurting, he walks up and starts licking her ears and nudges under her chin to curl up & fall asleep. He never leaves Mattie for too long.

I met Mattie when she was 6 weeks old. Her mother and 5 brothers and sisters were found starving in an alley Austin Texas until a local took them in and fed them until they were old enough to be adopted out. Most of her sibblings were adopted by the time I got there. Everyone wanted the ones that looked like black labs, which were all of them except Mattie. I stood outside the yard and watched for 10 minutes or so, watching her try everything she could to get any attention at all with no luck. All of a sudden this runt of the litter with her bloated belly and ears and feet that were waaay to big for her little body made a b-line through the yard straight for me. She was the most precious thing that I had ever seen in my entire life. Since then she's gone everywhere with me, even tubing down the Guadalupe River in her own tube... my puppy freakin' rocks!

The 3 of us have been through everything you can imagine, including almost being homeless. I remember a time when I couldn't even afford to buy groceries, it was either food for them or for me, so I was able to go for about 5 days without food so my kids could eat. Mattie has even saved me twice, once from a bad boyfriend and once from myself. She has never once given up on me, so there's no way I'm giving up on her.

I've put several photos of Mattie and Checkers on tees and artwork :

redbubble.com & cafepress.com