Diary

Justice

Justice2This is Justice. He’s my dog-nephew. My brother acquired this walking tongue several years ago. He’s a bull mastiff, and the tongue thing is due to his jaw being malformed–his mouth just isn’t big enough to hold his tongue. He has a tendency to acquire dust-bunnies and other detritus on it–kinda like a Swiffer. He’s really popular with the special needs kids my brother works with, and with good reason. He’s just about the sweetest giant I’ve ever met.

So why am I talking about Justice? Because he needs help. I wasn’t going to ask. I felt weird about asking for help for a dog at a time when everybody is hurting. But I love my brother, and he’s desperate to save this wonderful dog. So here I am, asking for help.

Justice has cancer. He was diagnosed about three weeks ago. I found out when my brother posted this update on Facebook:

“Things were starting to look up-but the rest of the labwork came back positive for lymphoma. Justice has cancer, and I don’t know what to do.”

It broke my heart. After a lot of talking to the oncologist and careful weighing of all the options, my brother decided that he just couldn’t give up on Justice. So they’re going ahead with chemotherapy. The problem is, my brother is now facing upwards of $10,000 in expenses by the time they get through it all. The vet is being very helpful–they’ve fallen in love with Justice, as does anybody who meets the Hippo (as he’s affectionatelyknown). But they can’t just donate that much care.

Which is where you all come in. I know money is tight–it was tough for me to scrape together my own contribution to the cause. But even if you can’t donate, if you could spread the word to your pet-loving friends, I’d appreciate it. I figured that I might not be able to pay for it all myself, but I could at least get the message out to as many people as possible and hope that a lot of little donations would do what I couldn’t.

You can read more about Justice on Facebook. My brother created a group calledJustice For All, and he’s giving regular updates on Justice’s progress.The plan is that any donations that are raised above what Justice needs will go to help other pets in need. Donations can be made through PayPal, by clicking the Send Money button and entering HealJustice@aol.com as the recipient. The email is linked, via PayPal, to Justice’s medical fund account at Chase Bank.

Thanks to all of you for anything you can do. And especially thanks to Athenae for giving me access to the biggest soapbox I could hope for in this kind of situation.

And if you’re inclined to comment that this is a lot of money to spend on just a dog, hey, that’s cool. I’m not asking everybody to be okay with this. This is a plea only to those people who understand. The rest of you can go on about your lives.

17 thoughts on “Justice”

  3. Thank you, Valerie! That’s great information–I’ve passed it along. And thanks to you, too, Sue. It means a lot to me.

  4. Where are you located? The Small Animal Clinic at the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph (Guelph, Ontario) is taking care of my cat who has lymphoma — he has a funny tumour kind, and goes in for his leg amputation on Thursday morning 🙁 — and so far, the bills have been much less than outrageous. I think I’ve spent about $1000 so far, and it’ll be about another $1200 by the time I’m finished. Which is a lot of money for an elderly cat, but he’s my boy and I’m his human, and that’s that…
    If you’re not too too far, you might want to consider trying to get a referral. They are the specialists — they have an entire veterinary oncologydepartment, even.

  5. Justice is in San Diego, and he’s getting treated by the Angel Care Cancer Clinic and the place that originally diagnosed Justice, the Animal Urgent Care Specialty Group. Both have been great to Justice and to my brother, especially Angel Care.
    Besides, I’m not sure Justice would qualify as a “small” animal–there’s a reason for the Hippo moniker. 😉
    But thanks for the information, Interrobang. I hope everybody feels free to share this kind of thing. There might be others reading who could benefit from the information.
    And I really hope your cat comes through this all okay!

  7. Thank you, Missy! And the furry beast thanks you, too. You’re lucky this is all virtual–that tongue is *wet*.

  8. I am going to donate, but I would give anything if I HAD NOT put my rescue Westie Annabel through chemo when she was diagnosed with bladder cancer a few years ago. She didn’t understand why she was being treated this way, why she felt so badly, and in the end, it didn’t prolong her life anyway. She suffered, I suffered…and she died anyway. Never again.

  9. Ditto @ Stellans:
    I’ve had family pets get in a bad way, cancer, old age, keep a perspective on this, it’s our responsibility to recognize we do this for ourselves. Animals aren’t able to rationalize pain. But I’m sure the kids are part of the equation. It might be better to spend it on all the sirloin he can eat.
    If I was working I’d have to consider, but the zeros don’t leave me the chance.

  10. Believe me, I understand both of you, Stellans and Pale Scot. And my brother thought long and hard and discussed the situation at length with both the oncologist and his general vet. They’re monitoring the situation every step of the way and weighing the potential benefit of giving Justice a longer life with the costs to the quality of that life. My brother has been through the loss of pets before, and has had to make the decision over when to euthanize before, so he is very sensitive to Justice’s comfort and quality of life. Right now, Justice is doing better–he’s putting on weight, he’s more energetic, and this is after his 4th treatment.
    Anyway, thank you both for your concern for what is best for Justice in every way. And Stellans, I’m really sorry for what Annabel went through.

  11. Buggy, have you ever seen Saving Grace? It’s a long story if you haven’t but to make it short, in addition to her “last chance” angel, Grace occasionally sees a dog with the exact same kind of hanging tongue that Justice has. (the dog is a Boxer). In the show, that long-tongued dog is the visual representation of God. That’s the first thing I thought of when I saw your picture.
    My own critters have me pretty tapped out at the moment but I’ll spread the word re my soapbox network.

  12. I’m spreading the word as well. We just dropped $3K on getting my big orange cat baby’s bladder stones removed…but someone else checking this link through my virtual neck of the woods may see if Justice can catch a financial break.

  14. I can’t tell you all how much I appreciate this. My brother called me yesterday to say thanks to me for posting this because he’s already gotten several generous donations. But it’s not me–I just told a bunch of really, really wonderful people about Justice, and you all stepped in a way I had no right to expect. So thank you, Alexis, virgotex, liprap, Pale Scot, Stellans, Missy, Interrobang, Valerie and Sue. And to any lurkers who helped out, too. You are the best people on the planet. If any of you ever need *anything*, you can count on me.
    virgotex, I’m passing along the Saving Grace story. My brother will love it–considering what Justice has done for him, I’m thinking the God analogy is a pretty good one.

  15. Virgotex: You mean Earl’s tattoo? Of course God is a long-tongued dog. The one she sees, that’s Grace’s dog, Gus. He’s an American Bulldog.
    I know this cuz I just spent a fortune rehabbing my second AmBull rescue. But prayers for Justice and his people.

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