About the Campaign

Help Artoo fight cancer!

This little guy is in remission, signs and symptoms of his lymphoma have gone away! He is two weeks into his 16 week treatment, called the CHOP protocol, and already has great results. (Detailed article on this treatment HERE)

Devon got Artoo from the Burbank animal shelter three years ago. When she took him from the shelter he has blood in his pee, which was from an infection and pre-kidney stones. The stones had not yet developed, but they were going to. However, with the proper diet this is controlled.

Artoo’s freedom picture, when he left the Burbank shelter:

About a month ago he started limping on his left leg. She took him to the doctor, worried he might have a bad knee as her other rescue dog had this happen earlier, and had needed surgery. But the doctor said he thought it was just arthritis, and not to worry. Fortunately Devon DID worry, she examined him herself and discovered she could feel swelling in his neck. She took him back to the vet, showed them this, and they did a biopsy. Sure enough, it was cancer of the lymph nodes in the neck, lymphoma.

Artoo now went to a specialist, Veterinary Cancer Group, and they recommended the CHOP protocol, a series of chemotherapy treatments over a number of months.

Welcome sign at the vet for Artoo’s checkup:

He has had two treatments already, and just had a check up to see his progress on July 15th. That checkup showed partial remission, with signs and symptoms pretty much gone! No swollen nodes can be felt. He does have some elevated blood cells levels and is taking a blood thinner, but this is excellent progress after just two treatments.

Devon works on TV shows as a stand in, and has been financially impacted by the strike in the entertainment industry, recently learning that the show she works on is closing down.

She has covered part of the treatment, which is over $11,000 total. But Artoo is still about $7000 or so short of getting the full treatment paid for, and cancer, even in remission, has to be fought through the entire protocol to be truly effective! All donations are for Artoo, and paid directly to Veterinary Cancer Group for Artoo’s treatment. A sample of the costs of CHOP are below, click to enlarge: