Daisy's Story: Tailor-made treatments for tail-wagging recoveries

Background

Daisy is a pitsky (Husky Pitbull) with charming mixed-colored eyes and a gentle soul. She captures everyone’s hearts with her energetic and loving personality. Daisy is a wonderful addition to Robert and his wife’s family. Robert and his wife are huge fans of Pit Bulls and Parolees. After one episode, they were very excited about adding a third dog into their family. Robert’s wife relentlessly searched the internet for adoption and rescue opportunities. They came upon a rescue that had a kill shelter in Mississippi. The rescue organization is called SNAR–Special Needs for Animals Rehabilitation Rescue. They take these special needs dogs, rehabilitate them, and adopt or foster them. However, in Daisy’s case, they had no special requirements other than her being in a kill shelter. Daisy was coming to Robert’s family from Mississippi to Tampa, Florida. Upon their first encounter, Robert and his wife were elated and joyful. Daisy was only five months old at the time. Daisy is lovely and very friendly. She got along well with Robert’s existing pets, also known as her siblings, Yokie and Min Pin. 

Unfortunately, in 2021, when Robert took Daisy for her yearly check-up and meds/flea medication, they felt her lymph nodes. Robert received a call from the vet as they suspected her lymph nodes were swollen. The vet suggested that Robert contact a specialist to move forward with Daisy’s swollen lymph nodes. 

Robert learned that lymphoma is a severe form of cancer. It’s very aggressive. Daisy needed to start treatment immediately. The emergency pet hospital in the area is Blue Pearl, and they have oncologists. However, oncologists were weeks booked out. In this dreadful and hopeless situation, Robert makes multiple phone calls and attempts to get Daisy treated. He was introduced to Dr. Kelly Kezer, a veterinary oncologist at BluePearl Pet Hospital in Tampa, Florida. Before getting Daisy treated adequately by the oncologist, Robert performed multiple research studies to learn more about this crucial form of cancer. He joined multiple groups on Facebook; Fighting Canine Lymphoma, Canine Lymphoma, Dog Cancer Supports, and a special one — Canine T-cell Infusion & Bone Marrow Transplant Information & Support. He reached out to colleges to deans of veterinarians. He checked out clinical trials to see what Daisy would qualify for because of the cost that he was researching. The price was substantially high for CHOP protocols, between $6,500 to $15,000. Robert even looked into holistic approaches (Chinese medicine herbs as well as looking into western medicine). 

In Aug 2022, Robert reached out to ImpriMed because everything was not working. Daisy did not have a tumor to sample then, and she was still eligible for ImpriMed Service. With ImpriMed Personalized Prediction Profile, Daisy was prescribed Tanovea®. Robert trusted ImpriMed because it is not one-size-fits-all but a personalized drug response prediction profile to treat your pet’s cancer! ImpriMed helped Robert and his oncologist make the best treatment decision through a roadmap and educational data report. Additionally, after ImpriMed, Dr. Kezer recommended Daisy return to CHOP and Vincristine & cyclophosphamide recently. Daisy’s lymph nodes had gone back down tremendously. Robert and his family were ecstatic to see that she was still responding to these treatments. This brought hope to Robert’s family that they would have more time with Daisy and help her fight against cancer. Daisy reacted really well. Daisy went through this journey with a smile. She is an incredible warrior!

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Veterinarian’s Note

Like most patients, we treated Daisy’s lymphoma with CHOP and she achieved complete remission for almost a year before relapsing. At the time of relapse her owner was interested in doing ImpriMed, which helped us in choosing her rescue protocols. Given the cost associated with some protocols we were not sure if it would be a good investment, but having the results to guide us was helpful. She was able to have another good 7 months before ultimately succumbing to the disease.
— Dr. Kelly Kezer, BSc, DACVIM (O)

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‍Pet Parent Testimonial

Robert learned about ImpriMed from a Facebook group, “Fighting Canine Lymphoma”. Moreover, his friend from the group did ImpriMed in the past. Robert thought ImpriMed would give Daisy a more personalized insight for better treatment results: “It was fascinating to me to rank what would work for Daisy. We are not throwing away money. It gave me hope in essence. It gave guidance and support to Dr. Kezer. This gave us more time with Daisy”. 

Robert is willing to do anything he can to help spread the word, not only for ImpriMed but also for cancer awareness to help other pet owners. Robert stated, “I’m a big supporter of ImpriMed. I already recommend ImpriMed to the forum board; this is the information I got from it. It’s been a lifesaver in the sense that knowledge is power. I will continue to spread the word about ImpriMed. If I can bring peace to other dog owners, I will do that!” Robert’s heartfelt goal is to continue supporting other pet parents in similar situations.
— Robert K., Daisy's Dad

Daisy crossed the rainbow bridge on January 2023.

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