He Spent Years Waiting In A Shelter Until She Came Along And Gave Him A Loving Home: Now That He’s Been Diagnosed With Cancer She’s Doing All She Can To Continue To Give Him A Wonderful Life
Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Hayes is a pit bull living in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with his mom Lauren Swartley.
Lauren first met Hayes at the Capital Area Animal Welfare Society back in 3013. Hayes had spent years there waiting in the shelter for a loving home, and Lauren was the one who finally gave that to him.
“Against my parents’ advice, I took him into my home,” Lauren explained on a GoFundMe page. “Not only were my parents and my friends skeptical of “pit bulls”, but I was too!”
Hayes was suffering from heartworm, so Lauren got him treated and was planning on just fostering him while he got better.
“After undergoing his treatment, I continued to fall more in love with him and enjoyed educating people about the breed each time we would go in public,” Lauren said.
“Eventually, I adopted him and continued to push for the stigma surrounding pit bulls to become a thing of the past.”
GoFundMe; pictured above is Lauren with her dog Hayes
“I created my pet sitting business, Lend A Paw, to help animals just like Hayes – the ones that get overlooked time and time again in the shelter.”
“I’ve since fostered and adopted other pit bulls and made it my life’s work to promote education about adopting, volunteering, and proper animal care.”
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“Without my best buddy Hayes, I wouldn’t be who I am today, and I will do whatever it takes to make sure he gets the care he deserves.”
A few weeks ago on November 6th, Lauren noticed something concerning; Hayes had egg-like lumps on his back legs.
Lauren quickly called her veterinarian to get Hayes seen, and after Hayes got bloodwork done, her vet said that she believed Hayes had Lymphoma.
Further testing confirmed this awful diagnosis, and Hayes was only given 4 to 6 weeks to live if he went untreated.
GoFundMe; pictured above is Lauren smiles with Hayes
“This was obviously a gut-wrenching shock to us, as we were just doing everything as normal a few days prior,” Lauren said.
Lauren is now looking to get Hayes chemotherapy treatments every week for the next 6 months, which will cost more than $7,000 but should prolong his life far beyond a few weeks.
“Knowing we would do everything we could to extend his life and make sure he has a good quality of life, we agreed to begin the procedure immediately,” Lauren continued.
“We began to call every credit card company we could, and get increases on our limits, but it may not be enough in case there is an emergency and additional care is needed.”
Lauren created a GoFundMe page to help raise money to save the life of Hayes, and if you would like to donate to that, you can do so here.
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