The Magic Bullet by Laurie Kaplan

September 19, 1992, I adopted an 18-month-old Siberian Husky called Max at my local SPCA. Anyone who has ever lived with Siberians will tell you that they are more than a bundle of trouble. The Siberian is willful and ornery, smart and demanding and his primary objective in life is to escape, run free and just keep on running. The name Max didn’t seem to fit, but in the weeks following the adoption, Max’s first (of many) series of escapes earned him the name Bullet (as in faster than a speeding…).

Bullet was strikingly beautiful. On every outing, every passer-by stopped to admire his beauty. Several people went out of their way to come over and tell me that he was the most beautiful dog they’d ever seen. I would look at him and laugh, thinking “He doesn’t care one bit about that, but he’ll be very happy if you have a biscuit in your pocket!”

I made sure that my boy had the opportunity to do what he was born to do. We took winter weekend trips to Lake Placid to go dog sledding and he was a natural.

July 17, 2000, Bullet was diagnosed with canine lymphoma, an aggressive, malignant cancer parallel to the human disease called Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. The optimal life expectancy for dogs with this disease is about two months without chemotherapy and a year to eighteen months with chemotherapy. Bullet underwent an aggressive course of chemotherapy. He went into remission after his first treatment and stayed in remission for the rest of his life. In all, he survived lymphoma for 4 years and 4 months. Is Bullet’s survival of lymphoma enough for him to have earned his nickname, “The Magic Bullet”? Maybe not!

In November 2002, at the age of 10, Bullet went into congestive heart failure. Ultrasound and EKG diagnostic tests rendered diagnoses of dilated cardiomyopathy and atrial fibrillation. The prognosis: Bullet would survive 6 months to a year. Bullet recovered from this heart failure only to endure another in April of 2003 and yet another in August of the same year. In all, Bullet survived five episodes of congestive heart failure.

In May of 2004 I discovered a tumor on Bullet’s ribcage. I hesitated to put him through surgery—after all, he was a 13-year-old Siberian with lymphoma and heart disease. With direction from a cardiologist concerning anesthesia, the tumor was successfully removed in May 2004 by a board certified surgeon, Dr. Martin DiAngeles of Hastings NY. Showing once again his indomitable spirit and strong constitution, Bullet came through this surgery. When the biopsy report found the tumor to be an aggressive malignant cancer (nerve sheath tumor), my concerns about having put my boy through the surgery unnecessarily vanished. It also found clean margins.

After surviving lymphoma for four years and four months, after surviving a deadly heart condition for 2 years, Bullet had most certainly earned his title!

July 2004 marked Bullet’s 4-year remission from lymphoma and also the release of my first book, Help Your Dog Fight Cancer: An Overview of Home Care Options. This book shares the results of my research and experience, in hopes of helping others who have a dog with cancer. It also tells the story of Bullet’s odyssey. I hope it will give many dogs a fighting chance to survive cancer and cancer treatment. More information about the book can be found at www.HelpYourDogFightCancer.com, or send questions to email@HelpYourDogFightCancer.com.

I also founded the Magic Bullet Fund, to help others who have dogs with cancer but who cannot afford treatment. The fund has helped 12 dogs through cancer treatment and is still growing.

On November 20th, 2004, Bullet went to the Rainbow Bridge at home, in my arms, at 13 years and 8 months old, cancer free, after a 5-day struggle to reverse kidney failure. Bullet will be fiercely missed and long remembered. The love of my life, the dog of my dreams, the Magic Bullet.