Hello, my name is Robyn, I am a waitress in Nashville, TN. One night this past summer I came across a dog digging through a garbage dumpster, from a distance I it looked like a nursing female, I was concerned, with the extreme heat that she may have puppies. I did a u-turn and followed “her”, the dog was quite elusive. Finally, I had it cornered near the Dollar General ice machine. When I go closer, I was startled to see that it was not a nursing female, but a male with a massive tumor on his genitals. I was stunned. The huge tumor was oozing blood and the poor dog was obviously in a great deal of discomfort. I quickly drove to my house for food, and called my friend Hollie who rescues dogs, she told me I must be exaggerating in 20 years of rescuing she had never heard of such a thing. She said to try to catch him. I return with food to the spot where I last saw him, he was gone. I looked for him every night when I got off work, it was 4 days before I would see him again. I was prepared this time. I had been collecting leftover steak, salmon & chicken from the restaurant, keeping in the car in a cooler in hopes out paths would cross again. There he was, at first he turned away, I just sat on the bumper of my car tossing the treats to him, he growled and paced stopping frequently to gobble the morsels I was tossing to him. He ate ravinously, I could tell he was starving, I could count his ribs even from a distance. For an hour I sat there till to 2 am, until all the food was gone. It was until I saw him again, the same routine, this went one for over a month, I would see him every few days, always in the wee hours of the morning. Then suddenly one night there he was asleep on the median strip on a four lane highway. I slowly approached, he barely lifted his head, I tossed him some fish, this time he didn’t growl. He sat up slightly to eat then put his head back down. I laid on my stomach and inched my way closer, talking to him the entire time. Gradually he let me touch him between bites. Tonight was different it was if he saying okay, now, is the time. I am ready for your help now. I slowly slipped a leash around his neck and crawled on my stomach backwards towards the van, he could hardly walk, the tumor was swinging between his legs and there was lots of blood. I was worried he was going to die right there, he was very weak. It took about 30 minutes for me to inch him to the back of the van. I had not a clue how I was going to get him in there. To my surprise, he put both paws on the bumper and tried to lift himself up, but the tumor banged against the bumper and he fell back to the ground. I consoled him for a few minutes and coaxed him to give it another try. This time, just as he went to jump, I grab the fur above his tail and lifted his back end in. He laid right down on the blanket and proceeded to groom his tumor. I called Hollie, it was 3 am, she could not believe I had him. I rushed home with him, I was not prepared for a dog so I placed him in the barn for the night. Gave him plenty of blankets, food and water. There was blood all over the back of the van, so I wasn’t sure how to handle him in the house. The next day I came up with a plan, I wrapped my mattress in garbage bags, the took some puppy training pads that I had on hand and taped them around him like a diaper. He moved into my bedroom. It was amazing, he constantly cleaned himself. He would only sleep for a few minutes at a time, then clean himself again. Hollie told me that it was instinct, he had to keep cleaning the blood away to protect himself from attracting predators. Once he had the diaper on, he stopped doing that and finally he slept for like 2 hours, he seemed so exhausted.
On day three, we had our appointment with Dr. Barry Fly, Hollie said he is the only vet she would ever trust to handle a situation like this. Hollie prepared me, though, she said there was very good chance that Dr. Fly would say the best thing for him would be to put him to sleep. I had 2 days to think about it, and at least if that was the outcome he wouldn’t be suffering on the streets anymore and for at least two nights he knew love and comfort. We decided to call him Lance after Lance “Chubby” Armstrong. Dr. Fly was quite surprised, this was a first for him. No one had ever seen a tumor so massive in the location before. He wanted to run some tests, to see if it was cancer and to see if any of his organs had been effected. To everyones amazement, his organs were fine. Dr. Fly guessed his age to be about 3 yrs, and he felt confident that he could remove the tumor, additionally he pointed out a 2nd tumor on his side that seemed to be a different type of mass that should be removed as well.
When the pathology report came back, Dr. Fly informed us, that it was operable, and possible treatable depending on the type of cancer. He would not know until the biopsy came back. Then the really bad news came, the surgery was going to cost thousands of dollars. I was devastated, how was I going to pay for that, we began racking our brains. Then one day, I was my friends boarding facility, they were telling me about the Zuke’s brand dog food, so we looked it up online. We found a link to the DOG & CAT CANCER FUND, I called Hollie, I said lets contact them. We sent out a plea on Craigslist as well. The donations started coming in. After 3 weeks, we raised enough to pay for at least half of the surgery, so Dr. Fly graciously agreed to due the surgery while we continued to raise funds. The Surgery complete, “Chubby” no we waited to see if he was a candidate for chemo and radiation, and he was a perfect candidate for chemo.

Chris Meiering @DCCF kept in touch with us throughout the entire process, when we got the news, that chemo was a possibility, DCCF stepped up to help cover the cost. With the chemo, we were looking at another $1000.00, I was devastated, but DCCF put my mind at ease, because we could start chemo and their donation bought us time to raise the rest of the funds.

“Chubby’s” first round of chemo did not go very well, got extremely ill. He stopped eating, he lost 10 lbs. in one week. We had to postpone any further treatments until he regained his strength. I was freaking out. Chris was extremely reassuring, that once “Chubby’s” strength was back, he would be okay to start chemo again. After an extremely long recovery, we once again began chemo in November 2008. “Chubby” did great, every Monday for 5 weeks we would drive over an hour each way to & from therapy. DCCF was there the entire time, helping to keep the bill paid so the the treatments could continue.

Lance “Chubby” Johnson, is now a pillar of health. He acts as if he had never met a stranger. He is such a house dog, he prefers the safety of the house, outside reminds him of his life on the street. He goes out long enough to do h is business and take a sunbathe, but for the most part, he prefers to be by my side. He is famous in East Nashville, everyone knows his story, neighbors & donors often stop by to check on him. He always greets everyone with a wagging tail and a big huge smile.

Attached are photos of “chubby” take last Sunday, doesn’t he look fantastic?

Thanks You so Much for your moral and financial support in helping save Lance “Chubby” Armstrong, the world is a much better place with him in it. I can not begin to thank the AMAZING Dr. Barry Fly and his staff for all they have done. Also, Luvie’s Legacy and the Dog & Cat Cancer Fund, plus the many other private donors that helped us get “Chubby” to where he is today.

From the bottom of my heart, I thank you all.

Robyn Jayne Guidara