Hira’s Journey

We would like to share this very unique story about “Hira”, an extraordinary German Shepherd, and her battle with oral melanoma, a very malignant and rapidly progressive cancer. Her story is best told by her owner, chronicling Hira’s diagnoses and treatments over a two and a half year period. 

We would like to provide a brief overview of the disease and the exciting new advances in this cancer’s treatment. Malignant melanoma (oral) is a very fast growing cancer of dogs. Generally, the prognosis remains quite guarded, and survival times are gauged in weeks to months. The cancer can be pigmented in color (black), or as in Hira’s case, amelanotic (no color). The key to this disease is quick diagnosis, along with rapid, aggressive therapy.

We were able to ally with the University of Wisconsin’s Cancer Research in obtaining for Hira’s use a new vaccine, specifically designed to affect these cancer cells. It became a simple matter of fulfilling the proper paperwork, and forging a wonderful, wonderful relationship with Dr. Ilene Kurzman at Wisconsin. This gave us a viable option for Hira when her cancer returned. 

Please follow Hira’s journey through her owner’s eyes, as we see and learn the impact of this disease on patient and owner alike. Sadly, we lost Hira after more than two and half years of combined therapy. As her medical caregivers, we were proud and overwhelmed by Hira and her response, and so fortunate to work with such a wonderful family. We still miss her.

                                                                                -The Waynesville Veterinary Hospital Staff

Hira’s Story

Hira is a rather small German Shepherd with the biggest heart. She is extremely intelligent, puppy-playful, strongly bonded... a driven, happy dog that loves to chase balls and sticks, play tug-of-war, lets cats rub her face, prances when it snows and leaps into the air to catch snowballs. (Okay, we think she's all around the best dog in the world.)

Early January 2005 we brought her into our vet for a cough, and Dave (Dr. Studzinski)found a mass in her throat near her left tonsil. He surgically removed it, getting it completely and with clean margins. It was diagnosed as oral amelanotic melanoma... a most aggressive cancer that often metastasizes in the lungs or lymphatic system. Hira

was 9 years old.

We looked into our options, with the goal of prolonging her life but preserving its quality. We talked with our vets and read what we could find about similar cases and prognoses. We started treatment at OSU with carboplatin, a relatively new (and very expensive)chemotherapy that was reported to have minimal to no side effects. She underwent the chemotherapy every 3 weeks from January through May. We would bring her to the hospital for the day, where she received blood work-up, a physical exam,chest radiographs, and then the intravenous carboplatin. After the last treatment we started three month follow-ups to check for signs of recurrence.

In January 2006, with clean chest x-rays and no evidence of metastasis, we planned for our next check-up for April. We were thankful for the fact that she was still with us, and also for the fact that we were done with the chemotherapy. Although she suffered no side effects from the drug, it was apparent that she did not enjoy the experience. She had reached the point where she would bark at the sight of the building as we walked up to check her in, and continue to bark at the general world while there. She even spurned the vets, choosing to remain by my side when they would debrief us even when they would reach down to pet her.

Late March 2006, we found a lump on her neck. ..the left side, the same side as the original mass. We were sickened. We checked her into OSU on April 3rd where she under went a CT of the neck area to visualize the mass. It appeared to be a swollen lymph node. She underwent surgery to remove it; the mass was well encapsulated, and the suspicion was that it was an infected lymph node. All involved were fairly confident and cautiously optimistic. A few days later the pathology report came back and we found out that the whole node was full of cancer. Here we were, over a year since finding the original melanoma... we were devastated. Again we weighed all of our options.

Our vet, Joe (Dr. D'Amico), shared that he had just read about a melanoma vaccine in the literature. We checked into it as well as other options. The experience with it seemed promising - it was still experimental, but over 100 dogs had been treated and the majority had responded well. It seemed so simple compared to radiation or chemotherapy, but with over a 50-50 chance and with such little impact to Hira, we decided to try it. Joe worked with the University to set up the treatments- a simple vaccine beneath the skin-and we started the melanoma vaccine protocol in April 2006.

During the treatment period, she continued to go for walks with the family, always wanted to play,'and acted as if she had no health problems. The only evidence that she had anything wrong were the shaved spots that were made to give her the injections. Best of all, she underwent so little stress-I carried her to see Joe,got a quick shot, and came home. She likes Joe - has known him for almost 10 years, and although she might feel compelled to bark at other dogs at the office, these were low-stress trips. (And although we had determined to do what we could regardless of the cost, the vaccines were on the order of $200 a visit, as compared to the chemotherapy which was on the order of $1,000a visit.) She has completed the series of vaccinations, and her follow-up chest x-ray faIl of 2006 was clean.

It is now January 2007. She continues to act like a young dog, and enjoyed the first significant snow of the season last week. She just had her 3-month x-ray, and there are some unusual spots. We don't yet know if they are melanoma but we do know that we have had Hira with us for over two years since finding cancer. And we can share that this last 10 months has been the least traumatic of the past two years-while undergoing the melanoma vaccine, she has continued to enjoy a high quality of life, we have all had minimal trauma, and there is no comparison between the time and cost of the chemotherapy with that of the vaccine. Also we have gone through the treatment with our own family vet who has a shared history with us and our canine and feline 'family members'. There is much to be said for the support that brings when dealing with such an unpredictable disease. Best of all, we have gained additional time with and for our most loved dog, time free of pain and full of the joy of life. It has been very worth it!