Hazel: Your Spirit Animal
- Kandice Modene
- Apr 9, 2017
- 2 min read
Hazel: Your Spirit Animal
In March of 2016, Players for Pits became aware of Hazel, a 90 pound pitbull with tumors covering her body. One tumor which was hanging from her chest, weighing in at 3.5 pounds, and hanging so low that it would drag on the ground! Hazel was picked up as a stray in Elgin, and went to golf rose in Schaumburg. Her owners never came for her... Mollie speculates that maybe they became overwhelmed with her medical issues and just let her out. The vet told Mollie that her tumors were likely caused from extreme sun exposure, so maybe she was a junk yard dog. She was at Golf Rose on her stray hold when her tumor literally exploded. She had to be rushed into emergency surgery to remove the tumor. Surgery was successful and Mollie picked her up that night to foster her. Right away she was the SWEETEST dog. Mollie still wonders how the heck Hazel could be sweet after enduring the pain of the tumor AND the surgery. But she was (and still is) the sweetest dog ever. A few weeks after her big tumor was removed, she went back in to remove the rest of the tumors on her body, unfortunately, Mollie found out that two of them were positive for cancer...mast cell. The founder of the rescue and Mollie had long talks about what their next steps would be. Hazel was 9 after all, and not in the best of health. But, they decided to consult with an oncologist. Hazel and Mollie e ended up visiting with Dr. Book at VCA Aurora who completely put their mind at ease. With her advice, Mollie and Hazel proceeded with chemo. The chemo must not have been that bad, because after going weekly for about 10 weeks, Hazel was always happy to see all of the vet techs. Once Hazel was finally cancer free, she was adoptable! She had some interest from amazing adopters...But Mollie just couldn't fathom living without her.
Pictures by Mollie Jane