In honour of Miss Molly

[MaxtheBear]

Our Miss Molly was two and a half in June this year when we had to make the heartbreaking decision to let her go.

Five months previously, we had received the unbelievable news that she had an "osteosarcoma" or a bone cancer in her hind right leg.

My husband and I had barely been married three years, and Molly, together with our male dog, Max were our "kids".

We never thought we could love anything the way we love those pups.

When Molly was diagnosed, we decided that we would do anything in our power to attempt to save her as we were told that there was "some chance" that she could go into full remission if certain things were done.

First, she had to have a bone biopsy to definitely diagnose the cancer. That happened, and we were then told that she would have a better chance if we amputated the leg and got her some chemotherapy.

We did both, and it broke our hearts to see our little girl hobbling around on three legs, and not being able to jump on her daddy's lap when he got home from work. The chemo was quite OK, she wasn't sick at all, and seemed to be doing quite well.

Three months after chemo finished, we had a follow up test which showed that the cancer had not spread. We hoped that the cancer had been taken away with the leg. We finally had hope!

A few weeks after that Molly developed a limp in her remaining back leg, and was in quite a lot of pain. The memory of that last week will be etched in my mind forever. She seemed to plead with me with her eyes to let her go. Even in extreme pain and discomfort, she would always be ready to give me a kiss when I leant down to talk to her.

A follow up x-ray showed that the bone cancer had spread to her spine, and was occluding two of her vertebrae. She was not eating, and would basically lie on a waterbed all day. We were told that she would be paralysed within weeks.

The decision to let our little princess go was the most difficult thing my husband and I have ever had to do. We knew we had done absolutely everything we could for her, but couldn't help feeling that maybe there was something else. She had also been to naturopath's and herbalists, and nothing worked.

We remember our Miss Molly every day. Her photos adorn our house, and our beautiful boy Max is a constant reminder of the beauty that we have lost in Molly. We miss her sweet nature, her love for us, her total devotion to my husband...we miss her demanding to be let inside when it was simply too hot for her to be outside.

We love you Miss Molly, you gave us something so special, and we are so grateful for the time we had with you....lots of love our darling girl, love, Mummy and Daddy.