Samitha Hess

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Trying to save my puppy’s life:
My 12 year old puppy Mattie has been recently diagnosed with liver cancer. When she had an ultrasound done, the doctor said she needed surgery to remove the tumor and the spleen (the tumor was wrapped completely around it), but it was only a 5-10% chance she would make it through. Well, she did and with flying colors. She was out chasing ducks 2 days later. Unfortunately, I found out they were not able to get ALL of the cancer so it spread to her liver. They gave her less than 2 months to live. But, it’s been over 2 months and she’s still going strong. She’s already gone through 2 sessions of chemotherapy without getting sick, but the specialist told me last week not to expect too much He also let me know approx. how expensive this was going to be. Her treatment includes 5 drugs: Denamarin, Doxorubicin, Cychophosphamide, Piroxicam, and Tramadol. Along with these drugs, she has to go in once a week to check blood and have xrays/ultrasounds to determine the location and or spread of her cancer.So far, with the tests, surgery, x-rays, etc. the bill is up to $5000. The specialist told me to expect at least $8000 more. I just can’t give up fighting for her though. Whatever I have to do to save her I will do. She’s my kid you know. I’ve never been able to have children so my pets (Mattie and Checkers, her 16 year old brother) have become my children. Who knew you could ever love something so much.

A little about my kids:

I adopted Checkers 15 years ago from a local shelter. On the day I met him, he was to be put down since he had been there over 7 months, so I asked if I could have him instead and he’s never left my side since. He has been so great taking care of Mattie. Any time he can sense that she’s hurting, he walks up and starts licking her ears and nudges under her chin to curl up & fall asleep. He never leaves Mattie for too long.

I met Mattie when she was 6 weeks old. Her mother and 5 brothers and sisters were found starving in an alley Austin Texas until a local took them in and fed them until they were old enough to be adopted out. Most of her sibblings were adopted by the time I got there. Everyone wanted the ones that looked like black labs, which were all of them except Mattie. I stood outside the yard and watched for 10 minutes or so, watching her try everything she could to get any attention at all with no luck at all. All of a sudden this runt of the litter with her bloated belly and ears and feet that were waaay to big for her little body made a b-line through the yard straight for me. She was the most precious thing that I had ever seen in my entire life. Since then she’s gone everywhere with me, even tubing down the Guadalupe River in her own tube.

The 3 of us have been through everything you can imagine, including almost being homeless. I remember a time when I couldn’t even afford to buy groceries, it was either food for them or for me, so I was able to go for about 5 days without food so my kids could eat. Mattie has even saved me twice, once from a bad boyfriend and once from myself. She has never once given up on me, so there’s no way I’m giving up on her.

So far, We’ve tried to get grants from non-profit organizations but have been turned down by all of them, reasons being: she’s too old, we live in the wrong state, or they don’t pay for longterm medical assistance like chemo. We got an increased credit limit on my credit card to $5000, but that card filled up the first 2 weeks after her surgery. So now, to try to raise money for Mattie’s bills, I’ve put several photos of her and Checkers on tees and artwork. So the more pieces I sell, the closer I can get to giving her the help she needs. If anyone knows of any other ways to raise/receive money, I can use any and ALL the help I can get.

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to email me @ samithahess@yahoo.com

My Bio:

A BFA in fine arts & art history, I was born to be an artist… or maybe just be weird. I’ve been painting since I was 3 years old, painting with my mom on old pieces of drift wood we found on the beach. With a few things under my belt, I still consider myself a starving artist. I created and designed a privately owned tanning salon in Galveston, I’ve been an advertising and marketing designer for several local establishments, and my swing dance team and I were selected to perform in Australia for the closing ceremony of the 2000 Olympics (not really art related but I think it’s cool!). Now, my focuses are environmental and animal related. Volunteering at the local animal shelter, I saw the worst of the worst that humans have done to animals. I’ve been supporting animal rights for 2 decades, and in that time I also became a vegetarian, after seeing a Humane Society film on Animal Testing and the conditions in the US slaughter houses. I realized right then and there that My Job is to be the voice for the furry (and not so furry)... so that’s what I do. 20% of all animal related art sales are donated to the Humane Society and I’m an avid member and supporter of PETA. For more information, artwork & gifts, visit my website @ samitha.org

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