Dog gets $45,000 stem cell transplant
Associated Press, April 7, 2005
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansas...s/11334391.htm
BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, Wash. - Darrell and Nina Hallett love their dog Comet and
have reached deeply into their wallets to prove it.
The couple spent $45,000 on a stem cell transplant for their golden retriever,
who is recovering from lymphoma, a type of cancer that attacks the immune
system.
Dr. Edmund Sullivan, a Bellingham veterinarian, performed the transplant last
summer, using stem cells from another golden retriever.
Sue Hendrickson, a friend of the Halletts, owns Comet's mother and 11 other
dogs. She spent months tracking down 40 of Comet's relatives to donate blood,
eventually finding three perfect matches.
She flew to Florida to get Rico, the biggest of the three and the one who
could yield the most stem cells, and delivered him to the Fred Hutchinson
Cancer Research Center in Seattle, which donated advice and facilities for the
transplant.
The cancer center has performed hundreds of bone-marrow or stem-cell
transplants on dogs over the past four decades, as researchers perfected
techniques used to treat cancer in humans.
Comet's transplant happened in June. After a long, steady recovery, he appears
to be showing signs that he's been cured.
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