Thankful Friday: Looking Back With Gratitude For Your Support

If five years ago you would have asked me what I would be doing today I would have never guessed the answer would be owning and operating a dog grooming products company! Yet, here I am doing just that. 

Feeling full of gratitude for how far we've come and with Thanksgiving right around the corner, I found myself looking back on the journey that started 4-Legger. 

That journey started with my 8 year old dog, Henry Clay. It was 2010. Henry had been licking a lot more than usual. I didn't make the connection between increased licking in his genital area and cancer.  Who would? 

When I took him to his doctor we discovered the licking was in response to him having cancer in his urinary tract. He had surgery to remove the cancer. 

Just one year later, at the age of 9, the cancer had returned. This time Henry's surgery was more extensive.  He had to have a total penectomy to remove the cancer. His perseverance and happy attitude was inspiring.

As a toy poodle, Henry always had a pretty fuzzy face so it wasn't until I was giving him a bath in 2012 that I noticed the facial muscles on one side of his head were wasted away.

The news wasn't good. The doctor said his cancer had returned this time as a brain stem tumor and he had a 4-6 weeks to live. 

Thirteen months later, Henry passed away on the morning of November 22, 2014. Later that same afternoon I received the call that the biopsy taken from my breast and the lymph nodes in my arm had both tested positive for cancer. 

I know Henry stayed with me a year beyond all expectations as he somehow knew he had to show me what courage and perseverance looked like so I could demonstrate the same as I battled cancer myself. 

Within the first month of my own cancer treatment my white blood cell counts were classified as "infection fatal". If I got an infection it would kill me. My body would not be able to fight off the infection. My oncologist recommended washing our dogs frequently so they could sit with me. It wasn't long before they had itchy flaky skin and were miserable - scratching all the time.

Upon turning the so called "organic and all natural" bottle of dog shampoo around to look at the ingredients we discovered it wasn't at all what it said on the front of the bottle. It was full of synthetic ingredients - the same synthetic ingredients I had stopped using when Henry was first diagnosed with cancer! 

We started researching and discovered canine cancer is at an all time high. Our fur families are more likely to die from cancer than anything else. In fact, over 50% of dogs will die from cancer. 

When we then discovered that the grooming industry is unregulated - I knew why I had to defeat cancer and how I was going to help change the dog grooming industry - to make it safer for all dogs in Henry Clay's memory!  

I recently had my 2 year full body scan and no signs of cancer! 

Instead of a Black Friday sale we are simply offering a 20% storewide coupon to show our gratitude and thanks. We’re calling it Thankful Friday and the 20% you save we will also match and donate to The National Canine Cancer Foundation.

Together, we can defeat this disease. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for choosing 4-Legger and for giving your dog a healthy bath! 

Thank you! 

-Melissa Boland
Pack Leader @ 4-Legger

Coupon Code: THANKFULFRIDAY20 (expires 11/28/2017). 

 

PS - We have some incredibly exciting new products in our lineup for 2018! I can't wait for you to try them!