Retriever with Soft-tissue Sarcoma

Background

Diagnosis with a soft-tissue sarcoma would likely have been an immediate death sentence for many pets. Luckily, McKenzie, a 7 year old Flat-coated Retriever embraced by Gina S. of Sacramento, CA, had a pet parent who refused to give up before she had to.

Gina tells McKenzie's story:

"As a best-selling writer on pet-care and veterinary topics, I have long believed in pet health insurance. I know that good care from great veterinarians costs money, and I have known too many pets who were euthanized because their owners couldn't afford to treat them. When my 7-year-old Retriever, McKenzie, was diagnosed with a soft-tissue sarcoma, the only thing I was glad for was that I had followed through on my own advice, with pet health insurance from Embrace.

"Her prognosis was grim, but the veterinary oncologists thought I could fight the cancer with chemotherapy. The treatments would not be painful, and the side affects would be few and easily dealt with. McKenzie was a very special dog not only to me but also to many people. She'd been on a national book tour with me, in and out of hotels, on countless morning TV shows, at meet-and-greet book-signings where she always met everyone with good manners and a wag of her tail.

"The cost of her care was worth every penny and more to me, but I never could have come up with that kind money out of pocket. In all her expenses exceeded $17,000, or about $1,700 a month, including acupuncture to help her immune system and appetite, which was also covered by Embrace, to my surprise and relief.

"Between her diagnoses and the day I said goodbye, almost 10 months later to the day, McKenzie had but two bad days. No one could believe she was sick, much less how grim her prognosis. She lived her life with utter joy, running and swimming with the eagerness of a puppy, playing fetch in the pasture and playing her silly game of pushing her beloved tennis balls under my desk as I worked, and barking at me to stop what I was doing to get them.

"The Embrace team lived up to the name of their company. They were always there for us, with great customer service that made me feel that they truly cared about me and my dog. Claims were turned around quickly, which allowed me the luxury of worrying about my dog, not about her healthcare bills. I came to believe fervently that Embrace was as important a part of McKenzie's veterinary team as her veterinarians. And they were: Without Embrace, I couldn't have kept pace with the cost of the extraordinary care of a gifted and compassionate veterinary team.

"I have no regrets when it comes to the decisions I made in caring for my special dog. Every day we had together was a gift, and she outlived her prognosis by months, with a quality of life that was joyous and satisfying to us both until the day before she died. The best decision I made for her came years before she ever was sick: I signed her up for pet health insurance."