Sarah Simone’s Story

We are blessed to have many volunteers help us with Chase Away K9 Cancer and we will be profiling their stories in the months to come. One amazing volunteer is Sarah-Simone who has demonstrated what one motivated young lady can accomplish. The letter below tells how she used her own birthday to raise money for Chase Away K9 Cancer and we are proud to say that she surpassed her goal. And although Gumpy lost his battle a few months ago she is not stopping her efforts and has organized a dog walk in her area and is asking others to do the same. We are so touched by Sarah’s efforts and we know that the spirit of Gumpy will live on in her efforts.

Hello Everyone,

My name is Sarah-Simone and I am a Young Handler with the Ontario Dock Dogs. In the fall of 2007 one of my best friends was struck with an illness that no kid wants to hear. Forrest Gumpy had stage 4 lymphoma/cancer. Gumpy is only 5 years old and is a rescue that has had nothing but a hard life for 4 years. Now he had to fight once again.

Since Gumpy’s diagnosis I have decided to do what I can to raise fund for the Chase Away K9 Cancer Fund so that no other kid has to face this battle with their best friend. My goal was to raise $1,000.00 by October 2008 as this is the date of Gumpy’s diagnosis.

On May 5th, 2008 I turned 14 years old and I wanted to come up with a fun way to spend my birthday (other than Dock Diving lol). After thinking about it for a few days I came up with a really fun idea…

I set up a Chase Away K9 Cancer Challenge!!!! I wanted to see how many cards I could collect from all over the DockDogs World with $1.00 in it by May 5. All the money went to the Chase Away Fund… I also asked my family not to give gifts but to make a donation instead. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my birthday than helping dogs like Forrest Gumpy fight cancer.