Canine Soft Tissue

Sarcoma Warriors

“Nolan” BLANK

Sometimes, the stars align when we aren’t necessarily expecting them to . . . 

“Riley,” a beautiful white Boxer belonging to Dan Blank, all but dragged her dad over to a pen of wiggling puppies that were up for adoption at a Petco in Pennsylvania one cold, winter day in 2013 when they had stopped there to get dog food, treats, and a toy. Dan had been steeling himself for what he thought was going to be a less-than-joyful trip, as Riley wasn’t always fond of a lot of other dogs, and a busy adoption day at Petco was probably not going to be the low-key trip that he had anticipated. He certainly hadn’t expected Riley to go up to the pen of puppies on her own with that much enthusiasm! She paid no mind to the bouncing, barking puppies that came up to sniff her through the bars of the pen. Instead, she only seemed to have eyes for the brindle ball of fur that was huddled in the back of the pen, looking depressed and out-of-sorts.

The woman running the adoption event told Dan that this particular puppy, “Sarge,” had travelled up from Tennessee and had been separated from his sibling and was not coping very well with the trip. She allowed Dan and Riley to visit with Sarge, and immediately Riley rolled onto her back and Sarge began acting like a happy puppy! Dan had never owned two dogs at a time, but this interaction between Riley and Sarge was something special!

Dan took Sarge’s adoption papers home to fill out, made some telephone calls to request veterinary references on his behalf, puppy-proofed his home, and went back to Petco to make the adoption official. In that short timespan, another family had been given clearance for adopting Sarge, but they had left to discuss it further. Because these puppy adoptions were part of a travelling adoption event, these puppies couldn’t be held for anyone to think about and come back for. Dan and Riley were in luck when they arrived with all of Sarge’s adoption paperwork in hand.

When Dan and Riley left with Sarge - renamed “Nolan” - it had started snowing, something this scared puppy from Tennessee had never seen! When Dan arrived home, he let the two of them play in the backyard in the snow. They were instantaneous best friends. As Dan put it, they were like “peas and carrots,” Nolan was the “cheese” to Riley’s “macaroni,” and they were inseparable best friends. He gave Dan a big scare on just his second day home - he blended into the couch and pillows so well that it took Dan 25 minutes to find him when he went looking for him! Dan also recalls a time when Nolan ate a light bulb and pooped “disco balls” for 2 days!

Over the years, Nolan has travelled a lot and experienced many adventures with his family. He has lived in several parts of Pennsylvania and now resides near the water in beautiful northern New York. He absolutely LOVES swimming and being out on the boat with his dad. In November of 2021, Dan lost his beloved Riley - Nolan’s best friend - to cancer. Unfortunately, after Dan said farewell to his beautiful girl that day, he found out that Nolan had chewed threw the glove box in the vehicle and had gotten himself hooked onto a musky lure! He had to make a trip back inside the vet clinic to have the hooks removed. Dan now looks back at that difficult time with a chuckle - only Nolan would have done something like that!

In August of 2022, Dan noticed a small lump along Nolan’s left elbow and immediately had it evaluated. A fine needle aspirate (FNA) of the lump was obtained and sent out to a veterinary reference laboratory for analysis. Unfortunately, the results indicated that the lump was indeed a soft tissue sarcoma of some sort. This lump was located near the site of a previously removed soft tissue sarcoma in December of 2020, so it was suggestive that this new lump was “regrowth” from the grade II tumor that had previously been removed.

Nolan was referred to a specialty veterinary hospital to be evaluated by a board-certified surgeon. It was collectively decided to have the tumor removed again, but it was questionable at that time whether or not the entire tumor would be able to be removed, given its location around the elbow. Nolan had his surgery in September of 2022 and recovered well, enjoying the last bits of warm weather before the cold weather set in!

Unfortunately, Nolan’s tumor could not be removed in its entirety due to its location, and Dan was told by the veterinary surgeon that it would eventually come back. Little did anyone know that the cancerous tumor would resurface again just 4 months later.

Dan went back and forth in his mind with the idea of having the tumor debulked one more time. He knew that radiation therapy to control the residual cancerous cells was not an option for him and Nolan for a variety of reasons, and a front leg amputation on an older dog was not without its own risks and long-term effects (not to mention the fact that Nolan loved to swim). Even though the tumor was likely to come back again - just as it had the previous 2 times - Dan elected to have the tumor debulked one more time, as there was a new immunotherapy option for dogs with cancer that he had learned about. The Torigen company took a sample of Nolan’s actual tumor and created an autologous vaccine from the tumor’s cancer cells. The hope is that this vaccine - given as subcutaneous injections once weekly for three weeks - will help to slow down the growth of Nolan’s tumor and keep it stabilized for a longer period of time!

At the time this story is being written, Nolan is in the midst of his Torigen vaccine series. He is taking his treatments like a champ and is always excited to see everyone at the veterinary clinic - possibly because he is always greeted with pets and treats!

Dan’s goal is to keep Nolan as happy and comfortable as possible. They are looking forward to summer boat rides, swimming, and other river adventures! Nolan will surely be soaking up some sun while he naps, as well! He has some newly-found dog friends that he spends a lot of time with these days - Bruce Wayne and Kojack - and is living life to the absolute fullest. Dan believes that Nolan is one of the calmest, gentlest dogs he has ever known, and considers him to be the dog equivalent of Zen.

Nolan is a handsome, sweet boy who is kicking cancer’s butt! You’ve got this, Nolan! You’ve got a whole cheering section behind you!