Feline Nasal Tumor Warriors

“Brodie” Williams

I had the pleasure of sitting down and talking over the telephone with Sally Williams about her beloved feline friend, “Brodie,” in early April of 2021. If you’ve been searching through our articles under Sasha’s Information Corner, you may have already come across Sally’s other feline cancer warrior, “Marlin,” who is quite famous all over social media.

Brodie represented the love and driving force behind Sally’s creation of The Brodie Fund in 2016. Sally described Brodie as the perfect (or “purrfect”?) cat, a little “funny-looking” being that he looked like a cross between a DSH Tabby and an Oriental Shorthair, but a lover of life. He was the sweetest of cats and loved absolutely everyone. He greeted all of the visitors that stopped by his home - after all, they were stopping by to see him, right?

When Brodie was between 12 and 13 years old (in the summer of 2015), he began to have intermittent sneezing. At first, Brodie’s veterinarian and Sally were not overly concerned. After all, he was behaving completely normally otherwise, except for the occasional sneezing. He was first treated for an upper respiratory infection and then allergies - he didn’t worsen, but the sneezing didn’t resolve, either. When the sneezing did begin to worsen, they wondered if it was due to an upper tooth problem. Brodie was anesthetized for a dental procedure and had some extractions, but his veterinarian also biopsied some tissue surrounding the teeth.

Unfortunately, based on the biopsy results, Brodie was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma of the nasal passage. Sally and her husband were devastated. Brodie’s veterinarian referred them to Red Bank Veterinary Hospital in NJ and veterinary oncologist, Dr. Dustin Lewis.

Sally described Dr. Lewis as incredibly caring and extremely good at explaining the type of cancer that Brodie had and what treatment options were available. The Williams family collectively decided to move forward with treating Brodie for his nasal adenocarcinoma. He received 19 rounds of radiation therapy - 5 days a week of therapy for approximately 4 weeks. Each time, he was anesthetized in order for the radiation therapy to reach the exact same location in Brodie’s body. Sally described Brodie as being tired for the duration of his treatment protocol, but otherwise he was his normal self. Sally also reached out to an integrative veterinary oncologist to add in specific Chinese herbs and acupuncture to Brodie’s treatment regimen. Brodie was much more energetic after his weekly acupuncture sessions! Although he did lose some of his fur (it came back greyish in color) and lost his sense of smell for a period of time (leading to the placement of a short-term feeding tube), Brodie had an amazing quality of life during and after his radiation therapy. He eventually stopped sneezing and seemed to be back to his normal self once again.

Brodie lived life to the fullest for 13 months after his diagnosis of nasal adenocarcinoma. While this may seem like a short period of time (no measure of time with them is nearly long enough), they were beautiful, pain-free months. Slowly, Brodie’s sneezing began to return, and he would have the occasional nosebleed. Sally was able to control these bleeds with the Chinese herbal Yunnan Baiyao (which is also consistently used to control bleeds in dogs with splenic hemangiosarcoma).

In late September of 2016, Brodie was struggling to breathe from his nose, and Sally knew that his quality of life was deteriorating. She had promised him at the beginning of his diagnosis that she would never allow him to live in discomfort. On September 29th, 2016, the Williams family bid farewell to their “funny-looking” and perfect kitty.

Brodie’s legacy lives on through Sally’s love and tireless work through The Brodie Fund. She admitted that, if it weren’t for the kindness and expertise of Dr. Dustin Lewis and the many hours of communication with other pet parents of “cancer warriors” in the waiting area at Red Bank Veterinary Hospital, The Brodie Fund may not exist as it does today. She realized that there were other pet parents out there who were experiencing the same things and that the gift of time - good quality time - was what each of them were seeking.