Feel-Good Friday: Cancer Free and Jo Alice

 I have a very warm and fuzzy story for Feel-Good Friday, and it all happened not too far away from where I live. 

The story starts off pretty terribly. Matt Hannon was diagnosed with Ewing's Carcoma when he was seven months old. It's a type of cancer that forms in the soft tissue of the bones, and Matthew's case was a bad one. Because of his age there wasn't enough data to determine his odds, but other older patients in his situation would have about a 30% survival rate.

Wow. Very devastating news for Matthew and his parents. To pay for his treatment his parents wound up selling their home and losing most of their material goods. However, it turned out to be the best investment of their lives, because at age 7, Matthew is cancer free. He's been cancer free for five years, and while he did lose his arm to the disease, he is otherwise living the life a seven year old deserves. 

Well. Except for the one thing that was missing. He really wanted a dog. Since his family was renting that was a wish they couldn't fulfill, until their landlord got to know them and realized they were responsible people.

The Hannons took Matt from their home in New Jersey to Hershey, Pennsylvania, to tour the chocolate factory. On the way home they stopped at Fox Breeze Kennel to "look at dogs."  Really, they were there to pick up Jo Alice, a 2 year old Basset Hound that was dumped at a high-kill shelter in North Carolina with her puppies. The puppies were adopted out, but Jo Alice was put on the dreaded Kill List. That's when a host of heroes stepped in. Carolina Basset Hound Rescue pulled her from the shelter. Then she was flown to Pennsylvania by Scott Messinger, owner of Eye Land Optical Centers. He is a part of Pilots N Paws, and has flown around 3000 dogs to Pennsylvania from high-kill shelters in the south.

So many happy endings in this story. A boy who shouldn't survive does, with most of his life intact and stretched out ahead of him.  A dog who shouldn't survive does, and gets the perfect boy to pal around with for a long, happy life. Congratulations to Matt and Jo Alice. We wish you so many perfect wet-nose moments in the future!

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More on this story, including the original pictures and a short video, can be found here:
http://www.ldnews.com/lebanonnews/ci_23980851/cancer-survivor-7-surprised-dog-that-survived-kill