Serena Gannon-Lodge and husband, Andrew, who lived in London before moving to San Francisco pictured with their dog Millie
A dog given six months to live has made a full recovery after her doting owners spent their life savings on a £23,000 pioneering stem cell transplant – which involved flying the pooch’s mum out to the U.S.
Serena Gannon-Lodge and husband, Andrew, who lived in London before moving to San Francisco, were devastated when six-year-old cocker-spaniel, Millie was diagnosed with lymphoma after spotting her swollen glands in July.
Millie went through four months of chemotherapy while vet, Serena and engineer Andrew, both 32, began researching the work of the North Carolina State Veterinary Hospital – one of just three places in the world to perform these transplants on dogs.
In desperate need of a viable donor to give Millie stem cells, the newlyweds reached out across the pond to Millie’s mum Coco and owner Robert Alcock, 52, a catering manager, who, once discovering Coco was a match at odds of just 25 per cent, agreed to fly out immediately to help save the pup’s life.
And after Robert’s week-long trip last month to extract Coco’s healthy cells via injections and a apheresis machine, which separates the stem cells from the blood before injecting them into Millie, both dogs returned home safe and sound before Christmas – with Millie officially in remission.
In desperate need of a viable donor to give Millie stem cells, the newlyweds reached out across the pond to Millie’s mum Coco and owner Robert Alcock. Coco was a perfect match. (Coco and Millie on a walk)
The procedure which is technically referred to a bone marrow transplant despite not touching the patient’s bone marrow, has seen Coco become the first British dog in the world to donate stem cells in this way, with Millie only the 26th pooch globally to receive stem cells using this treatment with a matched donor.
Serena said: ‘Millie means everything to us, we would do anything to save her and for her to be happy.
‘We had been in America for less than a year and we have been saving for a house so we had the money and could afford to do it.
‘We used our savings to pay for Millie’s treatment which we would do any day of the week to make sure she has the best chance to live.
‘This whole five months has been an emotional rollercoaster from being really optimistic to really sad and worried and having to see her go through all of that – but she had to go through it to be here today.
Millie (pictured) was kept in isolation at the North Carolina State Veterinary Hospital
‘It’s been very tough and emotionally draining but we were so happy to have her home for Christmas and she has been straight back to her normal self.
‘She has to have regular check ups now to make sure the cancer is staying at bay, and we are just taking it day by day but we have our best friend back.’
Vet Serena, originally from London, first met Robert from Darwen, Lancashire, six years ago when he brought his now eight-year-old cocker-spaniel, Coco into her practice for a check-up while the pup was pregnant with a litter of four.
After instantly falling in love with the pooch’s sweet and gentle nature, Serena asked to be contacted if Coco gave birth to a girl, and when she did in August 2013, the animal lover didn’t hesitate to adopt Millie just weeks later.
But when Serena got a new job in the US, the couple moved abroad with their beloved pet in August 2018.
It wasn’t until July this year they were dealt a devastating blow when they noticed she had swollen glands – a key symptom of lymphoma.
Coco shows off her shaved patches where doctors have had to access her skin to give her injections to release her stem cells and extract them with a dialysis machine
Serena said: ‘Being a vet myself I see cancer in animals on a weekly basis and I knew that lymphoma was very responsive to chemotherapy.
‘As soon as we flew home we took her straight to a specialist and within a week she had started chemotherapy.
‘Without chemotherapy we were told she would live for just four to six weeks but even with chemotherapy she was given an average life expectancy of just six to nine months.
‘We knew we had to do everything we could so we started researching stem cell transplants, as it was the only option that would give her back a normal life expectancy.
‘We contacted Robert and straight away he said he would get Coco tested and reach out to some of the other puppies from the litter.
‘When Coco came back as a full match we were overwhelmed and paid to fly them both over here as soon as they could.’
Using nearly £15,500 [$20,000 USD] of savings for a house, the couple spent £6,100 [$8,000 USD] all the necessary flights and documents and contributed towards the cost of the £23,000 [$30,000 USD] procedure – relying on pet insurance to fund the rest.
Robert and Coco with Serena and Millie at the hospital. Once extracted, the harvested cells were given to Millie through an IV catheter – but not before two rounds of full body radiation to remove her own immune system so that her mum’s healthy cells could take over
Married dad-of-two Robert flew 4,000 miles from his hometown to the hospital in North Carolina in November with Coco reuniting her with her daughter for the first time in six years.
Before boarding the nine-hour flight, Serena and Andrew had to pay £150 for Coco’s rabies jab and a pet passport so she could travel.
During their stay Coco received two injections for five days to stimulate the release of her stem cells from her bone marrow into her blood – before spending five hours on a dialysis machine to extract the healthy cells.
Once extracted, the harvested cells were given to Millie through an IV catheter – but not before two rounds of full body radiation to remove her own immune system so that her mum’s healthy cells could take over.
Waiting for the cells to do their magic, vulnerable Millie had to spend another three weeks in hospital with one week in complete isolation to protect her from the outside world while her immune system built itself back up.
But defying the laws of superstition, Millie returned home on Friday 13th December fighting fit, just in time for the festivities, while Robert and Coco flew home at the end of November.
Coco and Millie share some mother daughter time during their short break in North Carolina together
Now the pup’s cancer is in remission, but doctors won’t know for definite that she is completely cancer free for another two years.
Stem cell transplants for humans were developed in dogs in the 1970s but since then the procedure has become much less invasive for both humans and animals – and Millie has become only the 26th dog in the world to undergo this kind of life-saving procedure.
Robert said: ‘When Serena and Andrew asked me if I would get Coco tested and then fly out, I didn’t even hesitate to agree.
‘I would do the same for Coco if she was in this situation. A dog is part of your family and you love them the way you love your children.
‘It only seemed right that I let Coco save her own daughter and I’m so happy to see Millie re-united with Serena and Andrew happy and healthy again.’
Andrew added: ‘I feel that Millie is Serena’s soulmate, the bond they have is so loving I can’t imagine the two of them being apart.
‘Both of us would do anything for Millie.’