Thank you for your letter informing us of the donation made by Riley's doctors in his memory. Your letter came at just a little over two months since we had to put Riley down. It's getting easier but there are still sad days. Your letter arrived on a sad day and that made it a perfect day to open your letter. Riley was only seven years young with a tumor in his heart that had metastasized from hemangiosarcoma. We were aware there was a high probability that he would die from CA because of his breed (Golden Retriever) -- but we thought we had at least two if not three more years before this happened.

Although this was a very hard and sad process to go through it was a 'good' experience. The care that he received from all of his physicians - from Dr. Lynn DeBroeck and the other doctors at Redwood to his cardiologist at Seattle Veterinary Specialists - was outstanding. People-doctors could benefit from interning with Veterinarians to learn bedside manners and how to treat family members! We are so glad that there are colleges like WSU that have schools that produce excellent doctors like the ones that cared for Riley and that helped us with so much compassion when it was time to make the ultimate decision to help him for the last time.

Gary & Vicki S.