12/28 UPDATE: IT IS WITH A SAD HEART THAT WE TELL YOU THAT THIS SWEET BOY IS NO LONGER WITH US. WE HAD SUCH HIGH HOPES THAT THE SURGERY WOULD WORK BUT HIS DOCTOR FOUND AN ADRENAL TUMOR BEHIND THE CYST THAT THE SONOGRAM DIDN’T PICK UP. IT WAS CANCER BUT WE STILL WENT FOR IT AND TRIED TO REMOVE IT ALL. THE SURGEON TRIED BUT IT HAD INVADED THE WALL OF HIS BODY. HE BLED TOO MUCH AND REQUIRED TWO UNITS OF BLOOD AND THEN IF HE DID SURVIVE, HE WOULD REQUIRE CHEMO WHICH NEVER SEEMS TO WORK WITH GOLDENS. HIS POST-OP WOULD HAVE BEEN VERY HARD ON HIM AND IN THE END, CHARLEY DESERVED BETTER. WE LET HIM GO AT 3:30 TODAY. SOME OF YOU WILL THINK WE WERE FOOLISH TO HAVE TRIED TO SAVE HIM, FOOLISH TO SPEND THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS. SOME OF YOU WILL THINK WE DID THE RIGHT THING. ALL WE CAN SAY IS WE EXIST TO HELP THESE MAGNIFICANT DOGS AND WITH EACH FAILURE WE LEARN HOW TO SAVE ONE MORE. CHARLEY WILL BE REMEMBERED BY SOME VERY SPECIAL PEOPLE HE TOUCHED. WHEN HE CROSSED THE BRIDGE TODAY, HE WAS MET BY SOME REMARKABLE GOLDEN FRIENDS. HIS EYES WILL NEVER CLOSE AND HIS TAIL WAG WILL NEVER STOP. YOU JUST GOTTA BELIEVE. Background: This is Charley, one of the sweetest goldens you will ever meet. He is about 7 years old and he walked up to a house in Northeast Georgia and sat on the porch and waited. The family there took him in and tried to find his home. No one was looking for him. They already had three dogs so they took him to the vet. The vet found a strange mass near his stomach. This dog needed help immediately. They called us. One of our volunteers went to get him and drove him to Atlanta where one of our vets examined him. (We named him Charley cause when you meet him, he is just a Charley). Well, we took Charley to a special vet who has a sonogram. We didn’t get good news. Charley has a tumor the size of a grapefruit near the top of his colon that is pressing against his kidney and is very near the vessels to his heart. It looks like it will rupture anyday. We just can’t sit back and let Charley die like that. He has one chance – take him to the best surgical center in the area and let them open him — and hope the tumor is a benign cyst. If it is, they can remove it and Charley will live. If it is cancer, we won’t wake Charley up. Please say a prayer for this guy. We can tell you that Charley lays his head on your leg and doesn’t move…. he just looks at you with those big brown eyes and it looks like he is saying, “please help me”. We know it is a long shot and most rescues wouldn’t spend the money for the surgery but we aren’t most rescues and this is not just any dog. He is a golden retriever and is the best of the best so we are giving it all we can. Buddy made it and London made it so who says Charley can’t make it? We aren’t asking for money for him right now…. we need to pay off Buddy’s bill. We just want all of your good thoughts. Charley deserves to live.