"It's Not About Who Beats You Down, But Who Lifts You Up"
There are fights in life we prepare for.
And then there are the ones we never see coming. They are the experiences that alter everything we thought we understood about safety, trust, and survival.
This is one of those stories.
It is about a woman who understood rules.
It is about a prescription written by a doctor she trusted, a pharmacy that filled the prescription
and the insurance company that covered that cost.
And... it is about a dog who never had a choice.
The woman did what so many of us do.
She trusted her physician.
She trusted the system.
She trusted that what she was given was safe.
She did not question the FDA approval of the prescription.
She did not investigate the ingredients.
She believed her doctor and trusted the system.
Conversely, this time, she was too fixated on breaking her own rule; Taking on a case that was a little bit too close to home. This brought distraction on another level.
She never imagined this would fundamentally change the trajectory of her life.
She never imagine this event would take someone else down with her.
Around this time, she had welcomed a new presence into her life; a small, intuitive, deeply affectionate dog named Lucy.
Lucy was being trained as a nationally certified trauma crisis dog for children.
She did what trauma dogs do.
She soothed.
She connected. She comforted.
And she offered love and licks.
Every night, Lucy curled into the woman’s arm, offering quiet reassurance in a world that was
already heavy with human pain from unthinkable cases.
What no one tells you, what no one even thinks to tell you, is this:
Your pet is not separate from your environment.
They live in your space.
They breathe your air.
They absorb what you absorb.
And sometimes…
They ingest what you ingest.
As the woman’s body was being flooded with a mislabeled, fraudulent prescription, one later identified to contain dangerously elevated levels, Lucy was there.
Licking her skin.
Absorbing what was never meant for either of them.
When the woman entered aggressive treatment chemo and radiation treatment from this prescription...
Lucy stayed.
Loyal. Close.
Unaware.
Taking it in.
We warn people about side effects.
We warn people about risks.
But we do not warn them
That their animals,
Their companions,
Their protectors,
Their healers
are quietly ingesting and fighting the same fight.
Lucy continued her work.
She still visited children. She still offered comfort.
She still licked their hands and faces to soothe trauma.
But inside her small body, there was now a story no one had prepared her for:
A secondary exposure.
A silent burden.
A fight she never chose.
And at the center of all of this… Was fraud.
A prescription that should never have been written.
A system that failed to question it.
A pattern that suggested this was not an isolated mistake.
Women were harmed, too many women. Many did not survive.
In the background, unseen and uncounted were the animals who lived alongside them.
Lucy did not know she was part of a medical narrative.
She only knew love.
She only knew proximity.
She only knew that when her human hurt, she moved closer. And in doing so, she carried part of that pain herself.
This is not just a story. It is a warning!
Ask questions.
Read what you are given.
Do not assume safety simply because something is prescribed.
And most importantly, understand this:
Your life does not exist in isolation.
What enters your body may not stop with you.
This is a tribute.
To a dog who did what she was trained to do.
Who comforted children in crisis.
Who stood beside her human in the darkest fight of her life.
And who, without recognition or consent, fought that battle too.
This is a tribute to the many women, the many mothers; young and older who did not survive.
*It was hopeful I would make one year of survivorship. As this story is approaching over nine years now, I will continue to advocate for the women, their families, their children and their pets revealing more of my story. I am thankful for my well rounded medical team who navigated 'this nightmare' as well as the nightmares of the women who immediately followed me. I am thankful to the veternary team dedicated to the discovery and enormous treatment needed for sweet Lucy.