MONEY raised to help pay for a dog's life-saving surgery will now be used in other ways after he was sadly given a cancer diagnosis.
Last month, Stephanie Rice, from Wrexham, set up a GoFundMe page with the aim of collecting £1,000 to help her dog Duke.
The 10-year-old was believed to have a mass on his left-hand side, located on his rib cage, and required life-saving surgery.
A community effort helped raised £1,020 towards that surgery in a move which left Stephanie 'amazed'.
Sadly though, just a few weeks later, she has now been told that Duke has Sarcoma cancer and, as such, cannot go ahead with the operation.
The money raised will instead now be used to give him the best end of life care he could wish for.
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Stephanie says that, as Duke is struggling to walk, she has purchased a pram with the money to ensure that he can still go outside, as well as other forms of pain relief.
She said: "Unfortunately Duke cannot go ahead with his operation, he's been diagnosed with Sarcoma Cancer and the lump on his side is a tumour not a mass.
"So, he will not be having the operation and going forward all funds are going to be used for his end of life care.
"I have already purchased pain relief and a dog pram so he can still go outside even though he cannot walk far."
PIC: Duke the dog in his pram (Credit: Stephanie Rice).
Stephanie added: "They have decided not to operate as the risks are too high for him and given his age, the size of the mass and the recovery rate they have said its best not to go ahead.
"There is too high a risk of infection which would inflict more pain and would result in the end of life coming sooner for Duke if we operated.
"We have put Duke on a pain relief plan to see how he goes on that. I'm working with the vets to keep an eye on the tumour and monitor its progress. It is a slow growing tumour so I'm going to do my best for him like I always have.
"The funds raised are going to pay for his pain relief and giving him what he needs going forward and eventually pay for his end of life.
"I want to thank everyone that has donated , shared and liked the fundraising page.
"I hope everyone can understand how hard this is to process for me and for Duke. He is a healthy dog other than his tumour and the vet has agreed that only I know what is best for him."
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