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WIU Senior Brianna Hooker with "Blue," a hospice dog she is fostering. (Photo by the WIU Visual Production Center)
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Associate Vice President for Student Services JB Biernbaum and "Missy"
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WIU Community Steps Up for Hospice Dogs

October 6, 2016

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MACOMB, IL - With an English bulldog as its mascot, it's no surprise that the employees and students of Western Illinois University love canines - but a few have taken that love to a new level, giving a few four-legged friends some comfort and some fun at the end of their lives.

The actions of those WIU faculty, staff and students have developed into a remarkable example of social responsibility, one of the University's four core values.

Some dogs who develop life-ending diseases and canine cancers end up in animal shelters to live out their days after their owners determine it's too costly to provide medical treatment. There are representatives of numerous McDonough County animal rescue groups that work hard each day to try to give these dogs a happy end to their life that doesn't include a lengthy stay in a kennel.

Many of the members of these animal rescue groups include WIU faculty and staff, who help with the efforts to give these animals a chance to live out their lives in happy homes.

This fall, one of Western's students, Brianna Hooker, a senior psychology major from Sycamore, IL, joined those efforts and is giving a pit bull named "Blue" a compassionate place to live his final days. Thirteen-year-old Blue has mastocytoma, a type of canine cancer that causes large, hanging tumors.

Blue was found as a stray and taken to the McDonough County Animal Shelter. After the dog was turned over to the shelter by its owner, the McDonough County Humane Society paid for a surgery necessary to remove a large tumor that was hanging from his belly and nearly touching the ground.

Blue was eventually taken from the county's animal shelter by Angie LaFrance, office manager of WIU's Disability Resource Center and founder of the ePITome Dog Rescue in Macomb. LaFrance founded the rescue in Macomb after her own pit bull, "Vincenzo," passed away from cancer in 2009.

"This is his legacy," she said. "He taught me so much about pit bulls – he taught me the truth. Starting a rescue had been in the back of my mind for quite awhile, but I had to figure out where to start."

Some Macomb residents began referring to LaFrance as the "Pit Bull Lady" because of her efforts to protect the breed from death in shelters. Since then, ePITome has saved 200 dogs in five years.

About three weeks ago, ePITome was granted permission to take Blue from the local shelter. Hooker then offered to foster Blue for ePITome and they live an off-campus home.

"I had been following ePITome's Facebook page for a little over a year, just keeping watch to see what they were up to," said Hooker, whose family provides foster care for dogs in her hometown. "When Blue popped up, I saw he had cancer and I didn't want him to live in a shelter for the rest of his life. I absolutely wanted to get him out of there."

LaFrance began developing a "bucket list" for Blue to accomplish. The first item is for Blue to ride in WIU's Homecoming Parade on Saturday. He will ride in a little train with rescue volunteers by his side.

Over the weekend, the Emmet-Chalmers Fire Department, on Macomb's east side, gave Blue a ride in a fire truck, which was another item on the list.

"Most of the items on the list revolve around rides, because that's what he likes to do," said Hooker. "He has appeared in the newspaper, which was on the list, and we also want to take him to an outdoor restaurant for a steak. We don't know how much time he has left, so we want to make that time special."

LaFrance said she is excited about the community-University partnership that surrounded Blue's rescue.

"This is so much bigger than Blue or any of us as individuals," said LaFrance. "It's that connection."

Blue has bonded with Hooker quickly and now sleeps in her bed with her.

"He also loves to go on walks; he pulls me in whatever direction he wants to go," she said. "He also comes to me for safety if he gets into a situation he's unsure of. He still has a little puppy in him."

LaFrance and Hooker said local Veterinarian Karen Blakeley, of All Pets, told them dogs with Blue's type of cancer could live for about two years. But, because it is not known how long it has been since Blue contracted cancer, they are expecting he has between six months and two years left in his life.

In addition to the initial help from the McDonough County Humane Society, some of Blue's medical bills are being paid for by the "Live Like Roo Foundation," started in honor of another pit bull with cancer from the Chicago area. The foundation also showered Blue with toys and treats once he was settled in his new home.

Other local fundraisers are underway to help with Blue's bills and the bills of other special needs dogs.

Blue is not the first example of someone related to WIU taking in a dog at the end of its life.

Associate Vice President for Student Services JB Biernbaum stepped in for a German shepherd named "Missy" in July 2015. In what Biernbaum refers to as 6-year-old Missy's "last big weekend adventure," he took the dog, who was unable to walk because of arthritis in her hips, back to his home in Macomb for some pampering.

"I was introduced to a beautiful blond bombshell with long legs and a killer personality," Biernbaum wrote in a blog post about his experience. "She was the kind of girl that you are lucky enough to cross paths with once or twice in a lifetime, if you are lucky, and causes you to fall in love at first sight. She stole my heart immediately."

Missy was dropped off at the McDonough County Animal Shelter by a father and son who were leaving the country and was coming to the end of the time she was allowed to live at the shelter.

"I decided to take her home for the weekend and give her the best weekend she could possibly have," said Biernbaum. "We rode around in a Jeep with the windows down; I put blankets down and laid with her; I had kids come over and play with her, and we went to Casey's for doughnuts."

At the end of the weekend, it was clear to Biernbaum that Missy's life was nearing the end, so he laid her in the grass, with squirrels and birds playing nearby and brought her McDonald's sausage biscuits. Dr. Blakeley then came to Biernbaum's home and Missy passed away in the grass, surrounded by people who loved her.

"She was going to require 24-hour care and I didn't want her to die on the concrete; she deserves more dignity than that," Biernbaum said. "I'm just so glad I was there with her. Now, I will always be with any dog I have to put down – 100 percent. As bad as it is, it's selfish not to do it."

While Biernbaum was at the pound to pick up Missy, he met "Charlie," a jack-russell terrier that he later adopted.

"He was 10 years old and they were going to put him down," said Biernbaum. "I got him one month after Missy passed away."

The biggest take-away from the experience for Biernbaum, who is a member of the McDonough County Humane Society, is the number of people working to protect animals in the area.

"It truly is God's work," he said. "There are so many people doing good things for animals in McDonough County."

For more information about Blue, visit facebook.com/teambluetoo. For more information about ePITome, visit facebook.com/epitomedogrescue.



Posted By: Jodi Pospeschil (JK-Pospeschil@wiu.edu)
Office of University Communications & Marketing