It Takes A Village To Help This Dog

On Sunday night, Marik Tucker took a hayride, ate ice cream, and ran down a hill.

Sounds normal for any 11-year-old boy, right?

For Marik, it was all a big deal (“Marik just ran!” his mother Kelli whispered to his father George) because he has spent the last year battling osteosarcoma, an aggressive form of cancer that begins in the bones. He had his right leg amputated from above the knee and spent three weeks of every month receiving inpatient chemotherapy at Yale-New Haven Hospital. On May 28, he had his last round of chemo, and he is slowly regaining his strength and his health.

A month after they brought Zero home, he began to cough at night. He was diagnosed with heartworm, Lyme disease, a heart murmur and congestive heart failure. There were lots of medications and vet visits in Zero’s future. Suddenly, Marik and Zero had more in common than anyone knew.

“I’m glad we didn’t know” that Zero was sick when they adopted him, Kelli Tucker says. “I wouldn’t trade (the experience). He’s happy, he’s loved, and however long we have him, his last months will have been really good.”

Chris Lamb, the founder of CT Animal House rescue group based in East Lyme, heard about Zero’s and the Tuckkers’ situation through a friend, and offered to take over his medical care. Just take it on. She transport Zero to and from his vet appointments and CT Animal House covers all the costs. Lamb figured the Tuckers had enough to worry about.

Kelli Tucker, mom to Marik and his two sisters, 16-year-old Shellbi and 7 (and ¾)-year-old Tori, is beyond grateful to CT Animal House, Alice Acres Farm and its owner Peter Bargmann, and everyone else in and around Ledyard who have helped the family through this difficult period. The Tuckers had just arrived in southeastern Connecticut (George works on the Naval Submarine Base) from Louisiana when Marik was diagnosed.

And the family’s fight is not over. Marik’s chemo ended in May, but at his most recent scan since then doctors found a 1-millimeter spot on his lung. It is too small to biopsy, so they will wait three months and do another. “Hopefully, it’s a fluke. Hopefully, it will be gone. We did the amputation (of Marik’s leg) because that was the best way to fight the spread.”

Regardless, Marik’s energy is coming back. He celebrated his 11th birthday, and he is up and at ‘em every day. He said he loved the hayride Sunday, he had a big smile on his face, and he was busy eating his ice cream later on.

Asked why he joined in with the hayrides (and a portion of the ice cream sales this weekend will go to Zero also), Alice Acres owner Peter Bargmann shrugged his shoulders. “He’s a local guy and he needs help,” he said of Marik. “He’s connected to that dog. It’s all about that.”

To donate for Zero’s medical care, you can:

A) Go to Alice Acres Farm in July 27 and ride the hay wagon and eat ice cream or

B) Log onto CT Animal House’s donation page on their website. Once you type in all your information, on the second page of the donation there is a box where you can note ‘special instructions.’ Write “For Zero” in that box.

Read more:

CT Animal House on Facebook

Miracles for Marik on Facebook