Dogged Search Turns Up Just Right Therapy For Girl Basset Pup Lifts Spirits Of 7-Year-Old Undergoing Chemotherapy For Cancer

A Bigfork nurse searched far and wide to find the best therapy she could for a 7-year-old cancer patient.

And Casey Landell is all smiles after receiving an 8-week-old basset hound puppy she named “Kemo.”

The chemotherapy Casey is undergoing to treat Ewing’s sarcoma has made her lose her hair and feel nauseated and miserable at times. She had surgery on Sept. 15 in which the cancer, three ribs and a piece of lung were removed.

“She needed a friend to get her through all this,” said her mother, Nancy Landell of Hungry Horse.

And Casey had her mind set on a floppy-eared, baggy-skinned, sad-eyed friend.

“We tried to make it happen for her, and found out just how costly bassets were,” Landell said. “On top of that, I couldn’t even find one.”

So home care nurse Nancy Thurston, who has been working with Casey since she was diagnosed, became involved in the search.

But when Thurston discovered how hard it was to find a basset, she tried to nudge Casey to say she’d settle for a dachshund, or maybe just any old puppy.

Casey was firm: Only a basset would do.

“We called local vets, who put us in contact with breeders in Washington and found a couple of bassets there,” Thurston said.

Thurston collected donations. A basset breeder in Washington agreed to a special price and had the puppy flown to Kalispell without charge.

Thurston brought the puppy to Casey a week ago.

Kemo came to the hospital with Casey this week for outpatient chemotherapy. While the puppy slept on Casey’s pillow, it was Casey who was bouncing around.

“I took a bunch of pictures, and looking at them, I can see that Casey is glowing,” said Thurston. Kemo, she said, is “absolutely therapeutic.”