2 dogs, 2,000 miles - Austin to Boston to Cure Dog Cancer

By Wendy Ledbetter

When Luke Robinson’s Great Pyrenees Malcolm became ill, it didn’t take Robinson long to discover two things – he was going to be devastated by the loss of the animal who had become friend and companion, and there are no options for a dog with cancer.

That started a crusade to bring awareness to canine and feline cancer and a possible answer to the problem. Robinson said that drug companies create cancer in laboratory animals so that they can test potential treatments. Robinson said that instead of making healthy animals sick, he’d like to see the drug companies use dogs and cats that already have cancer. The potential is that animals afflicted with cancer would have access to cutting-edge treatments which is not currently the case.

“To me it was unacceptable that the only cancer drugs available were decades old,” Robinson said.

Even more disturbing to him was the fact that those drugs had been removed from the shelves of human treatment options because they didn’t work and the cost of treatment is prohibitively expensive.

Robinson said he’s not promoting treatment of animals above humans or even that human cancer treatment options should be pushed aside in favor of animal options. Instead, he proposes a marriage of the two, giving pet owners hope of finding something that works when their companion falls ill while providing a way for drug companies to continue human treatment development.

Robinson said that when he started looking for a way to create awareness for this problem, he came up with the idea of “2 Dogs, 2,000 miles” and the plan was to walk with his two canine companions – Murphy and Hudson – from Austin, Texas, to Boston, Mass. But Murphy developed a limp along the way and is currently being cared for by a couple in Texarkana. Robinson said that when Murphy became ill, the first fear was that he had developed bone cancer but tests revealed it was a stress fracture. Murphy is to rejoin Hudson and Robinson somewhere around Memphis.

Robinson said he has met many wonderful people along his route so far. He said that he has also encountered those who don’t understand why he’s set out on this mission.

“I just had to do something,” he said.

And his motivation?

It was all because of his bond with Malcolm.

Robinson said that he had never developed that kind of bond with a dog before he brought Malcolm home. Soon after the dog arrived in his life, he had that “man-to-man” talk. “Don’t chew on the loafers,” was among the instructions given to Malcolm. Robinson said he told the dog that he wasn’t going to talk baby talk to the dog and that he was expected to respect Robinson’s possessions.

“He broke me in a week,” Robinson said. “And when he got cancer, it shattered my world.”

Information about Robinson’s cause is available online at www.2dogs2000miles.org.

Robinson was in Prescott June 26, was to be in Little Rock over the weekend and planned to pick his route back up to be in Gurdon on June 30 or July 1 and in Arkadelphia on July 3 or 4.