Dawn had only just broken on the morning of Sunday, 11 September, when the association’s first guide Teodors fell asleep forever. Unfortunately, in his case, medicine was powerless. His preordained destiny proved to be stronger than Teodors’ will to live, our efforts, support and hopes!

Thanks to the large number of donors, Teodors recently underwent an operation in which a large tumor, one rib and a small part of his lungs were removed. Although the operation was successful and Teodors recovered from it; the laboratory test results were ultimately grim: it transpired that he was suffering from a malignant bone cancer (osteosarcoma). Despite the fact that the prognoses for his recovery were gloomy, Teodors’ master Aleksejs and the organisation continued to fight for the dog’s life in order to extend his life a little longer, but without causing him any pain. In consultation with his doctors, it was hoped that this could be achieved with the help of some mild chemotherapy, which began just over a week ago. Unfortunately, this too proved to be ineffective and the aggressive tumor returned, as a result of which Teodors began to experience breathing problems and anemia. A last desperate attempt to save Teodors was due to be carried out in the form of a blood transfusion, but unfortunately he did not live long enough to undergo it.

And so on 11 September at around 05.00 in the morning, the Service Dog Association TEODORS’ “face”, Aleksejs’ life companion and famous guide dog Teodors said farewell to us, but he will live on as Aleksejs’ guardian angel and as the inspiration for new guide dogs. Teodors will always be at the heart of our most treasured memories and immortal in his role as our association’s symbol and good shepherd!

The association would like to apologise to our supporters for the lengthy period in which no new information was provided about Teodors’ medical treatment. Every day, the association hoped against hope that it would receive some good news from his test results about which it could notify the public. However, the results were inconclusive, preventing us from being able to make a definitive statement about Teodors’ state of health.
Many thanks to the donors for kindly and most generously donated a total of over EUR 4,000 for Teodors’ medical treatment. Currently, we are in the process of collating full information about the treatment costs, which we will publish soon on the organisation’s website. Any donated funds not spent will be directed towards covering the treatment costs of other guide dogs. At present, the association is caring for 10 current and future guide dogs. Since visually-impaired people cannot afford to pay for veterinary services for their dogs, the association covers these costs on their behalf.

If any donor does not wish that his or her donation should be redirected towards the medical treatment of other dogs, he or she should inform the association accordingly by sending an e-mail to: velga.zegnere@gmx.de. In such instances, the association will reimburse the donated sum to the person concerned.

Once again, we would like to express our sincerest and most humble gratitude to everyone who made donations, offered their support, kept their fingers crossed and prayed. In translation, “Teodors” means “God given” and so he will remain in our hearts.

12 September 2016