FRIENDS OF HUNKY
Some of Hunky's Humans...
Brother In Carbs.
Head of Carb Intergration Systems, Stod has been leading the way since Hunky first took him under his golden armpit. Rising star and core member of the HR team, Stod is responsible for the roll out of the industry shaking ‘Bread in Bed’ meeting model – which has seen ten-fold increases in plop productivity.
Head of PR, Pollita writes all of Hunky’s theme songs. This one learns from a firm paw. Whenever Pollita gets ideas above her station, a quick bark will soon see her running for snacks, singing jingles as she goes.
Chief Snack Lord.
CEO of Biscuit Distribution. Should anyone ever be foolish enough to try and mug her, they would find every pocket to be filled soley with biscuits.
With Special Thanks to...
In August 2019, Boggles suddenly became incredibly unwell. After days back and forth to the vets, with no insight as to what could be making him so sick, we finally took him to the emergency Medivets in Hendon, desperate to find some answers and help for our Hunks.
They performed an ultrasound, which revealed an enormous tumour near his heart, and told us our only hope to save him was to drive him straight to the Royal Veterinary College in South Mimms for CT scans and surgery.
The weeks that followed exist only as a blur of stress and tears in my memory, but what I will never forget is the generosity of those who helped us – contributing to the emergency fund set up to pay for his surgery, sharing the Go Fund Me with friends and even making stuff to sell online, with money raised going straight back to the surgery funds.
There are too many here to add, but you know who you are – friends of Hunky, far and wide. His London crew – Katy & Will, Lona & Mikey, Aletta & Maritta and so many many many more. His Shaken Oak family – Arthur, Jenny, Zoe, Richard (Bread Jesus to Hunky) and the family. To those who didn’t even know him yet still helped out, and of course to the vets, surgeons, nurses and teams who worked round the clock to save him.
Thank you too, to the Islington Gazette for publishing an article about the campaign and for the kind contributions of those touched by his story.
Hunky spent some time in hospital, undergoing the huge surgery. Several ribs were removed, and the diagnosis of Osteosarcoma was confirmed. With a 3 month course of chemo scheduled, we were given an average prognosis of 10 – 12 months.
Southfields Veterinary specialists were wonderful, and it always amazed us that Hunky would hop out the van and happily trot up to the door each time we took him in for the chemo.
He recovered with incredible speed, seemingly determined to enjoy every last moment he could with an astounding vigour. The 3 years that followed seemed to me as if they were his youth re-lived – finally free to experience the silliness of puppyhood, reclaiming those opportunities stolen from him as a young dog, then burdened with the weight of trauma and neglect.
As the years passed, we started to quietly convince ourselves that he would be that miracle – the case in which the cancer never returns – as we watched each milestone pass in good health. Of course, this was not to be – how many miracles can we expect in one life anyway?
Now, I write this memorial as a means of coping with the staggering grief of losing such an enormous character. As my mum said – he was so real, so alive, it is hard to know how to be without him.
But, we cannot forget all the good he did, and all the wonderful people who helped him; giving him the chance to enjoy those amazing years against all odds. We are forever grateful for the wonderful care he received at Medivets Muswell Hill – Karolina and her constant supply of pate and love, and the amazing team of veterinary nurses that have been so kind and consistently gone out of their way to help both him and us – his family of misfits and weirdos, his cheerleaders and panicky parents, ringing at all hours with our fears and forgotten questions…
Thank you xxx
Hunky is at rest on the farm, in the shade of the cherry tree and the holly, under the watchful eye of his horse friends Trooper and Louis.
Finally, the biggest thanks of all is reserved for my Mijao – the dog we rational, non-spiritual atheists quietly believe sent Hunky to us – the only dog who could save us from that fog of grief that engulfed us, persisting long after Mijao had gone.
Mijao; blonde dog cut from that same ancient cloth. From a time before dogs were things to be quantified and qualified by human whims and fashions. You creatures wiser and funnier than any human I have known.
“And how should we behave during this Apocalypse? We should be unusually kind to one another, certainly. But we should also stop being so serious. Jokes help a lot. And get a dog, if you don’t already have one.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Armageddon in Retrospect: And Other New and Unpublished Writings on War and Peace
For Mijao
Those hairy dogs that make the sun rise
I am the fire you see in their eyes
I am the pelt that rots in the street
I am the sand, the grit in your sheet
I am the hair that collects in the corner
The child in the coffin
The bearer, the mourner
I am the mother feeding her child
I am the beasts you fear in the wild
I am the scratching you hear at the door
The sliding of nails on laminate floor
I am the breathing and snoring at night
I am the slipping, then holding on tight
I am the blonde, the tan and the black
The joy and the wonder the two-legs can lack
I am the engine that dropped out your van
I am the stain on the seat of your MAN
I am the teacher, the drop-out, the scholar
I am the lead, the bowl and the collar
I am the voice in moments of doubt
I am the floods that followed the drought
I am the emptiness under the bed
The space that was mine that now fills your head
I am the drunk that shouts in the park
I am the faces you see in the dark
I am amongst us, look can you see?
The things that are living, you see they are me?
I fed the worms and nourished the heather
But stayed by your side and will do forever.
