Pass The Turkey and the Stuffing, Celebrate The Ones Still With Us, and Remember the Ones We've Lost

Thanksgiving is both a joyous time and a time of reflection.

This year the effort to save dogs from distemper has been a big success wherever those striving to help these dogs in a number of different venues, connecting with owners wherever they are found; on various messageboards, dog-related forums, websites, and blogs, both on the internet, and in the community.

One by one more and more dogs that once would have been considered hopeless will now spend the holidays, happy and healthy with their families.

More vets have begun to venture out and try the body and/or the CSF treatment, and are happy and intrigued with the results.

The broader the base of support for this cure becomes, the bigger its impact. There are many people who have made this possible, some who are highly visible and others working behind the scenes to bring about change, hope, and health, and working to educate the public, each in his or her own way, advancing science in a very tangible way.

Because of all of you who've contributed in one way or another more dogs this year will curl up by the fire, sit next to the table tomorrow night when the big feast is served, and will live to see the lights on the Christmas tree, play in the snow, and sleep securely in the knowledge that they're home with people who love them and will be for a long time.

At the same time though, there is much work ahead of us, and there are dogs and owners that will not spend the holidays together because they didn't know about the treatment until too late.

For the owners of these dogs the holidays this year will be a time of mourning, a reminder that although a cure now exists the vast majority of vets still do not make use of it and many have not even heard of it.

To many dogs and their owners in many parts of the world Dr. Sears' treatment is still out of their reach. They must travel great distances to get to a location in which a vet can perform that more invasive CSF procedure many of these animals need to fully rid them of the virus after it's reached the brain and spinal cord.

Many still have no way to travel these distances, or they do not have the money to pay what it costs to save their dog's life, and/or cannot do it soon enough.

This beautiful black brindle puppy is one of those who didn't make it. He was only 11 weeks old. By the time his owner found out that there was a cure his pneumonia had severely compromised his breathing. No serum was available where he lived, and antibiotics could not knock back the pneumonia enough for him to wait to reach a vet in another state.

Unfortunately, he did not make it through the weekend.

This next puppy in India died despite her owner and vet's best efforts to save her life, but her immune system was too weak and she got the treatment too late. The CSF procedure was performed 5 days after she was diagnosed, but what happens too often is that dogs aren't diagnosed before the disease has taken too much of a toll.

Her littermate survived and seems to be returning to health.

To those of you who have been reading and wondering how you can help, go to the links of the distemper projects on your right and donate, talk to your vet about this cure, send them the link to this blog and the other informational websites, talk to shelters, rescues, the Humane Society, and other dog-related groups and encourage them to get involved too, volunteer to make serum if you're a vet or an owner whose vet is open to this, print fliers, business cards or other written material and hand it out, set up a fundraiser benefit, or if you have the connections see if you can arrange speaking opportunities with Dr. Sears and Dr. Muller someplace where it will really have some impact, pull strings with news media, medical journals, etc. Be creative. There are all kinds of ways to move this forward.

I look forward to the day when a dog is diagnosed and the same day it can be treated with the serum or NDV; a day when no dog has to wait and decline because he or she can't access the care needed, a day when no dog is left with seizures, with myoclonus, with paralysis, or with blindness, a day when this cure is first line for the treatment of canine distemper in every shelter, clinic, and country.

Lets make that day soon! With all of you pitching in we can get there.

This ground-breaking treatment for distemper is really something to be thankful for.

Yay! Save Dogs From Canine Distemper is in America's Giving Challenge!

Save Dogs From Canine Distemper under Kind Hearts in Action http://kindheartsinaction.com/ , a non-profit organization in Southern California is raising funds to cover the costs of coordination, research, documentation, and serum production with the goal of publishing in veterinary journals the revolutionary new cure for neurological distemper discovered by Alson W. Sears DVM. Such research will get this treatment recognized through the necessary channels and used by more vets, thus easier for owners to obtain for their dogs when swift action is critical; http://www.edbond.com/distemper/

The challenge involves getting the highest number of donations by November 7th, and the winning organization will receive an additional $50,000! Just think, that would save a lot of dogs’ lives!

Daily awards of $1,000 and $500 are also given for the organization that has the most people donate in any 24-hour period.

Please spread the word to all your friends and contacts in your life and on social networking sites, tweet about it, blog about it, and e-mail the dog-related people, businesses, and organizations you know to ask that they help. No amount is too small or too large!

Kind Hearts in Action has a Facebook cause here; http://apps.facebook.com/causes/375267/21547541?m=1a240be5.

To learn more about the Giving Challenge ( http://www.causes.com/), then visit our cause to see how we're doing so far and get involved.

If you love dogs and have been trying to decide how best to make a difference, save the life of a dog with canine distemper today. There are few animal causes in which your dollars would save lives so directly. This is one of the rare opportunities you get to take a dog off the terminal list!

There are only 6 days left in the challenge so please don’t delay.

Go here to make your donation; http://www.causes.com/donations/select_donation_method?cause_id=176113

Thanks for your generosity!

Like I always say...

With Love and Action All Things Are Possible!

On To New Frontiers! More Donor Dogs Needed

The Facebook Group (and the entire Distemper Cure community) continues to grow. New vets are beginning to take interest, we have a good bit of data now, and it seems that the need for serum is becoming ever more apparent after the loss of two puppies under 12 weeks of age.

Unable to obtain the life-saving serum which was the first-line substance for treating puppies in the body this young, the owner, with the proper veterinary approval, had to go to plan B and give them NDV in an effort to save them because time was running out. All this was done strictly by the book.

Although the serum might have bought the two pups the time it would take to travel to Atlanta for the CSF procedure, and the owner was willing to pay for it, it did not arrive, one died, and then the other; another example of just how quickly Distemper can strike a dog down and how little time there is to waste.

In times such as these even one day's delay can mean death. The owner did the best she could, and followed all of Dr. Sears' instructions, but this was out of her, (even out of his) control.

Now we are mobilizing our forces to solve this problem of access as quickly as possible. Although we are not likely to have more than a few dogs now and then in special circumstances who cannot be saved by the bird-based NDV thus it is highly unlikely that the demand will ever exceed supply, however, it is the season when the number of Distemper cases increases significantly and we need to be ready to meet the need when and if another similar case presents itself.

When that time comes these especially vulnerable young ones' owners will need to know exactly who to obtain the serum from, and those offering it will need to be prepared to get it to them right away.

We are working on developing serum banks and will begin raising money toward that end at some point so that even those for whom money would be a barrier to treatment will not be out of luck. I know that both Dr. Sears and Dr. Adams would want it that way, as the owner will already have expenses piling up most likely for his or her vet's services.

The founders of this treatment meant for it to be widely available and during the years he practiced, treating dogs in the body, Dr. Sears did not always charge for every single service, as he was doing this because he believed in it, and the good deed spoke for itself in the eyes of the owner, and their beloved pet relieved of suffering, once again restored to health, happy, and enjoying life. The results are their own reward. Besides, a dog is a dog whether it belongs to a rich family or poor one, and they are all just as worthy of our help.

That is what Dr. Sears' life's work is all about, and you can't really put a pricetag on that even though for logistical reasons we are tackling the task of putting a fair price on it for the purposes of the Foundation's future dispersal of funds.

Applicants who want to ask that their expenses be paid to create serum as an "approved serum bank" will be required to comply with certain requirements set forth by the organization, and will be bound by signed contract to follow those requirements as a condition of their arrangement with us.

We are looking for people (owners and their vets) who exemplify the spirit of Dr. Sears' and the late Dr. Adams' work, people who although they might be reimbursed have it in their heart to do this for other dogs and would do it even without pay because it's the right thing to do. These are the kinds of people who would give bone marrow to someone they don't even know when a drive was organized, or who would pull together an effort to raise money for a boy with a deadly form of cancer just because they care.

The actual cost of serum production is not as steep as you might have thought. Below is a quote from Dr. Sears, and he would know since he developed the technique.

"If you provide the donor dog then you are looking at an office call and the price of the assistants time, and the glass bottles (usually free). Need a jugular catheter also. Total cost if you provide the dog is about $100-$150. 00."

If you think you may be interested, let me know, read more about the process and criteria for the dog below, print out, and run this by your vet:

PROCESS FOR MAKING THE SERUM

1. Dog- use a 10-12 month old mixed breed dog, 60-90 lbs, 27.27kg to 40.91kg, young and healthy.

2. Do full lab work-up to eliminate all possible health problems; specially- blood born diseases.

3. Must be previously vaccinated against all local diseases.

4. Do not use breeds or individuals known to have immune deficiency problems.

5. Make up Newcastle virus vaccine 1000 dose vial. (Use only the 6 cc of diluent vial that comes with the NDV or Saline if Diluent is not available). Inject 3.0cc of Diluent or Saline to the NDV vial. Discard the balance remaining from the Diluent vial. The La Sota strain or B-1 are most common. Other strains of this virus should work as well but do not use Killed Virus NDV Vaccine. Use Modified Live NDV. This virus is your cell immunity inducer.

6. Place IV Catheter in dog.

7. Inject 2.0 or 3.0cc of Newcastle virus into the I.V. from your vaccine bottle depending on the official weight of the dog. (Treat dog with I.V fluids accordingly) (Do Not use Corticosteroids)

8. Induction of Newcastle’s disease virus for cellular immune serum (cytokines) may only be done once on any dog. The second time around, only antibodies to Newcastle’s disease are produced. These are of no use and can cause an adverse reaction.

9. Timing is absolutely essential for taking serum against distemper. Take blood 11-12 hours post injection (11-12 hrs post injection= Anti-viral factors=Very effective against Distemper Virus in VIVO.) Timing is important. (Interferon, antiviral, regulatory, anti-inflammatory cytokines all have different times of production).

10. All procedures must be sterile. Just prior to the 11-12 hours post- injection, anesthetize donor dog (approx. 5-10 minutes before).

11. Place Jugular catheter.

12. Start I.V fluids.

13. Withdraw blood between the 11th and 12th hour and inject into 10cc blood vials [sterile no additive vials] and allow the blood to clot. All VETS please take out only up to maximum amount from donor dog. Remove blood just short of putting the dog into shock. That can be determined by the color of the gums and respiratory rate. What is amazing is the speed with which a healthy dog recovers. Fluids of course help recovery. We could take about 250 cc whole blood from a 90 lb dog and get about 100 cc of usable serum.
(A.W. Sears DVM 6/8/09)

14. Centrifuge immediately after clotting for clear serum. Do not allow RBC’s to lyse.

15. Remove serum and place into sterile bottles.

16. Place serum bottles in baggies and store in refrigerator. Bottles of serum can be stored for up to five years in a refrigerator; longer if frozen.

17. Cryo-precipitates may form after refrigeration. Mixing causes clouding. This is not harmful.

18. May be filtered out with a .02micron filter. Keep sterile.

19. All my donor dogs have survived. I have not lost any. (A.W. Sears)


Note: Revisions may be made as new data becomes available.If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Alson W. Sears DVM for further clarification at AntiDistemper@aol.com

Going Nationwide

To recap for any new readers who are just joining me, my puppy, Carmella, who I adopted from a local animal shelter has Distemper and has been cured of the virus in the body with Newcastle Disease Virus Vaccine, the LaSota strain (manufactured by Merial), a discovery made by Alson, Sears, DVM, but still needs an injection into the spinal canal in order to kill the virus in the brain and Central Nervous System. The second injection must be done directly into the spinal canal because NDV does not cross the blood-brain barrier from the body. While searching for a vet with the experience and willingness to work in the area called the Foramen Magnum (the area where spinal taps are done at the base of the skull), Carmella has developed myoclonic jerking, some incoordination in balance, and stiffness in her right front leg. This has gotten worse over the past month.

Each vet that refuses her the procedure who is capable of performing it allows the virus to continue to do further damage to the brain, and each day she waits brings her a little closer to paralysis, grand mal seizures, and ultimately, death.

One of the excuses used by a number of the vets I've asked has been that this is still "experimental", yet so far none are jumping on the bandwagon to advocate clinical trials and further study, even though there is quite alot of empirical evidence that it works. I would love it if some vet would read this blog and decide to go ahead and help her out of the kindness of his/her heart in spite of all this, but so far that hasn't happened.

In one of my previous posts, I outlined some of the National Veterinary Ethics Board regulations, and it is pretty clear that vets who may be afraid to try this for fear of liability have really nothing to fear, as the regulations would actually support them in doing it, thus saving a dog's life, removing suffering, and advancing the current understanding of a possible cure for Distemper.

The continued failure on the part of Veterinary Medicine to move forward on this discovery becomes a vicious cycle in which the treatment just sits there tabled until somebody takes up the mantle and does what is necessary to officially legitimize it. This leaves dogs like Carmella at a stalemate much as humans with deadly and thought to be incurable diseases are left out of luck when stem cell research is held up because of ominous, albeit unfounded fears and religeous beliefs regarding the "tampering" with nature or "God's plan".

Then there is the agenda of Big Pharma in which a potential cure for any disease threatens to make obsolete current "supportive care" drugs and procedures. Nevertheless, when a cure is on the horizon man is foolhardy to turn a blind eye to it. Even from a religeous standpoint, I don't believe that a loving God would provide us the brains and creativity to come up with this new science and not intend for us to make use of it. That just wouldn't make sense.

After sending out press releases to all local TV stations and to the Atlanta Journal and Constitution I decided this weekend not to wait any longer to hear back from them, but to go to the National media, so I sent out more of these to Frontline, Dateline, and asked for the story submission process for 20/20. The latter's webform was a little unclear as to how stories are submitted or decided upon, and it only allowed 500 characters. My press release was a little more than that, so I'll have to get more information as to where to send it in full so that they aren't left saying, "Huh? Where's the rest of the story."

If the local news picks this up that's fine too, but there's no guarantee that the one vet who finally steps up and volunteers to do this will even be located in Atlanta or in its surrounding suburbs, so I have to be prepared to look further than my own backyard.

Considering that I've probably asked 20 or 30 now in all and still none has agreed to it, the job may take someone so rare that that vet could be located anywhere in the US.

Although stories might not be harvested on the weekend, at least these first National news requests will be waiting for their producers and investigative reporters come Monday morning and they can hit the ground running. I just hope it will spark the interest of the right people and that I'll start getting phone calls next week sometime, as the number of news contacts made reaches critical mass. Maybe the more news agencies who receive it, the bigger it's chance of getting on the AP wire or sent around to various affilliates. I still need to look into how to submit my press release directly to the AP wire, as that will make this notification process alot easier.

If any of you out there reading work for a news media agency; print, TV, online, or radio, please see what you can do to have some influence and ask that they cover Carmella's story. If you would like to have me interviewed by your agency please leave a comment on my blog about how I can get in touch with you and I'll get you or the person doing the story my contact information. If you have an Etsy account and would like to contact me more privately about news coverage, their convo system is another way you can reach me and I can make contact with you or your "people".

This morning Carmella woke up as usual wanting to go out and go to the bathroom, and after she'd done that I let her lie on my bed for awhile. Amazingly she sayed there pretty well-behaved for about a half an hour before she got restless again and wanted to chew things, jump down onto the floor and get into mischief. I'm crossing my fingers that she will get over her restlessness and urge to chew up everything in her path. It was really nice to just have her curl up and keep me company while I looked through my supply catalogues and rested and watched TV. I woke up very fatigued this morning. I think my own autoimmune disease may be flaring up somewhat, so I had to kind of take it easy today. Just making myself lunch seemed like alot of work. I've had to take something for pain two nights in a row.

I plan on watching some comedy on TV tonight and to try to get a good night's sleep.

Carmella's paw seemed to be curling under this evening when I checked on her in addition to the usual jerking.

Earlier today I worked on training her for awhile. She is particularly good at fetching things I throw for her and is becoming more and more consistent in bringing them back each time. She still tries to chew on my pants leg but seems to be gradually doing that less. When I tell her to sit or to lie down she often stops at that moment.

I'm looking forward to ordering these rubber stamps I'm having custom-made, but I have so many designs that I've adapted to black and white that it might take a few days next week for the woman I'm communicating with to finish the proofs. Some of them will be round and some square or rectangular. I was looking through some supply catalogues for some very fine gemstone beads and high-end cabs to go with this new line. There's a bead show next Friday that I'm planning to go to to look for some of that stuff in-person and I also want to pick out some really nice oxidized chain for the necklaces and maybe bracelets.

Many thanks to all who have donated to Carmella, bought an ad here, and to the recent buyer who purchased my "Click Beetle" bracelet, and those who have posted supportive comments on my blog.

If you would like to help Carmella and haven't had the chance yet please use the donation button on the upper right of my blog, or purchase an ad in my "Top Spots" further down my sidebar, or you can start your holiday shopping early and purchase something from my Etsy store. Your help will allow me to pay down Carmella's vet bill more quickly and will help greatly if I end up having to take her out of town to get her treated.

http://Giftbearer.etsy.com/