Puppy Love: Izzy and Blu Continue to Inspire

How a girl’s love for her dog continues to live on in canine osteosarcoma research.

Izzy’s best days in osteosarcoma treatment were when a therapy dog named Espen would come and visit. Espen would lay at the foot of Izzy’s bed, and she would pet him and smile. Joy would radiate from her, and those were the moments she was truly at peace. So, when the spunky 10-year-old declared she wanted a puppy of her own, her parents, Christine and David, couldn’t say no, even though it meant adding a third dog to their household of six humans.

“He was actually the only thing Izzy wanted when she completed her first chemo treatment plan — before we knew of her relapse,” Christine said. “He was born, ironically, on the day Izzy rang the bell: November 3, 2020.” Ringing the bell is a celebratory tradition that marks the end of cancer treatment and symbolizes hope.

Izzy selected an English Crème Golden Retriever and named him Maximus Blubelle of Zeal, a name that was both a reflection of Izzy’s unique spunk and a tribute to Blue Bell ice cream, Disney’s Belle, and Izzy’s full name, Isabelle. When deciding what his nickname would be Izzy preferred Blu, with no “e” at the end, because like her, he was unique.

The pair bonded right away. Blu adored Izzy and would curl up next to her to sleep. He sensed when she was upset and tended to her with puppy kisses. He also motivated her to work hard in physical therapy following limb-salvage surgery on her right leg. She gained strength and stability in both legs, so she could achieve her goals of walking Blu and taking him to the beach.

The bond was so strong that when Blu’s breeders had another litter and were looking for name nominations for a puppy that was born with an abnormal paw, the Martin family knew just what to suggest.

“They asked for name nominations, and we nominated Dr. Alex Callan [Izzy’s surgeon at UT Southwestern and a member of the OSI Strategic Advisory Board],” Izzy’s mom, Christine, explained. “This pup was then called Cal, and we actually [got together with] Dr. Callan one day for Blu and Cal to meet.”

Prior to her death in 2022, Izzy’s family started the #TeamIzzy Osteosarcoma Science Fund with the Osteosarcoma Institute (OSI). It was later renamed the TeamIzzy Foundation Research Fund to honor the TeamIzzy Foundation, which was incorporated in 2023 to continue Izzy’s legacy of advocating on behalf of children with cancer through awareness, research, and familial support. Read more of Izzy’s incredible story, which includes a friendly rivalry with Mark Cuban!

Izzy and her dog, Blu

The Power of Canine Osteosarcoma Research

In honor of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in September, Izzy’s grandparents, Mary Anne and Paul Fego, have donated $100,000 to the TeamIzzy Foundation Research Fund, bringing the total amount donated to OSI through the fund to $550,000.

In honor of Izzy and Blu, the Fegos have designated their gift to go toward osteosarcoma canine research. The funds will support research being done by 2023 OSI grant recipient Seth M. Pollack, MD, director of the Sarcoma Program at the Lurie Cancer Center and the Steven T. Rosen Professor of Cancer Biology at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, and Timothy Fan, PhD, DVM, a professor of veterinary clinical medicine and principal investigator of the Comparative Oncology Research Laboratory at the Cancer Center at Illinois.

Because osteosarcoma in dogs is strikingly similar to osteosarcoma in humans, the hope is that improving treatment for canine osteosarcoma will also yield insights that can translate into human patients. Drs. Pollack and Fan are currently studying the use of immunotherapy in pet dogs with osteosarcoma by supplementing CAR-T cell therapy with additional agents that modify the tumor environment to make the therapy more effective.

Drs. Pollack and Fan aren’t the only ones who believe canine osteosarcoma research may hold the key to curing the disease in humans. Given the fact that osteosarcoma is 10 times more common in dogs than it is in humans, canine osteosarcoma research can advance more rapidly than human research into the disease. Chand Khanna, DVM, PhD, a veterinary oncologist and renowned researcher in the field of osteosarcoma, also studies the disease in dogs to glean valuable insight into how osteosarcoma works and how to cure it in humans as well as dogs like Lavinia. (Here’s what pet parents need to know about osteosarcoma in dogs.)

Because osteosarcoma is 10 times more common in dogs than it is in humans, canine osteosarcoma research can advance more rapidly than human research into the disease.

Triple Your Impact in September

Dr. Chand Khanna is such a believer in the power of canine osteosarcoma research that he and his wife, Kristen Khanna, PhD, have pledged to join the Fegos in donating $100,000 during the OSI’s 2024 gift-matching campaign. These gifts go three times as far to eradicate osteosarcoma!

Here’s how the campaign works: Any donation made to the OSI in September 2024 for osteosarcoma research will be matched—times two!—by the institute. That means that a donation of $50 from the community will result in $150 going to osteosarcoma research during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

For more on the September giving campaign and to make a donation, please click here.