Finn Holinger
(By Cathy Holinger)
Finn Holinger was our 2015 Puppy Up CT Shoreline Walk hero.
Finn owned Cathy Holinger, and together they were a top Puppy Up fundraising team since the First Puppy Up CT Shoreline Walk back in 2012. Last year, cancer touched Finn and Cathy.
When Finnegan was diagnosed with acute leukemia at the end of last May, we never thought he’d celebrate his twelfth birthday on November 7th . We certainly never thought he’d walk with me in his third PuppyUp Walk at Hammonasset, on November 8th, 2015.
Confounding everyone, including his oncology team at Central and all of his friends at Guilford Veterinary Hospital, Finn held his cancer at bay. With his “quality of life” chemo (they gave him weeks to live without treatment) managing to keep his “good guy” cells in normal ranges, Finn continued to do daily short walks with me, visit his special human friends, and be a “Tail Waggin’ Tutor”* twice a week. His aging issues slowed him down more than his cancer. We were incredibly lucky and felt every day was an amazing gift.
Finnegan loved people and he lit up any room and life he entered. He brought joy and comfort and love to everyone—young and old—and was cherished by many. Finn is and will always truly be my hero.
(We also know that Cathy is Finn’s hero too. Please join us in honoring Finn and his Mom. Both are truly heroes!)
*Finn was a TDI Therapy Dog—TDIEVA (Therapy Dog International Exceptional Volunteer Achievement, 350 plus visits) and was a Canine Good Citizen. He loved agility and went to week long dog and people camp in Vermont with me for nine years.
Finnegan, his oncology team, and the initial drug he was given and continued on every two weeks successfully held his cancer at bay for ten months. He continued to walk with me daily, ask to sleep on my bed, and make therapy dog visits right up until two days before he died. The drug stopped working and we spent the weekend hoping to build up the good guy cells enough again to start him on a different drug, but it didn’t work. Any option at that point would have subjected him to certain sickness, stress and emergent situations which Finn in no way deserved. We felt fortunate to be able to give him the gift of relief and peace. He had two days of not eating and feeling exhausted. He went to sleep very peacefully in my lap with many of his Central Hospital friends with us. Finnegan taught us SO much about enthusiasm and love and he is getting it back tenfold. I have been absolutely overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and grief over the loss of this very very special dog. What a really, really great guy.
