The following profiles illustrate our key point: animal research saves human and animal lives.  Please read on, and then consider sharing your own story about the triumph of research in your life.

Duke - Best Buddy, Lifesaving Beagle

For the Love of a Cat

More Time to be a Mother and Grandmother, Thanks to Animals in Medicine

An Athlete's Story 

My Entire Family - Touched by Animal Research 

Animal Research Saves Animal Lives, Too! 

Cancer Free - Thanks to Animal Research

Duke - Best Buddy, Lifesaving Beagle
by Lisa Portnoy, DVM

Beagles that live to 15 years old are rare.    Beagles that have met that milestone and have contributed to valuable research are rarer still.   So to say that my dog Duke is in a league of his own would be an understatement.

In the mid-1990s when I was a laboratory animal veterinarian at a leading research university, Duke was one of several beagles participating in a study involving canine oral papilloma virus (COPV).  COPV results in temporary benign wart-like growths on the tissue lining the inside of the mouth.  The purpose of this study was to identify the portion of the virus that caused an immune response in order to develop a vaccine against COPV.

The findings from Duke’s study yielded important information on COPV and provided researchers with a greater understanding of how to configure a vaccine to prevent the disease.  But the findings were to serve a greater purpose.  The data gathered from Duke and the other research participants, served as a precursor study for the development of a vaccine for the Human Papillomavirus or HPV.  Similar to the virus found in canines, HPV can cause wart-like growths.  In humans, certain HPV types can also cause cervical cancer.

By working with the findings from the COPV study and other studies of the papilloma virus, the scientists were able to develop a vaccine against HPV that has the potential to save many lives. This vaccine was given FDA approval last year.

When Duke’s portion of the study was completed, he became a mascot of the facility for several years.  When his aged companion had to be euthanatized due to a stroke, Duke was the only beagle left in the facility and needed to find a permanent home.  I told my husband we were fencing in the backyard and Duke was coming home.

For five years Duke has been a part of my family and a neighborhood icon.  We have celebrated many wonderful times, including most recently his 15^th birthday—a monumental event on all accounts!

Everyone believes that his or her pet is special.  But I wonder how many owners can say their pet has participated in life-saving research.  I am very proud to have Duke and grateful for his contribution, and the contribution of many other research  animals, to improving medical and veterinary care.

Our family adopted Sabrina from a dear friend who had rescued her from a local shelter in 2003 with little knowledge of her background or health.  She was an easily frightened cat that would hide from everyone, including us.

About six months after Sabrina came to live with us, she began having sinus troubles.   The vet figured it was a viral infection, gave her medicine and was not alarmed when the infection recurred -- that's not uncommon among street cats. 

Not much later, however, Sabrina's problems escalated - we noticed blood when she sneezed.  We brought her to the University of Pennsylvania for a full medical work up, and the diagnosis was not good: Sabrina had nasal lymphoma, a form of cancer.

X-rays and blood tests determined that the lymphoma had not eaten through the bone to the other side of her nose and because Sabrina was a young and relatively healthy cat, chemotherapy and radiation would be viable options.

She started chemo treatment immediately - a few hours every two weeks.  After her third treatment, her doctors asked us to consider letting them include Sabrina in a study to test ports (devices planted under the skin to intravenously inject medicine into the blood stream, sparing the use of a vein in the leg or neck).  At the time, ports for human patients were commonplace, but ports for animals were not. The study would help animals well into the future, and we agreed.

Sabrina's doctors surgically placed the port behind her ear. She was given anesthesia during the procedure so she didn't feel any discomfort or pain. 

The worst part for Sabrina was the radiation treatment she underwent five times a week for two weeks.  However, through it all, she remained strong and brave.  Both chemo and radiation took a full year to complete.  We had another scare shortly after her treatments ended, but that turned out to be nothing serious. 

Sabrina is in her second year of being cancer-free. We are extremely thankful for the scientists and animals who helped develop the chemotherapy and radiation treatments that saved Sabrina's life.

Now that she is healthy again, her whole personality has changed and she is not afraid of people anymore.  She even comes around when we have company to say hello! 

Lucette Wells, a showroom manager, was a 78-year-old mother of three who took pleasure in simple things - her work, shopping, helping her daughter take care of her poodles and above all, spending time with her family, including her three granddaughters.  However, a routine doctor's visit changed her life forever.

Doctors told Lucette that although her heart was in pristine condition, her heart valves had been destroyed through calcification as part of the aging process.  The damage was such that Lucette's valves could not be repaired.

The doctors did have one option - to replace Lucette's damaged valves with heart valves from a pig, a fairly routine and highly successful operation. 

In the United States alone, between 70,000 and 80,000 heart valve replacements are performed each year, a majority of which require the use of pig valves.

Lucette's doctors told her that if they did not operate, she would be forced to give up driving, working and the way of life she knew and loved.  For Lucette and her family, the decision was simple.

The operation went well and gave Lucette her life back.  Within three months, she was once again driving, shopping, cleaning and helping her daughter with the poodles.

Because of scientists' use of pigs in heart valve replacements, Lucette enjoyed several additional months with her loved ones.

Her children say that until the day she died, Lucette always remembered to thank the animals that helped extend her life and give her more time with her family.

In memory of Lucette B. Wells

“As a biomedical researcher for 20 years, but even more so as someone who has faced a serious health challenge, I appreciate scientists’ judicious use of animals to further medical progress.

“The benefits touch so many lives; even my family’s dog recently had experimental joint surgery - which was developed through animal research - and he is now able to enjoy a healthy, pain-free and satisfying life.

“It’s so easy to take one’s health for granted.  I did, until I was literally forced to stop in my tracks.”

Back in high school, Tim* learned about the important and valuable role animals play in biomedical research.  Today, with a background in animal science, Tim has a full intellectual understanding of how scientists’ work with animals advances medical progress.  But it’s from a much more personal and emotional perspective that Tim truly appreciates the benefits of animal-based research.  Here’s his story:

“When I was 13, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy.  At the time, I was unaware of what the problem was and I didn’t discover what had happened until I was 28.  The advancements in chemotherapy and other cancer treatments - made possible through animal research - allowed my mother to keep her secret from me for nearly 15 years.

"Three decades after my mother’s full recovery, I was grieved to discover my sister also had breast cancer.  Thankfully, through surgery and radiation treatment, she’s been problem-free for several years now.  On top of this, my stepfather has been an insulin-dependant diabetic for as long as I can remember.  Sometimes regulating his diet is not enough, and he uses insulin to manage his diabetes.  Thanks to this medication, my step dad has been able to live a normal and healthy life.

Even I rely on the advancements of animal-based research.   A few years ago, I contracted endocarditis, an uncommon infection of the heart valves.  Through improvements in antibiotics, diagnosis and surgical techniques using animal models, I came through needing only one aspirin a day to regulate my condition.  Animal research does save lives – I wouldn’t have my family if it didn’t.”

When we adopted Molly from the Labrador Retriever Rescue in 1997, she was only seven months old but had already lived in four homes.  Despite this rocky start, Molly was a sweet, funny, affectionate dog, and a typical Lab - full of energy, enthusiasm, and love for people and food!

Around age three we noticed she was slowing down. At first it happened so gradually we just assumed she was getting older and maturing.  One day she refused to eat which is out-of-character for many Labs, especially Molly.  We took her to our vet who ran a series of blood tests.  While we waited for the results, Molly rapidly deteriorated.  She wouldn’t get off the couch and she refused to eat anything. 

All the tests came back negative.  Thankfully our vet decided to run one additional test for Canine Addison’s Disease, a fatal condition in which a dog’s adrenal glands stop producing the chemicals and hormones that regulate critical bodily functions.  Because the symptoms resemble those of many other diseases, Addison's is often not diagnosed until autopsy.  We were so fortunate that our vet decided to run that specific test because sure enough, that’s what Molly had. 

The good news was that although the disease is fatal, if diagnosed, it is highly treatable.  Molly received Percorten-V, an injection that replaces the chemicals and hormones her body could no longer produce.  In just two hours after receiving the first shot, Molly was completely recovered - playing, running, and begging for food! 

For the last five years Molly has received the same injection once a month and is living a full, healthy life.  Happily, we’ve since learned from clinical trials that dogs using this treatment for Addison’s disease have a normal life expectancy.  Molly has brought so much joy and love to our home, we are forever grateful to the researchers and veterinarians who made her many years with us possible!

Molly & her family live in Wheaton, Maryland.

"Only one who has received the medical diagnosis of cancer can truly understand the devastating blow that it renders.  I was called by my gynecologist’s office the day following a biopsy, with the message that the doctor wished to see me in her office that afternoon.  The results of the test revealed probable stage 3 uterine cancer and an appointment had already been made for me with a pelvic surgeon/oncologist.  Later at home, I was still mentally and emotionally numb as I went through the motions of making a pot of coffee.  I remember thinking as I reached for a coffee filter from the stack in the cabinet, “I wonder if I’ll live to use all of these filters.”

"Now, three years following a total hysterectomy, and a schedule of frequent medical examinations, I am cancer free and able to enjoy my family, my work, my friends and my pets.  This medical miracle was made possible through animal research – research that brought about the early diagnosis and the surgeon’s skill and expertise.  I appreciate, as never before, the animals, the animal care technicians, the veterinarians, the scientists and all those involved who dedicated their efforts and even their lives to medical progress and the creation of treatments which have benefited me, personally, as well as all living beings."