Marine veteran takes cancer-stricken dog on an inspirational final journey
She has only three legs, cancer in her bones and lungs, and has officially outlived her expiration date by eight months. Bella, the beautiful chocolate Lab, is living on borrowed time.
But she’s lapping it up.
Wandering through Michigan wetlands.
Feasting on key lime pie in the Florida Keys.
Running through Central Park.
Exploring caves in Virginia.
Posing like a statue in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
In May 2015 Bella was diagnosed with advanced osteosarcoma. By then, the bone cancer had invaded her lungs. Her death sentence gave her three to six months to live.
Her human, Robert Kugler, who adopted 9-year-old Bella when she was a pup, was given a heart-breaking choice: Bella had to lose her leg or be put down.
Her leg was amputated. But Kugler decided to give her something huge in return.
The Marine veteran and his dog hit the road to see America.
They’ve been traveling off and on since November and so far have hit cities and tourist sites big and small, including Cleveland, Niagara Falls, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Washington, D.C.
“I just didn’t want her to be gone one day when I came home,” Kugler, from Broken Bow, Neb., told WOWT in Omaha last week.
“I feel like right now this is my purpose. It’s the chapter in my life right now is just exploring with my dog.”
The interview was done by Skype because Kugler and Bella were in the Florida Everglades, where they met alligators.
They’re taking lots of people along for the ride. People are following the duo on Twitter (@RobKugler), Facebook and Instagram, where they have almost 5,500 followers. Kugler is also chronicling their trip at rklifeillustrated.com.
Bella has her own Facebook page, too, under the name Bella Latte Kugler.
“Often times I’m asked why I share so much ... and my answer is that with all the negativity, pain, and division I see in this world and on the news ... I just want to share something positive,” Kugler wrote on Facebook last week.
“I feel that there isn’t a better example of positivity and love than this girl right here. A friend to everyone, a spirit that won’t quit, and a being that is truly always in the moment.”
People have fallen in love with the road-trippin’ duo. Several have offered them places to crash while they’re traveling.
“You are an amazing ‘dogfather.’ You are both very lucky to have each other,” one man wrote on Kugler’s Facebook page.
“I was thinking — that is such good hope/publicity for those of us dealing with bone cancer in our pets ... and especially people whose pets are just being diagnosed,” wrote another woman.
Kugler said he’s not sure when this new tour of duty will end.
“Life has taken me on many journeys since my early days in rural Nebraska where I was born and raised by a hard working single mother of four,” he writes on his blog.
“I’ve been a Marine, a Pre-K teacher, a SAG Actor, a Disaster Relief Volunteer, a Garbage Man, a Heavy Equipment Operator, and many others ... but above all, I am a creator and explorer at heart.”
He told Mashable that he has terminated his lease and stashed his belongings in a barn. He and Bella, who he said is doing “pretty darn awesome,” are ready to travel again.
“I’d like to get my 4Runner geared up as a more organized camping rig, then go out towards the (national) parks,” he told Mashable.
“Taking Bella to each state really isn’t the priority, it’s more having her along to experience my own ‘hero’s journey’ and appreciate each other’s spirit and life on the planet.”
He told WOWT that the traveling is helping him heal from the deaths of two siblings - his brother in Iraq and oldest sister in a car crash- in recent years.
He hopes this story of a man and his dog will inspire others to get out and live big before it’s too late.
In Bella speak, he means grab life by the tail.
This story was originally published July 15, 2016 at 8:55 AM with the headline "Marine veteran takes cancer-stricken dog on an inspirational final journey."