our strong ella bean lost her battle to cancer last night 🐾💔🌈🪽nothing will ever come close to filling the void her absence is leaving in our hearts & home. we are clinging to the only comfort we have - knowing she is pain free, soaking up the sun, & chasing all the squirrels and lizards in heaven I’ll forever be grateful for the day I walked into Tuscaloosa’s animal shelter in 2017 (almost exactly 8 years ago), lonely & looking for a friend... & leaving with so much more than that - my soul dog, the brightest part of my hardest days, my shadow, my absolute bestest friend, & being the reason me and griffin met. 6 days ago we found out Ella had cutaneous lymphoma after having a mass removed and biopsied. about a week into her recovery from the surgery, I noticed more bumps rapidly spreading on her & she had a day where she didn’t eat & was lethargic, so I took her to the vet & they gave us the news & gave us some meds to help her eat while I awaited the arrival of her oncology appointment yesterday. thankfully, getting those meds gave me 4 more days with her where she was feeling mostly herself. I hardly left her side at all over the last week & spoiled her with pup cup & bark bowls, car rides, and all the cuddles and pets. we thought we’d have a few weeks or months with her even after the diagnosis last week, and even when I was at the oncologist yesterday I was thinking we had more time as we planned our next steps for her, not knowing it was only going to be hours. I am so very thankful I was able to devote as much of my time to her as I could this last week. time is so precious, especially with our sweet fur babies, & things can change so so fast ❤️‍🩹 to my golden girl - you rescued me in more ways than you know and I’ll never be the same without you. even with this heartbreak and pain, I’d do it all over again to have the privilege of loving you for (most of) your whole life