A new partnership between Companion Animal Alliance and Our Lady of the Lake-Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center is matching cancer patients and survivors with foster pets available for adoption.
Called Fostering Hope, the program is the first of its kind in the United states.
For people such as Barbara Keller, bonding with a pet provides a sense of comfort that doesn’t need to be explained verbally.
“When you have cancer, everybody tries to fix you,” says Keller, who is the program’s first participant. “I’m an outgoing person, but I found myself shutting down, bombarded with so many thoughts. There are so many people surrounding you who want to fix it, and you’re trying to be tough, and you tell them, ‘I’m good, I’m good.’ With dogs, you don’t have to tell them. You don’t have to talk.”
That bond—the companionship that only a dog can offer—is what Fostering Hope founder Francine Lawrence hopes the program gives participants.
Lawrence, director of survivorship at Mary Bird Perkins, was first inspired to start Fostering Hope after watching the effects of a similar program offered by the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine. That program allows trained therapy dogs to visit with local cancer patients—but only for limited amounts of time.
“Seeing how the patients light up, I asked myself how we could elongate that so patients could have that at home when they’re not feeling well,” she says.
Lawrence tried to research similar programs around the country—only to find none.
Fostering Hope is her answer to giving patients the healing benefits of pet therapy in a temporary yet still long-term way.
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