Sarah Launch and Kelly Michael rescued 5-year-old Roosevelt from the Chicago Animal Care and Control after he was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer.
She doesn’t know exactly what his first five years of life were like, but certainly knows that the last six months will be great!
Roosevelt AKA Roo was fostered by Sarah who is an exectutive producer at Comcast after getting a call from her friend Kelly Michael.
“We knew something was wrong, but we didn’t know what. She called to tell me that he had six months,” Lauch said, choking up.
The two decided, “We’re gonna make it the best six months of his life.”
So the pair created a bucket list for him and even documented and shared his story using the #LiveLikeRoo hashtag to inspire other people to take their pups on adventures.
Roo is believed to be a pitbull/Shar Pei mix.
They tried their best to fulfil all his last wishes such as receiving therapeutic massages and eating at taco bell and getting his favorite snack, ice cream.
They take him to Tastee Freeze for ice cream, he goes on hikes in the Starved Rock State Park and even indulges on meat even though Kelly doesn’t eat it herself.
Roo doesn’t act like he is ill and is very energetic.
“We walked probably three miles at Starved Rock,” she said. “He led the way. He was always wanting to go ahead of the pack. … You wouldn’t know he was sick.”
Apparently Roo’s story has spead all over the country and he has received an outpouring of interest.
“We just want people to know Roo and know his story,” Lauch said.
It seems like the pair have inspired others to take their dogs on more adventures and to appreciate every day as if it was the last.
“Everybody’s like, ‘You must be depressed all the time,’” Lauch said. “But he doesn’t know, and dogs can read how you are feeling.”
Nobody knows exactly how long Roo can survive, so the pair take it one day at a time.
“He doesn’t know he’s going to die,” Lauch said. “So we just go with it and give him whatever he wants. It’s going to be tough at the end, but for now, we try not to think about it.”
