Our beautiful boy Clay is 5 years old and has recently been diagnosed with grade 4 lymphoma. The cancer is in 6 out of 8 lymph nodes and his spleen.

This was only diagnosed due to me noticing swelling in his neck, petting him one morning I noticed that his neck/throat didn't feel normal. I took him to our vet who put him on a course of antibiotics for swollen lymph nodes and hoped it was only an infection. After a 1 week course the swelling wasn't going down and we went back for another check up. The vet was concerned and wanted to do a biopsy asap and Clay was booked in the following morning for a biopsy and aspiration. It was a horrible long day waiting to pick him up, we've been completely shaken with even just the thought of him being sick. They discovered that the lymph nodes on his legs were also swollen and we waited over a week for the results to come back. Clay coped really well with the recovery from his operation and we headed back to the vet to get his stitches removed and find out the results. We were absolutely devastated to find out the results confirmed lymphoma in both his neck and legs. After a lot of crying and researching the disease we made an emergency appointment with University of Glasgow Vet School for a consultation. They were simply amazing and offered us great and realistic advice. We opted for the biopsy to be further tested to find out whether it was "B" or "T" cell lymphoma, whilst waiting on those results we booked Clay in to start chemotherapy immediately.

After the consultation we left Clay at the vet school and he was sedated and put through some tests. An ultrasound of his abdomen confirmed that the lymphoma has spread to his spleen and his liver was showing signs of cancer too. The following day we took him back in for his first round of chemo. He's a nervous wee soul and didn't like us leaving him, luckily the staff are lovely, caring people and managed to persuade him with some tasty treats. He coped really well with the treatment but the cost so far has been financially crippling.

He's a strong, gentle pup who deserves the best chance. It's absolutely heartbreaking knowing he has this horrible disease in his little body, we need all the help we can get to fund his chemotherapy to give him a longer, healthier life.

Clay is such a character, he howls with happiness when he sees you and sits on your knee like a child. He submits in the park to puppies and bows his head for the smaller dogs to sniff his face. I've never met such a strange, quirky animal like him, he's truly one of a kind.

If anyone can donate to help us keep going with his treatment it would mean the absolute world to us. The thought of having to give up the fight and face a day where we can't give him the best fighting chance will be the worst day I can ever imagine.

I'll be posting weekly updates and photos of how he is getting on and will go into more detail on what drugs he is receiving and tests he is going through.

Thanks for taking the time to read Clays story, if you have any questions please feel free to reach out.

Diane x