“Jake is the absolute best boy and really is living his best life,” the Lab’s new owner said of the dog’s journey

A well-deserving pup is feeling a new spring in his step, thanks to a team of veterinarians at Texas A&M.

According to Texas A&M Today, the 9-year-old Labrador retriever, adorably named Jake from State Farm, was found roaming around Waco, Texas, last year with a large mass on the side of his neck that was bigger than his head. A local rescue group, Long Way Home Adoptables, took him in and found him a foster family, who then consulted with a veterinarian about the tumor.

Recognizing that surgery to remove the substantial mass would be risky, the vet referred the case to Texas A&M’s School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, where doctors diagnosed the mass as adenocarcinoma, a tumor of the salivary gland. The cancerous tumor had spread from the gland up to Jake’s ear.

“Salivary gland disease is pretty common, but cancer of the salivary glands is not,” Dr. Vanna Dickerson, a VMBS assistant professor, told Texas A&M Today. “In Jake’s case, saliva built up because he had this big tumor obstructing his salivary ducts. And it’s certainly quite uncommon to have it get as advanced as it was in him.”

COURTESY OF LONG WAY HOME

The school’s veterinary specialists decided surgery was the best option to address the tumor. For Jake’s surgery — partially funded by generous donors who saw his story on social media — doctors removed as much of the tumor as possible. Because the tumor was large and sitting next to the canine’s trachea and esophagus, vets could not remove it all, but they got enough of it to extend Jake’s life and make him much more comfortable.

“With any type of tumor, ideally, you would go in and remove it with a margin of normal tissue around it to make sure you’re not leaving any cancer cells behind,” Dickerson explained to Texas A&M Today. “But because Jake’s tumor was so big and next to a lot of really important structures, like the trachea and esophagus, we knew going into it that the surgery was more of a palliative procedure.”

“We just wanted to give him a better quality of life for however long his life may be,” added April Plemons, Long Way Home’s executive director, per ABC’s WFAA station.

COURTESY OF LONG WAY HOME

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Jack also underwent a round of chemotherapy to reduce the risk of the cancer returning. Once he recovered, Plemons’ staff began searching for a forever home for him. His story had already garnered quite a bit of attention — including from State Farm, which sent a care package to the dog, Plemons told Texas A&M Today.

COURTESY OF LONG WAY HOME

Among the many calls that Long Way Home received about Jake was a promising one from Josie Brown, a veterinary practice manager with the expertise and resources necessary to provide Jake with any medical treatment he’ll need in the future. She took Jake home with open arms.

Sadly, the Lab’s tumor has begun to grow again, but Brown is draining it of fluid once a week to keep it from getting too large. She aims to give Jake as much comfort and love as possible after everything he’s been through.

“Jake is the absolute best boy and really is living his best life,” she gushed to Texas A&M Today. “He never seems to be in pain, and he enjoys being with his people. It didn’t take him any time at all to adjust to life with us; it was like he was meant to be here this whole time.”