Raz
Wednesday 21st March 2018
Regarding the case of Raz and his family on last night’s show, I wish to state that I stand in complete solidarity with Raz’s mum and dad and all of the wonderful loving families I am lucky to serve.
It is impossible in a television show to emphasise all aspects for any particular case. A TV show can only give a glimpse of the complexity of any set of circumstances. We make this show to educate, to inform, to explain the challenges and the options as we move veterinary medicine forward into a new era of love and hope.
Raz was affected by osteosarcoma bone cancer and as such had a limited life expectancy which was stated in the programme. We all knew this and we all knew the risks of surgery, but we performed the surgery because the family wanted to give him the chance to live the rest of his days in as little pain and with as much function as possible.
Given that the cancer was terminal, that he would need more chemotherapy, and that he had an infection, it is entirely fair and reasonable that all families have the choice to do for their best friend what they think is the right thing to do – and unless you walk in their shoes at that particular moment in time with those specific circumstances, in my opinion nobody has the right to judge the choices made.
Everybody, including Raz’s mum and dad have done their very best and loved him very much.
Raz’s family have my full support at this incredibly difficult time. Having already lived through their journey with Raz, they also made the brave decision to share their story with all of you for the greater good of animals everywhere. I stand by their side. Let’s all collectively show respect for them and for Raz’s legacy of love and hope.
We show life as it really is rather than as a perfect world. Complications happen, difficult decisions need to be made. This is real life.
Please be mindful of the feelings of myself, the team and of the beautiful families that we are fortunate enough to serve daily with their wonderful animal friends. We all have very deep feelings and we take very seriously our collective moral, ethical and compassionate decisions.
Please let’s build a community of compassion where we are all in this together trying to do our very best for the animals and for each other.
I want to sincerely and wholeheartedly thank the families that allow us to walk by their sides at these difficult and life-changing times because without them and the animals they love, we would not ever get the chance to change veterinary medicine in this way for the better and to explain the options available for animals and the families that love them. In my opinion, this would be a real shame because the world will be much worse off without this love and hope.
Please be kind to each other out there. Anyone who loves an animal deserves to have all of the options all of the time and we should collectively respect each other and do the right thing by each other and by the animals we cherish. Please speak to others on social media as you would wish to be spoken to yourself and please be aware that everyone is doing their best and everyone has feelings. This is the society we should want and this is the community of compassion each and every one of us should want to build.
Thank you for listening
With Love
Noel
