The Spirit of Arwen Legacy Fund

Nikki and Mike honor their beloved three-legged dog Arwen by creating the Spirit of Arwen Legacy Fund. Together we continue to fulfill our mission to help Tripawds and their people everywhere. Read Arwen’s story and see how you can help.

Helping Tripawds and Their People Everywhere

In Honor of Canine Cancer Hero Arwen

Arwen joined our family on June 30th of 2018 – and from the moment she came home, we knew immediately that this feisty girl would become our once in a life time soul dog.

We (Mike and Nikki) adopted Arwen the Shepkita (German Shepherd x Akita) from an amazing local rescue called Pound Dog rescue. When we had sent in our application, Arwen was not even posted up for adoption yet, and we had actually applied for a different pup. But the rescue replied saying they had some puppies that needed homes and our reply was, “Which ever you think we can provide the best home for!” and that is how we welcomed our beautiful girl into our family.

Always An Adventure for Arwen

Arwen was a feisty and clumsy girl as a puppy and she immediately wanted to befriend our first love, a grey tabby cat named Rogue. With time, they ended up enjoying each other’s company and evening taking naps together on the couch and our bed.

From the moment she came home, until the very end, Arwen was an adventure pup. We took her absolutely everywhere with us, including on a road trip to climb some mountains in Banff – she was absolutely in her glory the whole time. We brought her on all sorts of outdoor adventures, to parks, restaurants, cafes, events, family visits – and her home away from home was our gym.

Arwen was the perfect balance of couch potato at home, and boundless energy outdoors for play and sniffing. When we first brought her home we went through training and did a lot of research as we knew her breed mix was a combination of some tough and stubborn power breeds.

Arwen coming into our lives really did save both of us – and that is no exaggeration with both of us having experienced severe mental health battles in our lives. And as if that in itself was not special enough, Arwen truly touched the lives of so many people outside of us – she converted many people that were afraid of dogs or had previous negative experiences, to absolutely falling in love with her sweet and kind soul. We were so so proud and lucky that this girl had the most perfect personality – she accumulated a HUGE extended family of humans that loved her and often came to the gym, not motivated by working out, but by getting to cuddle her on their rest times, haha!

Arwen was our rock in 2021 when our sweet girl Rogue passed away after her own battle with cancer. We still miss her so much.

“Arwen…really did save both of us”

Arwen’s Cancer Journey

At the beginning of 2024, we received devastating news – our soul girl was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma. Our heart still shatters every time we think about. It was really thanks to Tripawds that we gained the strength and courage to learn and figure out what the best course of action was to do right by our girl. We remember joining one of the zoom calls and absolutely bursting into tears after leaving the meeting because of the genuine kindness of those that had experienced the roller coaster of a diagnosis like this with their own fur babies.

After a lot of talking, tears, and connecting with our amazing vet team, onocology team and Tripawds, we decided that Arwen was a good candidate to undergo amputation of her front leg. In March, she began her Tripawd journey and she THRIVED. We were so so proud of our girl – after a couple weeks of recovery she was already trying to walk herself on our regular routes around the neighborhood. With guided physio and a recovery plan, in addition to starting Chemotherapy, it wasn’t long before she was back at the parks and splashpads and running around with her friends. What felt like a roller coaster of a journey finally came to an end with Arwen finishing her chemotherapy and being confirmed in remission. We knew of course that despite how well she tolerated everything and pretty much being back to all her normal activity, with something like cancer, it is never ever a guarantee.

Give Now to Honor Arwen

“Our pets are our family, and there is not a day that goes by that we don’t think of them after they are gone.”

How Arwen’s Legacy Helps Tripawds Everywhere

The Spirit of Arwen Legacy Fund helps keep the Tripawds community online and supports programs helping people facing amputation for their pets with:

Tripawds Toll-free Helpline

Amputation Surgery Assistance

Free Tripawd Rehab Grants

Tripawds Support Circle Community

And More with Your Help!

Unfortunately later that year, things took a turn for the worse, and we had to make an incredibly heart shattering decision – one that we didn’t want to do, but knew it was the right thing to do by Arwen. While the anticipatory grief was incredibly unbearable, we did our best to set that aside and were lucky enough to have the most amazing last week with our girl – hitting the splash pad a couple more times and feeding her all her favourite treats and seeing all her favourite people.

From the moment she entered our lives, Arwen and Rogue healed us and brought us so much joy that there truly is no way to properly articulate it. Since saying goodbye, we try every day to honour that fight and spirit of being kind, and never forgetting to be in the moment. Our pets are our family, and there is not a day that goes by that we don’t think of them after they are gone. The pain of missing them never ever goes away, but we try to remember that the pain is worth it for having the incredible privilege to be loved by them.

Recent Donors

The Smile Collective 2 months ago

$300.00
Bronte 3 months ago

$25.00
Ariane 3 months ago

$25.00

And we truly want to thank Tripawds once again for all the support and kindness they provided to us, and for the constant help and community they provide for total strangers who just love their furry family members just as much. Not all people will understand the bond between a human and their furry family members, but everyone in the Tripawd community does and that is something that cannot go unrecognized and appreciated.

We hope that with this fundraising page, we can pay it forward for anyone else that is dealt the very difficult hand of deciding how to do right by their beloved pet when faced with these hard decisions – but also to have a place to celebrate all the positives that arise as well.

THANK YOU TRIPAWDS!

~ Nicole & Mike