The following post was generously written by Tripawd pawrent Stephen Zurek. For a cool Bone Cancer Hero t-shirt like the one Sami is wearing, check out her Mom Michelle’s Bone Cancer Hero store.

We would like to start off by saying thank you to Tripawds, for being such a great source of support and information for us. We are so grateful. All of you guys have really helped us through this! Your posting about The Top Five Questions About Amputation And Coping with Bone Cancer is going to help a lot of folks with this tough decision.

We are so grateful our Sami gurl is still here At the ripe old age of 14, she is going on 11 months as a tripawd and still hanging in there. When we first took her to the vet because of a limp last year, the last thing we were expecting to hear was bone cancer. It hit us like a brick and we thought it was time to say goodbye to our baby. After we got over the initial shock, the vet recommended that we amputate.

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Sometimes we hear about a courageous pup and just have to share his story! Some wonderful people in Los Angeles just told us about Koa, a lucky little tripawd who’s made it from the worst of all puppy “mills” – dog meat farms in Korea – to the streets of Los Angeles, where he’s now seeking his forever home. Here’s what his kind foster folks had to say …

We are happy to introduce you to Koa.

Koa, like all of our rescued dogs, is a very special little guy. He was rescued from a dog farm in South Korea that breeds and sells dogs for their meat. At only 2 months old, a healthy Koa was attacked by other dogs at the farm. The attack left Koa with a terribly damaged front leg. The injury was beyond repair or concern of the meat farmer, so his leg was amputated.

Because of his condition, Koa could no longer be sold as “healthy” dog meat, so in June of 2008 the dog farmer voluntarily turned Koa over to our partner shelter in South Korea. The American rescue organization now representing Koa is based in Los Angeles, and they are called Happy Ending Rescue. They adopt dogs who are rescued from meat farms in Korea. Many have been abused and have special needs. You can read more about this wonderful group  at happyangelsdogrescue.org.

Our now 4 month old Koa has healed beautifully. “Koa” means “strong” in Hawaiian.  He now has three names; Koa Ku-won Tipo (translates to Strong, Saved, Tripawd). As best we can tell, Koa is a Korean Jindo and a Shepard dog mix, and will be about 90 pounds when full grown.

Koa loves playing tug-of-war, and acts like any other puppy his age. He is such an amazing, playful, loving, smart puppy. We are so lucky! He seems unfazed with the loss of his leg, bouncing around and wrestling with other dogs. When he does take a tumble, he quickly rights himself by pushing off the floor with his chin; he’s quite the little gymnast.

Koa has find a loving home. Coincidentally … we just received a notice from Dogster about this Humane Society petition to stop Petland from supporting puppy mills. Please take a moment to support the cause.

Hey everyone. We hope you’ll consider opening your hearts to this beautiful Husky girl we just heard about, thanks to our friend Calpurnia.

Her name is Dreamer, and she joined the Tripawd community just last week, after being hit by a car. The good people at Utah’s Enoch Animal Shelter have given her the medical help and love she needs to recuperate. Now, this girl is ready for her forever home.

She’s good with kids, other dogs, and seems to be good with cats so far. And while she is in Utah, her rescue people say they’ll find a way to transport her to her future pawrents.  Won’t you consider making her a member of your family?

For more information, please contact us here at Tripawds.

Here’s another mighty fine dog my people recently met … and I do mean mighty!

Tazzie is an English Mastiff who weighs in at about 175 lbs! Whoever says giant breed dogs and amputation aren’t a good fit obviously hasn’t been hanging around the Tripawd Discussion Forums long enough. Tazzie is cared for by Dr. Pam who is a regular contributor. Boy, that Tazzie is one lucky dog!

When my people first saw pictures of Rocco, they knew we just had to be related. And when we found out Rocco lived along the route we were taking on our full-time RVing roadtrip, we were all excited to meet him.

While I didn’t quite make it, Jim and René did get to meet Rocco. The visit, just a week or so after my passing, was therapeutic.

More than just looking like me, Rocco’s similarities were uncanny. We both play ball, eat grass, swim, and have great big smiles with worn down teeth.

Meet Rocco in this video and see what his wonderful people have to say about their battle with cancer, and his amazing recovery.

Check out these scrapbook pages showing how much Rocco and I really are alike, and see how you can get your own custom photo book here.