A Massachusetts man who was diagnosed with cancer a few months ago is looking for a new home for his best friend.
David Fine of Plainville, Massachusetts, told local NBC station WJAR that he has had his dog Babs for more than 10 years. He took her in as a puppy after she was rehomed twice, and Fine has been considered her “daddy” ever since.
“I told myself I would never get another pet because it breaks my heart to lose them. Luckily, she will outlive me this time,” Fine told the news outlet.
Fine worked as a carpenter most of his life, and when he retired in 2020, he had a “lifetime dream” he wanted to achieve — to travel across the country to visit national parks.
“I’ve been planning for 30 years or more,” Fine said. “I was going to buy a truck and a camper, and I’m going to see the national parks. I pulled the trigger in 2020. I took Babs with me; I had a Cheshire grin on my face the whole week I was there.”
A rescue is looking for answers after finding a ‘very scared’ cat abandoned in a cave with no food or water
After stopping in South Dakota to visit Mount Rushmore, Fine arrived in Wyoming. About 100 miles away from Yellowstone, he began to feel sick, he told the outlet.
“I started feeling sick, so sick I couldn’t drive. I wasn’t comfortable driving,” Fine said.
Years before that, he underwent treatment for leukemia and then a year later was diagnosed with vascular disease, according to WBDJ. In August, doctors told Fine he had stage four lung cancer – and only six months to live.
According to Fine, he decided not to undergo the “brutal” cancer treatment, telling the publication that “they wouldn’t have given me much time and I would have been sick all the time.”
“I choose quality over quantity,” he added. “I’m fine with it. I’ve come to terms with it. It is what it is, you know. I can try to prolong things, but chemotherapy would make me so sick by the time I’d recover from one treatment that there would be time for the next one, and that’s no way to is living.”
Now, says Fine, it’s on a mission to find Babs a new home before she enters the hospital. Fine told WJAR that he has no children and has never been married. His extended family can’t take Babs in because she needs a pet-free home.
Dog ‘crying endlessly’ at Indiana shelter is looking for a soothing forever home
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
So far, he has published an ad in the local newspaper looking for a new home for his canine friend and appealed to the public for help. Fine’s requests for Babsa’s future are that she go to a home without other pets and small children. Babs is housebroken and extremely well behaved.
Although Fine doesn’t think he’ll be able to make it to Yellowstone now, he still wants to accomplish his goal of finding a new home for Babs before she dies.
“Everybody dies; there are things I wanted to do. I still want to see Yellowstone. I don’t think I’m going to make it there at this point; financially it would be hard, except I have to do this for her,” he told WJAR. “Then I can rest in peace when the time comes, but I’m not ready to go yet.”
“… She is the most important thing at the moment. My fate is sealed, but hers is not. I have to make sure she gets as many good years as possible from the rest of her life,” he added.
Fine told WJAR that those interested in adopting Babs should email [email protected].
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education