PULLMAN, WA – It had only been a year and a half since Dayla Culp and her family lost her sister, Darcy Klepec, to breast cancer when she and her husband, Jon, heard another devastating diagnosis — this time for their dog, Clarice.
The 6-year-old silver Labrador retriever, a gift from Darcy, had a malignant tumor growing near her left wrist, in a spot where surgery would be risky and amputation was the usual recommendation. For help, the Culps turned to Washington State University’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital, where Clarice became part of a novel treatment plan that combined surgery, radiation, and a clinical trial in partnership with Seattle Children’s Hospital. The approach not only appears to have left Clarice cancer free, but could also help advance new immunotherapy options for difficult-to-treat tumors in both dogs and children.
“Clarice means so much to us,” Dayla said. “She’s just such a great dog, and since she was a gift to me from my sister, when she got cancer, it was just that much more difficult.”
The Culps learned Clarice qualified for the clinical trial being completed in partnership with Seattle Children’s Hospital after arriving at WSU and decided to participate.
So many people in our families have had cancer. If there was a chance this could help somebody else someday — especially a child — that mattered to us.
Dayla Culp
“So many people in our families have had cancer,” Dayla said. “If there was a chance this could help somebody else someday — especially a child — that mattered to us.”
The treatment involved injecting an immune‑stimulating agent directly into Clarice’s tumor to activate the body’s T cells. The trial was only the first step. One week after receiving the injection, Clarice underwent surgery to remove the tumor.
Soft‑tissue sarcomas are among the most common canine cancers, accounting for roughly 15% of all malignant tumors in dogs. As many as 95,000 dogs in the United States are diagnosed each year, and an estimated 20% to 30% of cases are fatal, largely because these tumors can grow unnoticed and often extend microscopically beyond what’s visible, making them difficult to fully remove. Sarcomas can often be removed cleanly if caught early and located in areas with enough room to obtain clear margins, but in cases like Clarice’s — where the tumor is in an area that offers little extra tissue to work with — amputation is often recommended. Clarice, though, had an arthritic right shoulder that made it unlikely she could comfortably manage life on three legs, making amputation a poor option.
Even with the location of the tumor, Dr. Janean Fidel, a WSU oncologist who oversaw Clarice’s care, was confident that the hospital’s surgeons could remove most of the tumor. The remainder could then be eliminated with radiation therapy.
Clarice’s surgery took place just before Thanksgiving, and by early January she had completed a three‑round course of radiation therapy. Fidel is hopeful that Clarice has been cured, but she will still receive routine checkups to ensure the tumor doesn’t return unnoticed.
“When she came back for her first radiation treatments, there was no palpable tumor — the surgery went as well as any of us could have hoped for,” Fidel said.
Back home in the Okanogan, Washington, Clarice has returned to her normal self. She greets Jon and Dayla every morning by proudly showing off her stuffed toys, and she still reliably announces both breakfast and snack time.
The Culps are grateful to have Clarice back home, and they hope her treatment and what will be learned from the clinical trial may help other pets and people.
“In the end, we wanted to do everything we could for Clarice,” Jon said. “But knowing her treatment might help someone else someday made the decision feel even more meaningful.”
