Mr. Brown, the Face of Canine Cancer, Passes Away

Mr. Brown may not have gotten to visit The Ellen DeGeneres show, but he was able to accomplish quite a bit, including touching the hearts of thousands.

Mr. Brown passed away Monday, Nov. 9, according to his Facebook page. He was taken in by Hopeful Tails Animal Rescue board member Chris Ulreich and had been living with her since mid-May.

Ulreich wanted Mr. Brown to be more than just a dog with cancer. She wanted him to help educate people about canine cancer and bring hope to others.

“It’s trying to show what an awesome life he’s leading even though he’s fighting cancer,” Ulreich said in a previous article. “We’re going to give him the best life we can for whatever time he’s got because we don’t know what his previous life was. We can assume it wasn’t the best because of the condition that he was in.”

Based on Mr. Brown’s bucket list, he certainly lived to the fullest. The only thing he wasn’t able to do was visit The Ellen DeGeneres Show. The rest were checked off, including having salmon for dinner, getting a doggie massage and going to the beach.

The day of his death, Mr. Brown was getting around fine, according to a Facebook post by Ulreich. He went outside and then came in and ate his breakfast. But then something changed.

“Shortly after that his breathing became extremely labored and he started panting and drooling. I took him to the vet,” Ulreich said in the post. “At that point it was determined that we needed to make some very tough decisions.”

Ulreich went to go pick up her kids from school so they could say goodbye, but then got a phone call telling her to come back. When she arrived, the vets were performing CPR on him. He then passed away.

“He was brave and strong up until the very end,” Ulreich said. “I truly believe he purposely waited for me to leave and passed at that moment because he didn’t want my children and I to have to decide to put him down and then sit there with him while it was done. He was trying to save us some pain.”

Hundreds of commenters shared messages of support for Mr. Brown. Many people loved him and he won’t be forgotten soon.

Rest in peace, Mr. Brown.