Providing World-Changing Treatment
Professor Joanna Morris is Head of the Oncology Service at the Small Animal Hospital. Legacy gifts have supported her department to invest in cutting-edge equipment to provide animals like Levi the best care possible.
“I oversee diagnostic investigations of patients coming to the Small Animal Hospital with cancer problems and decide on treatment options such as chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy.
“Levi is an eight-year-old smooth collie, and he first came to us two years ago with a nasal tumour. He received treatment with our old radiotherapy machine and responded very well. Unfortunately, at the end of 2023, his symptoms started coming back and so we offered a second round of radiotherapy, this time using our newly installed linear accelerator.
“Compared to our old radiotherapy machine, there are two features that make a really big difference with the linear accelerator. When we set up our patients for treatment, they have to be perfectly positioned and we have to reproduce the set up very accurately to make sure that the treatment is delivered precisely. Our new machine enables us to do CT scans, so when the patients are positioned for treatment, we can check their position with a CT scan before we deliver the treatment.
“The second advantage is that the machine can focus the dose very precisely on the tumour that we want to treat. That means we deliver only a very small dose to the surrounding tissues. Anything that improves the treatment, improves the survival time and cuts down on the side effects is very important for us.
“I also think it’s inspirational for the students to be exposed to state-of-the-art equipment. It means they can see what sort of things can be achieved and what they can aspire to do themselves in the future.”
“A piece of equipment like this is a major expense and it can take a long time for the University to make an investment like this. Legacy gifts make a huge difference and make more treatment possible."
Noyon McPhee is Levi’s owner and she brought him to the Small Animal Hospital after he began getting nose bleeds.
“Levi is our third smooth collie, they make great family pets. Levi is a lovely dog, he’s very calm and good with children and other animals. Smooth collies are now considered a vulnerable breed owing to the small number of puppies each year.
“Levi was six when he sneezed and started bleeding. We took him to the Small Animal Hospital for some scans and they started radiotherapy treatment. It’s amazing to have a facility like this in Glasgow.
“When we came back to the Hospital in 2023 after Levi’s nosebleeds returned, he bounced in the door. He always goes running in and then comes out as though nothing has happened to him.
“Every single member of staff is wonderful and they seem thrilled to have equipment that enables them to help more advanced cases like Levi. It’s literally a lifeline for us just now and hopefully it gives him some extra time. He’s still so young and bouncy, we want to do as much as we can while he’s feeling so well.”
The vet gift that funded the CT scanner was from Ruth and Iain Jamieson (MBChB 1969). They were supporters of the Small Animal Hospital whose own Alsatian dogs were treated by the oncology team. Their gift is also supporting canine genomics research.
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Levi with his owner, Noyon McPhee
Professor Joanna Morris is Head of the Oncology Service at the Small Animal Hospital