Pay it forward

I treat animals with cancer. This is a job that you would think is a lot of sadness. However, we are able to give hope to people that did not realize we could. And most of our patients can live a very good quality of life for longer than they would have without treatment.

Almost 2 years ago, a client was given a financial gift by an anonymous donor for a treatment of chemotherapy. This patient did well for many more months. On the 1 year anniversary of this dog’s death, the owner came back in. He had since gotten another dog and was so grateful for the care he had received here he wanted to pay it forward to another patient. So he left a credit for a dog to get a treatment of chemotherapy, as someone had done for him. Then, the recipient of this gift was so grateful and touched by this gift that he has since given us a check to pay it forward to another deserving patient. I hope that this is a trend that continues. To be able to give that surprise financial gift to a deserving client and patient is priceless. Tears of joy in their eyes and in ours, it’s an amazing feeling to pay it forward.

Jennifer Kim, DVM, DACVIM (Oncology)
Dr. Kim grew up in New York and received her BA from the University of Pennsylvania in 1998. After spending two years at the National Cancer Institute performing cancer genetic research, she attended veterinary school at Tufts University, graduating in 2003. Dr. Kim completed a rotating internship at the Animal Medical Center in Manhattan, New York and then an oncology internship at Cornell University. She initially began at NorthStar VETS as an emergency clinician in 2005 and returned to us in January 2010 to treat oncology patients after completing a residency in medical oncology at Michigan State University, sponsored by NorthStar VETS.