SUCCESS STORIES

These are dogs who were saved from canine distemper before seizures started
thanks to a treatment developed by Dr. Al Sears.

Buddy

From: "Shari & James Nadal"
To:
Subject: distemper
Date: Wed, 7 Jul 2004 23:37:15 -0700
X-Priority: 3
Hi Ed, this is Shari Nadal, I wrote to you almost 3 years ago about our dog Buddy and never did get around to sending you his picture. I just realized by reading the letter I wrote to Dr. Sears and sent to you that it is almost exactly 3 years that Buddy has been a part of our family and he's doing great. He has no health problems (except for some seasonal allergies) or any signs at all he was ever as sick as he was. I just wanted to send you a photo of him taken today. He looks a little freaked out but that's only because he couldn't quite figure out what I was trying to do in getting a good picture of him! He's a happy, healthy boy thanks to Dr. Sears. I don't have a before photo, Dr. Sears took one, I'll send this photo of Buddy on to him too for his records. Thanks again for your website, I don't believe Buddy would be with us today if we hadn't found it. Shari Nadal

From: "james&shari" janshan@prodigy.net
Subject: our dog's distemper cured
Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2001 01:46:04 -0700
Hello Ed Bond, thank you for your web page, we recently found it very helpful as you will read below! I was going to write a separate letter to you, but this is the one I sent Dr. Sears and it seems to say it all. I apologize I don't have any photos developed at this time to share, but if you'd like to post our letter on your web site, please do and as soon as we get a photo we'll send it to you.
James and Shari Nadal
Hello Dr. Sears, this is coming from James and Shari Nadal who brought you our Austrailian Shepherd Buddy in last week. I know my husband called and let one of your staff members know our name and that Buddy has seemed to fully recover. I just wanted to give you a little more detail and thank you for taking the chance in treating him. I was so excited after seeing you but so guardedly optimistic, I knew Buddy had been sick for a long time, but we saw some glimmers of improvement after just 12 hours. By 24 hours you could hardly tell he was sick and by 48 hours he was like a new dog. It's been a week now since he received the treatment, he had his last day of antibiotics yesterday, he still was having a small amount of nasal discharge until a couple of days ago, but that is gone now too. Best of all, whatever it was that was causing him to limp in his back leg is gone, he seems to be having no problems with it at all. He was so underweight when we got him and it did not seem like he gained any at all during the almost 4 weeks we had him, but since receiving the serum he looks like he's put on 5 pounds. (we're not positive, but we believe he weighed about 30 pounds when we brought him home and he weighed 35 at your clinic, so he may have gained some weight, but it just wasn't noticeable at all until this last week) Though we had him for almost a month, it feels like we're just getting to know him now. Our dog, whose nose we wiped, and didn't play, and walked around with his tail between his legs for so long now fetches (we didn't think he knew how to do that!), he greets me happily when I come home at night, he plays, he steals our kids toys, and most impressive of all, he walks around with his head held high, his ears perked up and alert, and he carries his tail like a flag behind him. Up high and curled, it's a beautiful sight to see. As soon as we get a good picture of him we will send it to you so you can put it with his before picture, wow, what a change. We brought Buddy home on August 3, 2001, you didn't see him until August 30th. Perhaps we were lucky, maybe his body was fighting it, maybe not being a young puppy helped, we don't know if the limp was related to the distemper or not, whatever the reason, Buddy seems to have beat the odds. I remember you mentioning something about an 80% success rate when you get later into the disease with your treatment. I believe Buddy has made those odds.
Thank you so much. Gratefully yours, James and Shari Nadal

Cookie

From: DawnHecht@aol.com
Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2001
Subject: A Great Big Thank You

Hello Ed, I just wanted to write you a note to say thank you for taking the time and effort to post all of the information about Dr. Sears.
I live in Riverside, CA and have a 4 month old Aussie.
She came home from the humane society with Distemper and my vet told me there was really nothing they could do.
I did not accept this and went on a hunt for more information...that is when I found your site.
We took Cookie [pictured at left] to Dr. Sears and now she is fine.
Dr Sears is such a great guy...how do we get the word out to more dr's? I am e-mailing Oprah!!! and everyone else I can think of!
Well, Thanks again- you can go to bed tonight feeling like a hero because you literally saved my puppy's life!!!!!
Best Wishes to you and your family!
Dawn Hecht

Bailey

POSTED 2/9/2001 -- "Bailey was adopted from the Pensacola animal shelter in the late summer of 2000. He was about eight months old. He seemed OK at the time, perhaps a little scared or confused, but in less than a week he was completely lethargic and could not even keep water down. My veterinarian, Dr. Susan Wells of Lillian Veterinary Clinic in Lilian, Alabama, ran some tests and diagnosed distemper. After finding your web site, I immediately called Dr. Sears' office and requested a shipment of serum. We received the shipment two days later and the vet administered it. In less than 24 hours, Bailey was eating, drinking, able to keep it all down and his bowel movements were beginning to become more normal. We brought him home two days later and he has been happy, healthy and full of energy ever since. He is now a little over a year old and has gained 30 pounds since we first got him six months ago. My vet and I truly feel this is thanks to Dr. Sears' cure. We had tried everything to get him better, but nothing worked until the serum. We were just ecstatic and ran around telling everyone we could about Dr. Sears."
- Susan M. Kovacs
Elberta, Alabama

But one of Susan Kovacs' dogs we couldn't save. Distemper is such a nasty virus because it can attack different dogs in very different ways. Daisy suffered the neurological attack first.
 

Bear

1/30/2001 -- This is Bear, a german shepherd mix rescued from a pound and is thought to be about nine months old. Here's what her owners had to say:
       "Thank You so much for your story. Our dog Bear was diagnosed with distemper just a few days ago. She has been having symptoms for about 9-10 days, all but the seizures. My husband and I have been devastated since our regular vet told us about this horrible virus, and we have been doing as much research as we can to find out what we can do to fight it
       "Despite the ritual of antibiotics, vitamin C and vitamin B supplements, fluids and trying to keep her appetite up, we have been watching Bear wither before our very eyes. Her eyes were constantly squinting, no appetite, and her nose was so dried up and clogged that she could only breath through one side. We knew the seizures were coming, and soon.
       "Sunday evening my husband discovered your story by chance, in a last ditch effort to find something, anything to save our beautiful girl. The thought of a cure being 5 miles away from our home seemed unbelievable! We knew we had nothing to lose, so Yesterday morning we took Bear to Dr. Sears in Lancaster. He took her in immediately, and my husband and I went home almost afraid to even hope for a full recovery.
       "This morning I went to visit her first thing. When I saw Bear's face, I couldn't help but cry. Her eyes are bright and wide open! And her nose is so much better, she has no trouble breathing through it now. Her appetite is up and so is her energy level. She still has a ways to go, but all this is after just one treatment! This one treatment with Dr. Sears has done more than an entire weeks worth of antibiotics. We can finally allow ourselves to believe in a full recovery. I know that if we hadn't taken her, she never would have had a chance. Distemper would have easily taken her life, like the thousands of puppies before her.
       "I can't wait to see Bear tomorrow, and to be able to bring her home. Thank You again for your story. You have helped restore hope for my husband and I, and save the life of a precious friend."
Sincerely,
Monica and David Erlich
the_vw_girl@msn.com

Dot

8/10/2000 -- This is Dot, who might be a Australian Shepherd - Corgi mix. She was rescued out of the West Valley Animal Shelter at the end of July, and developed the signs of distemper within a couple of days. Her rescuer,  now owner, Teresa, got her to Dr. Sears in time, and Dot has recovered. 

Here is Dot's story.

Part I - A Rescue with distemper
Part II - The results of the treatment
Part III - More thoughts about Dr. Sears

"THANK YOU, so much, Dr. Sears! Thank you Ed Bond, and Terri Haase, for putting this important information out there for others to find and hopefully, save their animals too." 
rescuerama@hotmail.com