Chemo, chihuahua

Cancer patient's stolen puppy recovered
Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 5, 2006 (09-05) 16:11 PDT

SAN FRANCISCO -- Police have recovered a Chihuahua puppy that had been missing since Saturday and plan to reunite the pooch with its owner, 8-year-old cancer patient Kyle Jackson Wetle, later today, UCSF officials said.

The 15-week-old puppy was brought to the Koret Family House on 10th Avenue, where Kyle's family has been staying, around noon today.

When officers arrived at the building, they found a man holding the black-and-tan Chihuahua, university police Capt. Torin Fischer said. The man waited for police to arrive and was cooperating with officers, he added.

"It's a happy day," Fischer said. "Right now we are still investigating all of this. We're not drawing any conclusions yet -- we're just thankful the dog has been returned."

The dog, named Chemo, was taken from the Wetle family car, parked in the UCSF parking garage, on Saturday while Kyle was being treated at UCSF Children's Hospital.

Kyle, of Monterey, suffers from acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a potentially fatal cancer, and Chemo has been a comforting companion for the past six weeks, his family said.

Chemo also has helped Kyle deal with the loss of the family's two German Shepherds, both of which died recently, according to his mother.

Before Chemo's disappearance Saturday, Kyle's 15-year-old brother had been playing with the puppy while waiting for Kyle's treatment to be over, then ran into the hospital to see if his brother was ready for a surprise visit from the dog, their mother said.

"Not 10 minutes later, they were paging me over the loudspeaker," said Katrina Wetle, Kyle's mother, who returned to find a car window broken and Chemo gone. "I think (the thief) was watching and smashed and grabbed when my son left."

The Wetle family and university officials started spreading word of the theft on Monday, and by this morning, UCSF phones were lighting up with investigative leads from tipsters hoping to help police find the stolen pooch, hospital and police officials said.

The tips ended up being for naught, said Fischer.

"This person just showed up," he said. "This is pure speculation -- but with all the media attention this received, I wouldn't want to walk around San Francisco with that dog. Would you?"

University police raised about $200 of their own money for a reward for the return of Chemo, and numerous people phoned in today to offer contributions, Fischer said. He did not know whether anyone would receive the reward money, but said there was no need for new donations, now that the dog has been returned.

"It's too soon to tell whether anyone will get money, until we complete our investigation on the auto burglary," he said.

Wetle said the family also had received an outpouring of support through e-mails and visits to Kyle's Web site, www.kylessmile.org.

"It's been great -- there's been a community outpouring of people wanting to help any way they can -- people offering puppies," she said.

Wetle broke the news of Chemo's disappearance to Kyle on Monday evening, she said, and he was confident the dog would be returned.

Chemo, whom the Wetle family has had for about six weeks, has been a huge source of comfort for Kyle as he undergoes treatment, she added.

"We tempered it with the fact that we were going on the news to try and get the puppy back," Wetle said. "He was very positive -- he said even though the bad guys took the puppy, the good guys will bring it back."

Doctors recently found a match for a bone marrow transplant for Kyle, but the procedure was delayed when they found that the cancer had returned to his marrow. He is currently undergoing chemotherapy and will find out on Sept. 10 whether he will be able to receive the transplant.


Source: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/05/BAGQTKVGG931.DTL

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