We were inspired to build this non-profit after our experience with an exceptional, smart, and loveable pit bull named Luke Skywalker and noticing the small but impactful ways the current system failed him and his humans.
About Luke:
Luke was born in September of 2009 to awful human beings in Ellis County, TX who sought to either fight him or use him as bait. He had the big square head of a pit bull with a dark black coat and white markings on his nose, chest, and paws. The operation was broken up when he was just one month old and him along with his siblings were rescued while many of the older dogs were put to rest. Most of the puppies were adopted or taken in by foster groups quickly, but Luke remained. His nose had been beaten up and was healing but it made him less desirable to those adopting puppies or taking them in.
One stormy night a guy at a near by college who was close to graduation posted on Facebook asking how to go about adopting a black Labrador puppy since he wanted to get one as soon as he left school where dogs were forbidden in the apartments. A friend of a friend had been involved with the rescue and brought Luke to this man to see if he would adopt him and take him in.
Initially the man said no and could clearly see that it was not a Labrador but the unknown rescuer set the puppy on the ground and he ran to the man’s feet and started crying and jumping at his legs. The man picked up the puppy and one look in his innocent eyes broke his heart as the rescuer explain the policy of euthanasia in these situations and that Luke had very little time left to be saved from this end.
The man, our co-founder Joe Youngblood, agreed to take the puppy in for a few days only but the two quickly bonded and became inseparable. Joe credits the puppy with helping him through the extremely stressful final semester of college and giving him the push he needed to apply for his dream job – working in digital marketing.
Luke and Joe become a well known duo in their communities and Joe fought for Luke’s health and safety at all times doing everything he could to protect the puppy he took in that stormy night. Luke was with Joe through all of his major adult life achievements from graduating college to meeting the girl of his dreams and getting married and buying a home.
15-years later, a few months after his birthday, Luke was diagnosed with an extremely fatal and incurable cancer – Oral Melanoma. When the diagnosis came in Joe says it felt like the veterinary care system slowed down for Luke that even though he knew the vets loved and cared for him it was like they knew this cancer was extremely fatal and the prognosis was extraordinarily poor.
It took 1 week after diagnosis to get a call from an oncology clinic, 2 weeks until the first available appointment at which time the oncologist told Joe he should get a second opinion the following week and cited a surgical cost of $7,500 most of which was due to the anesthesiologist. It took another week to get the second opinion consultation, another week to get the surgical estimate from that oncology clinic who kept telling Joe they already sent it, and more than 2 weeks for a diagnostics appointment where the cancer had already spread. She told Joe there were no more options and that Luke would have to be euthanized.
Desperate Joe set out for answers and discovered cutting edge treatments that his oncologists were largely unaware of. Luke did ok for about a month after this on the treatments Joe uncovered, but one morning while drinking water outdoors he began to struggle to breathe and Joe could her fluid in his chest cavity. They tried using Lasix but Luke stopped eating, stopped drinking, and was suddenly unable to get up and walk on his own power with frequent loud barking which was uncharacteristic and issues like his eyes sinking back into his head. At 12:35pm on Saturday January 25th, 2025 they decided to end Luke’s pain and suffering and let him regain his wings. Nearly 3 months after the tumor was first discovered, and 15 years after he was born, Luke left this world an amazing dog and friend to everyone he met.
Following Luke’s passing Joe began to unravel where things went wrong and uncovered issues that might have led to Luke’s end. It was decided by Joe and his wife Jennifer that they would found the Canine Longevity Institute in order to help convey what they uncovered, advocate for systemic improvements, promote cutting edge research and hopefully find a way to cure other dogs of this deadly cancer and other end of life diseases that impact our canine companions.
The first thing this new non-profit would do is publish a plan for canine longevity that incorporates what they had learned throughout Luke’s life and throughout his end of life. This includes things like the importance of training a dog to get their teeth brushed and the dangers posed by dental surgery to dogs with pigmented gums.
The institute is also dedicated to creating “Guides for Humans” about life threatening diseases and issues canines might face, starting with the one Luke fought so valiantly against – Canine Oral Melanoma.
Eventually, the institute hopes to eradicate many end of life diseases and cancers that impact canines and improve quality of life throughout the aging cycle with graceful aging care.