Lola has been an avid animal lover since she was a little girl, but wasn’t allowed to have a pet as a child due to family allergies. Once she was settled in her late 20’s, she bonded quickly with her first puppy, a chocolate lab named Porter. It was when Porter was diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma that Lola inadvertently employed hospice care to ensure that his last few months would be of a high quality of life. After his death, she decided to capture her experiences with caring for a cancer dog by writing a book to share what she had learned, so that others would not have to start from ground zero.
During the writing of this book, Jasper, a yellow lab-hound dog mix she adopted, was diagnosed with mast cell tumor and she again used hospice techniques on the path to a natural death. Her undergraduate days at MIT and a position at Los Alamos National Laboratory have grounded her in the ways of research, which has been an invaluable asset. She volunteers at Pasado’s Safe Haven, where she enjoys being surrounded by dogs, cats and farm animals of all kinds! She is also an active volunteer in the local and national MIT Alumni Association.
She currently serves as Secretary on the Board of Directors of the AHELP Project, based in Bellevue, WA and is an active volunteer with the international animal hospice organization, International Association of Animal Hospice and Palliative Care.
See Lola’s author page on Amazon.com.