Tribute to a Wonderful Woman

It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that we share this news with you. Our vet and personal friend, Dr. Cheryl Welch, passed away this week on Wednesday, February 23rd, after a brave fight with cancer. Cheryl was diagnosed on January 13th, only a little over a month ago. Losing Cheryl is a great loss to our community and to the whole world. She was a true advocate for animals and loved and respected every creature. We will all miss her greatly. 

 

Our trusted vet, Dr. Cheryl Welch

Dr. Welch was there for Frannie and myself when we started Hug-a-Bunny back in 2006. However, even before that, Cheryl was the vet to my own bunny, Bella (hard to remember a time when I only had just 1!). I had rescued Bella as an adult rabbit from almost being fed to a snake and took her with me to college. I only knew the basics of rabbit care at that point and didn’t realize the importance of having rabbits spayed, which of course she wasn’t when I rescued her. Three years later, when Bella was around 5 or 6 years old I felt a mass in her lower stomach. Being so far away from home, I tried to find vets in Upstate, NY who I could trust. At the time, I took Bella to a nice vet up there who recommended spaying her, but told me it was a very risky surgery for rabbits. I wasn’t ready to put Bella through that. I waited a few months until I graduated and moved back home to New Jersey, where I researched rabbit surgery and knew how routine it was and that it needed to be done. I found the best vet for rabbit surgeries that I could. 

Enter Cheryl Welch- a sweet, kind, bubbly, and wonderful woman. We hit it off immediately and sensing I was nervous about Bella’s health, she took the time to make me feel comfortable- in my case, over an hour. Immediately, I knew this was the person to save Bella’s life. The following week, Cheryl spayed Bella- the whole time I waited nearby and was a nervous wreck! They sent away her uterus and ovaries for biopsies, but Dr. Welch was pretty sure it looked cancerous.  Cheryl said she thought she got it all (in case it was cancerous) but that it was one of the worst cases she’d seen. Bella recovered at home and was back to herself in about a week. Meanwhile, the results came back and we found that there was cancer all over her uterus and ovaries- all they way up onto the horns of her uterus! When I was talking to Dr. Welch on the phone about it (I was even stunned that she would call me!) she explained that Bella’s prognosis was good, since she removed everything she could see. It was from that day on that I trusted Cheryl, and I still tell anyone who will listen that she was the best surgeon I know! Just as an aside, this type of cancer is so common in unspayed female rabbits (one of the reasons we spay and neuter every rabbit we rescue).

At the same time, Frannie and I met when we were becoming therapeutic riding instructors and we realized that we were both vegetarians and that we both had a rabbit (weird) whose name started with the letter “B”- Bella and Bumbalina! Our friendship was sparked then- and soon after we started rescuing rabbits, inspired by our own two rabbits. It started with Lily, a beautiful French lop, who was going to be fed on a dinner plate when her owners no longer wanted her.  We were able to rescue Lily (informally the start of our rescue) and we took her, of course, straight to Dr. Welch, who examined her and gave her a clean bill of health. Soon after, Dr. Welch spayed Lily (at the time we paid almost $400 for the spay) and we found her a foster home and then a “forever” home! Hug-a-Bunny was born! Shortly after that, we approached Cheryl and asked her to help us start our rescue- and to be our rescue’s vet. She was so proud- and never wavered in her support for us and our organization. She helped us set up a wonderful relationship with her hospital and staff. We frequented the hospital on Mondays for surgeries, Cheryl’s surgery day, often bringing 2 rabbits at a time! She was a pro at spaying and neutering our rabbits! Amazingly, my own Bella lived 5 (yes, 5) more long years, and passed in March of 2010, all due to the life-saving surgery of Dr. Welch.

Over the past 6+ years of Hug-a-Bunny, Dr. Welch was always there for us. She spayed and neutered over 80 rabbits (on a quick count) and treated countless others.  She was an amazing champion to animals, large and small, and we never could have saved as many lives as we have without her constant support. She always welcomed us into her animal hospital and made us feel like part of your family there. She even welcomed two of our rescued Hug-a-Bunnies, Tre (who sadly passed away) and Stevie II, into her home! I spoke to Cheryl in January (the last surgery she did for us) about a rabbit she was doing surgery on, and she made it a point, in true Cheryl-style, to tell me how proud she was of us and how far we’ve come, even when she wasn’t feeling well herself. What an incredible woman.

                                  Cheryl's daughter Kyra, with their adopted Hug-a-Bunny Stevie

It's a rare thing when someone can make every client, every friend, and every animal feel special- and Dr. Welch always did that for Hug-a-Bunny and so many others. Through tough times and happy times, she was always there to support us and give us advice. We hope we can do the same for her family and her four children in the days and months to come. Cheryl’s passing has left a huge hole in our hearts, but we know that her legacy will live on. We can see it every day in the faces of all of our Hug-a-Bunnies, both past and present… as she played a part in our creation. Our thanks could never be enough for all Dr. Welch has done for us personally and for our rescue. There aren't words to express our gratitude to her. She was a truly special person and an inspiration to us all. She will be greatly missed and forever appreciated.

Love, 

Jamie & Frannie

Co-Directors, Hug-a-Bunny Rabbit Rescue

For more information about Cheryl or the arrangements, please visit the following site.