Hello there. This is a small site devoted to our cat Basil, pictured above, who is 9 years old. He's a happy little fellow, and as you can see
Basil enjoys reading and hanging out with his canine friend Charly. In January 2011, Basil lost one-third of his weight in about 2 weeks.
Upon bringing him into the vet's office, it was discovered that he had a football-sized lymphoma growing inside him.
We then went to a veterinary oncologist, who advised us to put him on daily injectable steroids immediately, and consider various types of
chemotherapy to shrink the mass down.
Our biggest concern was "Is Basil in pain?" - we know how selfish it is to unnaturally prolong an animal's life simply because we have a hard time
letting go - but thankfully, Basil has truly "bounced back" from the daily steroids and what is now his third week of chemotherapy.
Our oncologist assured us that due to the nature of the lymphoma, which is pressing against his stomach, Basil is not in pain so much as he can get
nauseous and not want to eat very much. The steroids help with inflammation and also act as an appetite stimulant, so as long as Basil does not
show any outward signs of withdrawal from us (as well as vomiting and not eating/drinking) then we're safe to assume
he probably doesn't even know he is sick.
So far, we've been able to support his chemotherapy financially, but we're fast running out of money, and Basil's treatment could ideally let him
finish out his life naturally, without the lymphoma playing a part. Considering the results we have seen thus far, and the oncologist's confidence in
Basil's turnaround, we feel that this is the right thing to do. After all, we'd rather be broke and have Basil around, than have money and Basil gone.

To help us cover Basil's chemotherapy costs, I've set up this page to take donations. I have only taken donations twice before, for specific music-related
excursions, and I do not take it lightly! Asking people to help support a cause is always tenuous, and so I've made the commitment here to be completely
transparent - all of Basil's treatment papers will be posted here, along with receipts for his treatment costs. If, somehow, more money is donated than
what Basil needs, I will either refund the donations or give the money to an animal rescue charity. I do not want to make any kind of profit from this!

To make it perhaps easier to help Basil out, anyone who donates $12 or more will recieve a special CD-R album of braindancey ambient techno.
The album consists of songs I wrote/recorded on my laptop computer while out of town, in a hotel room, missing my cats back home. I'm operating under
the moniker Phe_ for this release and to round the album out, seven remixes were graciously contributed by my talented friends Wisp, Mrs Jynx, EOD,
David Tagg, Casio Commander, Night Sequels and Simon Meredith.

Many thanks to anyone and everyone who donates to help Basil get better. You have the appreciation and thanks of myself, my wife Sophia, Basil himself and
all of the friends, family and pets who have come to know Basil as one of their own.
-Brian Grainger, 2/28/11

BASIL'S TREATMENT NOTES & RECEIPTS:
Initial Visit: January 12th
Week 1: February 10th
Week 2: February 17th
Week 3: February 24th
Week 4: March 3rd
Receipts from January 10th to March 4th