WATCH ABOVE: A Utah man is selling his unique paintings to fund his dog’s cancer treatments. Nicole Vowell reports.
Charlie is Shaun Mitchell’s four-legged best friend. At five years old, he’s full of energy and spirit. But a diagnosis last year has Mitchell worried that his dog won’t be around much longer.
Charlie has lymphoma, a form of cancer. And whatever time Charlie has left with Mitchell — boxers typically live between eight and ten years, according to PetMD.com — could be filled with pain and suffering.
Desperate to help, Mitchell has turned his love for painting into a quasi-profession. KSL reports that the self-taught painter plans to raise enough money to supplement Charlie’s experimental cancer treatments in Las Vegas, hundreds of miles from his West Jordan, Utah home.
In February, Mitchell and his wife started Paints for Charlie. It’s a service that provides eight-inch by ten-inch pet portraits for forty dollars each.
The couple was soon flooded with requests, driven by media coverage, a poster Shaun made for the business and a Facebook page from Shaun’s wife.
“Over the weekend, it went up to like almost 200 people sending in emails going, ‘How do we get paintings?’” Mitchell told KSL.
At the time of this writing, the Mitchells have expanded to a full website and have received so many requests that Shaun is falling behind.
“Shaun is working hard to get to emails and messages, but he’s a bit behind with it all,” stated an official post on Facebook. “He will get back to you as soon as possible, it just might take a day or two or three.”
As for the outpouring of support Shaun and his wife have received since telling Charlie’s story, the response has been overwhelming.
“They want to help Charlie,” Mitchell added as he fought back tears and tried to return to the canvas. “I could never ask for anything better.”
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