CATOOSA, Okla. — A Catoosa man has undertaken his fight against cancer thanks to the community’s support and help with finding a foster home for his beloved dog.
FOX23 first brought you the story of Eli Pruitt and his dog Moose back in January. Eli had been diagnosed with stage four leukemia and needed a foster home for Moose until his treatment was completed.
As his only family member, Eli didn’t want to surrender Moose to a shelter while he received treatment. Moose had been there for Eli through thick and thin and Eli was determined to do the same.
Since Eli is currently very sick and has been advised by his doctors not to expose himself unnecessarily, he gave permission for Robert Mann to sit down with FOX23 and provide an update on his possible bone marrow transplant.
“So, we’re still waiting for them to make their decision,” said Robert. “He has a whole team that’s going over all those results. They drew blood and all that stuff that they have to take and all the panels that they run. His doctors are of the opinion that, because he’s as weak as he is, it may be a better course of action instead of doing the bone marrow transplant to run him through another chemical course of treatment.”
While Eli awaits confirmation on the type of treatment he’ll receive, Robert also provided an update on where Eli is currently living.
When Eli last spoke with FOX23, he was living on a property that had belonged to his grandfather who had recently passed away. The property was in probate and had no water or electricity.
“He has one court date to go to and sign a paper. They postponed that court date this last time because he was sick. I think it’s supposed to be later this week or next week and he’ll sign one last piece of paper and he’ll be ready to sell the house.”
After the first story about Eli aired, offers of help came pouring in with everything from money to home repairs. A childhood friend even saw the story and immediately offered Eli a lifeline.
“I guess they saw it on the news and they called and said, ‘hey man, what are you doing? Why didn’t you call us?’…The people he’s staying with now used to live across the street from him. They kind of grew up together.”
