Landen Thompson doesn't know that his pet Saint Bernard, Thunder, is missing.
His mother wants to keep him from finding out.
"It would just devastate him," Brittany Thompson said from a third-floor room at St. Francis Children's Hospital, where Landon, 4, has been for less than a week.
Landon has cancer, which returned this month after being in remission for a year. It's at an advanced stage four, with five tumors, and doctors are keeping him on pain medication.
Although he receives chemotherapy daily, doctors estimate that he has two to four weeks to live.
"This is unexplainable," his mother said. "This is the hardest thing I've had to do."
On top of everything else, she just couldn't tell him about his furry 200-pound friend, who escaped recently.
Wrestling to stay strong and cheerful, the 23-year-old single mother temporarily replaced Thunder with a pint-sized imitation. He's always in Landen's arms.
"He sleeps with the stuffed dog every night," Thompson said.
Outside the hospital, KWEN 95.5 FM was setting up for a radiothon
Monday for the Children's Hospital, a local affiliate in the Children's Miracle Network. Seeking publicity, the family asked the radio station for help in finding the dog.
After the station issued several pleas, a caller claimed to have seen Thunder near 51st Street and Harvard Avenue but didn't know where he ended up.
Thompson said Thunder was a gift to Landen from her best friend.
Boy and dog were always together, she said.
Landen took Thunder for walks and they often lay on the floor, she said.
Taking a break from playing in his hospital room, Landen said he and Thunder did other things, too.
"We watch the movie 'Jurassic Park,'" he said.
With any luck, the two will see the movie again.
"Hopefully, we'll get the puppy back," Thompson said.
Deon Hampton 581-8413
deon.hampton@tulsaworld.com To see more of the Tulsa World, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.tulsaworld.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Tulsa World, Okla. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
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