When Rhett and Chelsey Austell returned home to Bucks County after weeks of cancer treatments in New York, they were exhausted, hopeful and eager to settle back into a sense of normalcy.
Chelsey was eight-and-a-half months pregnant, and Rhett had just undergone surgery for metastatic appendix cancer, a rare cancer that starts in the appendix and moves to other parts of the body. Their support system was already stretched thin.
Then came the news that pushed them into panic.
Lenny — their affectionate, two-year-old tri-color Bernedoodle who lived for lap cuddles — had run from Chelsey’s family’s backyard…