DENVER—A lump swells in her throat whenever Cynthia Hossinger Coffman thinks about her dog, Buckley.
That’s because the chief deputy attorney general and wife of U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman recently learned the 10-year-old golden retriever and an icon at the Colorado Capitol for his entire life has a rare form of blood cancer.
Buckley has been coming to the Colorado State Treasurer’s Office in the Capitol every day since he was a puppy, when Mike Coffman was starting his second term as treasurer in 2002.
Since then, the dog has become recognized around the Capitol more than most humans, including the Republican congressman and his wife, who holds the No. 2 job in the Colorado Attorney General’s Office.
“He’s definitely the alpha dog over there,” Cynthia Coffman said. “He’s got lots of friends.”
Buckley’s medical problems were discovered in November, when two state treasury workers who walk Buckley every day noticed he seemed listless and appeared to be retaining water.
They learned it wasn’t water. He was bleeding internally, and badly.
Buckley went in for emergency surgery to drain the blood and have his spleen removed.
Later, he was diagnosed with canine hemangiosarcoma, a cancer of the lining of the blood vessels. The cancer attacked his spleen, and his veterinarian fears it may spread to other organs, Cynthia Coffman said.
“We don’t know how much time he’s got left,” she said. “This is an incurable form of cancer, and it spreads rapidly. We’re told, in most cases, a dog will live about eight months after diagnosis.”
In hopes of keeping the cancer at bay, Buckley received five chemotherapy treatments. It seems to have helped.
On Feb. 17, chest X-rays and an abdominal ultrasound showed no sign of the cancer, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t still there, Coffman said. Now, he’ll take low doses of chemo and get regular screenings.
Other than Buckley being a little slower than he used to be, the treatments haven’t seemed to affect him, those close to him say.
He still sports his distinctive yellow coat and romps in the snow like a puppy, chasing sticks and stopping suddenly to look to one side, just like in the movie, “Up,” to see—Squirrel!
Buckley is quick to approach those who know him, wildly wagging his shaggy tail and offering slobbery dog kisses. Unlike his congressman owner, though, Buckley shies away from large crowds, particularly schoolchildren touring the Capitol when they try to pet him at once.
Around the treasury office, the mood is somber. Everyone there knows, and dreads, the morning when Cynthia Coffman will call to say she’s not dropping Buckley off anymore. Coffman works in the State Services Building next door to the Capitol and shuttles the dog to and from home each day.
Until that day, though, Buckley is spending time with his new friend, a female Boston terrier named Folsom. She’s owned by newly named Deputy Treasurer Brent Johnson, and also spends her days at the Capitol.
At first, the two didn’t get along, Johnson said. Now, they play all the time—usually with Folsom pulling on one end of a chew toy while Buckley, lying down, holds on to the other.
Leslie Sloss, an accountant who cares for Buckley during the day, holds back tears when talking about the dog she has known all of his life.
“The good thing is that it’s all inside, so we’re told there is no pain, at least not until .,” she said, stopping herself from saying what she dare not. “He could live a few months or a year, at least we hope. But I don’t want to think about that.”
