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10/26/11 

Mary Ann Lindsay passed away at 5:20 pm Wednesday Oct 26, 2011. She had fallen two weeks ago and had a subdural hematoma and was in the hospital 5 days. She came home and then fell again Tuesday morning. Scans showed additional bleeding so I brought her home for hospice care. A good friend from Alaska was visiting, she is a nurse, so Cynthia was a big help to me getting her turned every two hours and giving the various meds along with hospice care.

Mary Ann started this journey 10 years ago by having her left kidney removed, but the cancer was already in her lungs. She endured 6 weeks of treatment at UCLA Medical center in 2002 and was in remission for 2 and a half years. Then she started a 5 plus year trip of chemo, 7 different ones, and some radiation. In May of 2009 she collapsed at a friend’s house in Canada and the cancer was now in her brain. She had full brain radiation and a new chemo and was then monitored closely with scans and MRI's every 2 or 3 months. She was off all treatment for 18 months as her oncologist, Dr. Tezcan wanted her to have some quality of life.  

The progression of Renal Cell Carcinoma is from the kidney to the lungs to the brain to the bone.  

6 weeks ago the MRI showed cancer in the T-7 vertebrae and it was not there just 3 months before. So she did more radiation and started a new chemo. At that time the oncologist put a time limit on her for the first time. 6 months if the chemo worked, 2 months if it didn't.

Renal cell patients typically live 6 to 12 months after diagnosis and that's a 10% chance at best. She fooled the doctors for nine years with her incredible will to live and her sense of purpose.  

Mary Ann  trialed her Border Collies every chance she got all over the Pacific Northwest and she won many times. But for her it was more about the friendships and joy of competition than the winning. Just last week she and her latest dog Hemp were awarded the 2010/2011 Oregon Stock Dog Novice Championship.

Starting in Australian Shepherd and Border Collie rescue in early 1992 Mary Ann  quickly became fully committed to helping dogs whereever they were. In the end, her final count was 874 dogs rescued and placed in new homes. It was a truly amazing feat for one person with a heart for the animals and a vision for what could be and not what was.  

She will be missed by so many friends all over the country and by her two sons, Patrick Glines, a master instructor for Guide Dogs for the Blind in Portland, OR, and her son John Glines and Granddaughter Taylor Ann in Santa Maria CA.  

And of course by the adopters who became friends over all these years. There are dogs in 40 states and Canada and all of the adopters had to come to our home in Hayden Lake, ID. She wanted to meet the people and talk with them to make sure it was a good match for life for both the dog and the adopters.  

How can you put into a few words how amazing and loving and caring Mary Ann was. You can't. For those of us who had the opportunity to know and love her, we all have our own memories of her that we will hold close.  

Goodbye for now Mary Ann, we will meet in heaven with Jesus Christ at the Rainbow Bridge where all of your dogs are waiting for you.  

I love you

Jim