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A man, his dog, and wars they fought a world apartNovember 11, 2013 by Coleman CorneliusIn honor of Veterans Day on Nov. 11, we offer a story about a Colorado soldier and his dog. Separated by more than 7,000 miles, they fought very different battles - both heroically.Blu Van Loo and Family (5 images)The Van Loo family rallied around their dog, and soon formed a support community known as "Team Blu."One hopeSgt. Jason Van Loo, an Army gunner stationed at Fort Carson near Colorado Springs, had one hope during his recent deployment to Afghanistan, a deployment during which he lost a buddy to an improvised explosive device and nearly died in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on streets near Kabul.Van Loo wanted to see his yellow Labrador Retriever again.The dog, Blu, had been diagnosed with bone cancer four months into Van Loo’s nine-month deployment. Blu’s first veterinarian said there was nothing to do and gave the 10-year-old dog a couple months to live. A second local vet, realizing the urgency, amputated Blu’s left front leg in an effort to rid the dog’s body of osteosarcoma.A few days after the surgery, Van Loo's wife, Kari, landed with the family dog at Colorado State University's Flint Animal Cancer Center, desperate to keep Blu alive for her husband. After 10 rounds of chemotherapy and an additional surgery to remove an aggressive mass, Blu was there to greet Van Loo when he arrived home.The homecoming“It was unexplainable,” Van Loo recalled of his homecoming in August. “He dang near plowed me over. I dropped to my knees, and he licked every inch of my face. It was awesome.”A video of their reunion shows soldier and dog in their first moments back together, Van Loo gaunt and dressed in fatigues, Blu missing a front limb, yet madly wagging his tail."Hey Blu, hey buddy. How's my buddy? Oh, doesn't anybody ever rub your ears?" Van Loo coos to his dog, scratching Blu's ears and his favorite belly spot.((snip))On Sept. 30, Blu underwent a CT scan so his veterinarians could assess his condition. The Van Loo family learned that cancer had spread through their dog’s body and into his organs.Hoping for a cureWith Blu’s time alive now clearly limited, Jason and Kari have decided to donate their dog’s cancerous organs to Flint Animal Cancer Center, hoping scientific investigation at the renowned center will lead to better understanding and an eventual cure for cancer.“We’re going to have to lose Blu,” Kari said through tears. “But if he hadn’t gotten sick, we would not have met everyone who has come into our lives. There’s a reason Blu has gone on this journey.”A special dogWhen he returned home in August to his family and his dog, Jason realized how much they had been through during the previous nine months. He realized that his special dog had given all of them hope.“It’s a perfect world with Blu – picture perfect,” he said. “I can’t imagine how our lives would have been in the past 10 years without him.”