Cadence sits on the floor and pants, her tail wagging ever so slightly. The fur at the edge of her face is starting to gray slightly and she’s keen on laying down if given the chance. She passively responds to others around her except for her owner, Kate Bruce, to whom she immediately reacts when Bruce calls her name in a sing-song voice.

By all accounts, she’s a typical 9-year-old chocolate lab. As a service dog for Bruce, however, Cadence has made a world of difference for her.

“She is very important, she’s saved my life many times,” Bruce said.

Bruce was a member of the civilian affairs division of the U.S. Army before she attended MSU, where she is finishing her senior year in the Neuroscience Program. Her role while in the military was what she described as “on the side of the war fighting for hearts and minds.”

She spoke fondly of the work she and the rest of her unit conducted in Iraq. Not only did she help provide tangible services like wells to affected civilians, she also participated in teaching programs meant to empower the Iraqis she worked with.

It was a good deed that would be repaid in an unfortunate accident for Bruce, which left her with a closed head injury, brain trauma and a condition that has plagued her with epilepsy and seizures since.

The accident took place in 2006 and it would take several months before doctors diagnosed Bruce’s condition as severe enough to require a service animal. By February 2009, after close to two years of training, Cadence was able to go home with Bruce to begin working with her.

Cadence has been a faithful companion ever since. Her most important task, as Bruce explains, is to roll Bruce on her side in the event of a seizure. Seizures have a tendency to induce vomiting, which if it pools up in the person’s throat as they lay on their back can potentially choke and suffocate them.

“She can pull things away from my head that I may hurt myself on,” Bruce said. “One time when I had a seizure I was in a classroom and she had to drag a desk away from me that I was repeatedly hitting my head on.”

In early February, it was Cadence who started needing help.

“She wasn’t drinking as much as she usually does,” Bruce said. “When I would get up to go somewhere usually she’s up right away and right next to me waiting to follow me out the door but she would just kind of not want to get up, she wasn’t as interested in going with me places.”

After a three-day stay with MSU’s Oncology Service Center at the College of Veterinary Medicine, it was determined that Cadence was suffering from a condition known as chylothorax. Caused by a problem with the thoracic duct — an organ that collects lymph fluid, which helps rid the body of toxins — Cadence’s chest and abdomen was filling up with lymph fluid.

Large shaved patches on Cadence’s side are the result of the surgery she had on March 1 to drain the fluid and fix the issues with her thoracic duct. Crowdfunding became a necessity to help pay for medical costs, which ran up to approximately $6,000 for Cadence’s surgery.

Remarkably, Cadence’s GoFundMe page was able to meet that goal in 21 days, with some help from the Lansing chapter of the Disabled American Veterans Charity, or DAV.

“My daughter told me about Katie and her dog so I brought it up at the next meeting,” Ron Weinstein, treasurer and service officer for the DAV’s Lansing branch, said. “The community responded immensely and wanted to do everything we could.”

Even with the outpouring of support from fellow veterans and the general public, the problems facing Bruce and Cadence now revolve around aftercare costs.

“I don’t think it hit me actually until we had to go back to the emergency room on Saturday night, I don’t think it hit me until then that this was going to be a lifelong struggle,” Bruce said.

Installed under Cadence’s skin is a port that allows routine drainage of built up lymphatic fluid. The medication needed to perform these check-ups, along with cost of equipment, is very expensive.

The question some would ask Bruce in light of these future expenses, one that even she has had to grapple with, is just how much is Cadence’s life worth?

“It’s not just about how much her life’s worth, is it? It’s how much my life is worth,” Bruce said.

Looking back on the sacrifices she’s had to make and that of her friends, some who even lost their lives, it reinforces Bruce’s commitment to Cadence.

“It’s hard because I wasn’t there, I can’t do anything for them but I can do this for her and I need to for her and for myself,” Bruce said.