Cancer-Stricken Child Worries Over Fate of Pet

Timmy Leigh wants to have the peace of mind that comes with knowing that his loved ones are safe and secure. This includes his cat, Wolfie, who has run away from home.

Timmy is an 8-year-old who is fighting what his doctors say is a losing battle against a cancer that has claimed his left leg and is responsible for numerous dime-sized tumors in his lungs.

Doctors have told his mother that chemotherapy has not been effective in combating the cancer and that Timmy has six months to a year to live.

Worried About Cat

But according to his mother, Timmy is more worried about the fate of his cat, Wolfie, who ran away from their Westwood apartment several weeks ago, than he is about his deteriorating health.

“He has a terminal diagnosis, but I haven’t told him,” Joanne Leigh said. “But I think he kind of senses it. Kids with cancer grow up faster than other kids.”

Leigh said that while her son would like his cat back, most of all he wants to know that his cat is happy and is receiving good care.

“He said, ‘I would be so relieved to know that Wolfie was taken care of and was not out in the cold and starving somewhere,’ ” she said.

So, Leigh said, she has crawled under houses, placed ads, called animal shelters and has gone door to door through her neighborhood trying to find Wolfie.

$1,000 Reward

And she is offering a $1,000 reward to anyone who returns Wolfie to her son.

Wolfie is a large Siamese-mix cat with a tan-beige body and chocolate-brown markings on his ears, face, front legs and tail. He has white fur on his paws, neck and face below his eyes and on his nose. His eyes are blue and the tip of his nose is pink.

When he ran away, he was wearing a large red reflector that was attached to a flea collar. The back of the reflector has Wolfie’s name and his owner’s address and telephone number.

Leigh says she has heard conflicting reports from her neighbors, some of whom say that they saw a cat resembling Wolfie’s description that was hit and killed by a car on Beverly Glen Boulevard, a block and a half south of Wilshire Boulevard, late on a Saturday night several weeks ago. However, the witnesses are uncertain as to which Saturday night the incident took place.

Other neighbors have said that they have seen a cat that might be Wolfie wandering around the neighborhood in apparent good health.

Running Out of Alternatives

Leigh is frustrated and running out of things she can do to find Wolfie. She admits that it is possible she will have to tell her son that his cat is dead.

And she asks that anyone who might have hit and killed Wolfie to phone her and tell her so her son will stop worrying.

“We are not going to blame anybody,” she said.

Anyone with information about Wolfie is asked to call Joanne Leigh at (213) 859-2859.