Roxy is an actress and print model with her own Facebook page who is also a social butterfly. At Newmarket's Old Flame Brewing Co. — it's her favourite spot to meet people — she met Phil Lisotti, with whom she took an instant liking and, after discovering they had been diagnosed with similar cancers, the feeling seems mutual.
"It makes you feel connected. . . we have that to relate with, so even though I can't physically speak with Roxy, I want to be there for her," said Lisotti.
Roxy is a 15-year-old pug and Lisotti is a 31-year-old man. They first met three months ago when Roxy's owner, Sheila Stewart, and her partner, Aman Maharaj, took Roxy to trivia night at the Main Street brewery. Maharaj and Lisotti struck up a conversation and that's when Lisotti learned about Roxy's diagnosis.
Lisotti, a dog lover, was calling Roxy over and Maharaj informed him that she was fairly deaf. "She has other issues too," he said, according to Lisotti, and the conversation "snowballed" from there.
Telling people he had cancer is not something Lisotti is in the habit of doing, he said, but when Maharaj mentioned Roxy's cancer, he did just that.
"I don't just go up to people and say, 'Hey, I have cancer' but I'm still an open book when it comes to something like that. I definitely wanted to tell him that's exactly what I had."
In June 2021, Newmarket-born Lisotti was diagnosed with mandibular osteosarcoma — bone cancer like the one Terry Fox had — in his jaw. Last October, Roxy, who has appeared on Breakfast Television and in print ads, was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma, an oral tumour.
After treatment and surgery, Lisotti is cancer free but the surgery Roxy requires would be too invasive, particularly given her age, so Stewart decided against it.
Stewart is determined to ensure Roxy lives out the reminder of her life as happily as possible while being treated like the star she is, she said. Part of that includes allowing her to eat "people food" and go anywhere that allows dogs.
That includes trivia night where, on breaks, Roxy is allowed to walk around and say hi to anyone she wants, Stewart sad.
"Everybody knows Roxy. . . she's very much loved."
She took such a shine to Lisotti that after they first met at trivia night, Stewart and Maharaj couldn't locate Roxy until they found her right beside him.
"She walked right up to me and stayed there for a while. It was a cute little moment," Lisotti said.
Roxy is only the second dog he's ever known to have cancer and whether human, dog or "any living creature," Lisotti said he feels a kinship with anyone who has or had any form of cancer.
Aside from being diagnosed early on with a heart murmur that never progressed, Roxy has never had a single health issue — a rarity among pugs, said Stewart, and she was hoping Roxy would make it to age 18.
In October 2021, Stewart took Roxy in for dental surgery. Pugs and other, similar breeds tend to have oral health issues and require tooth removal as they age, said Stewart. When she got a call from the veterinarian shortly after the surgery began, she panicked and knew it couldn't be good news.
The veterinarian found a tumour in Roxy's mouth, which, if cancerous, would prevent her mouth from healing after surgery, so Stewart made the decision not to go ahead with surgery.
A biopsy later revealed that Roxy was suffering from an advanced stage of the cancer and treatment would be removal of part of her jaw.
"That's an impossibility," said Stewart. "How is she going to eat? It sounded torturous to us."
Roxy is on numerous medications and appears to be in great spirits, Stewart said. She eats "a lot" and behaves as she always has — albeit at a slower pace due to her advanced age.
So far, Roxy doesn't seem to be affected, Stewart said, but the second she is, she will not be allowed to suffer, Stewart said. While she doesn't know if she would get another dog in th future, if she did, it would definitely be a pug.
"She's been a blessing to us."
Until then, Roxy will continue to spend her Wednesday evenings socializing during trivia night
As for Lisotti, who wasn't aware of Roxy's fame but said he has to admit that it kind of makes him like her even more, surviving cancer has changed his entire outlook and he just wants "to be happy and make everyone around me as happy as I am."
