An Alabama man diagnosed with cancer and told he probably wouldn't survive to see Christmas or the New Year is still alive and cancer free -- and he credits a small stray dog that entered his life.
Semi-retired architect Bill Hogencamp from Phoenix was diagnosed in May with what doctors said were incurable cancers of the liver, gall bladder and colon.
He says he accepted their diagnosis.
"I have seven children and I've traveled all around the world," he says. "I thought if this is it, then this is it."
Though doctors offered no hope, 84-year-old Hogencamp underwent surgery in October to have multiple tumors removed.
Eleven days after the surgery, as his wife Kathy drove to a rehabilitation center to take him home, she saw a small white dog walking in the road, dangerously close to cars.
Something induced her to stop and rescue it, she said.
"He walked past six other cars right up to the side of my car and put his paws up on the door," she explained.
She took the dog and Bill home. Bill wasn't sure about keeping it.
"I hadn't had a dog in twenty years and I had no desire to have a dog," he said. "I kept saying we need to find his owner."
They were unable to locate the owner of the animal, which a veterinarian told them was a Maltese, most likely around 6 years old.
Despite his initial doubts about keeping the animal, Bill Hogencamp and the dog, now named Mahjong for Kathy's favorite game -- soon became inseparable.
"Mahjong started connecting with me rather than me with him," he says. "He sort of forced himself on me."
If Bill sat, Mahjong sat in his lap. When Bill took a nap, so did Mahjong, right beside him.
Bill began a course of chemotherapy, and shortly before the holidays received a priceless gift -- news that tests showed him to be cancer free.
Kathy and the rest of the family say they believe Mahjong was a big part of that.
"The dog seemed to know right away that Bill was sick and it was his job to take care of him -- and Bill knew it was his job to take care of the dog," she says.
Bill Hogencamp agrees, saying having Mahjong enter his life gave him a sense of purpose and that the dog had a purpose, too -- to help him in getting better.
Still undergoing final rounds of chemotherapy, Hogencamp has been spending the holidays with family, friends -- and a small white dog.
"My life has been a miracle," he says. "And now Mahjong is part of that miracle."
