85% and the Amazing Possibilities: Foxcroft Alumna Nan Stuart ’71 Shares Her Life’s Work

“If you take liver cancer from a human, and liver cancer from a dog, and you give them to a pathologist, they can't tell you which one's human and which one's dog. To the cellular level, they’re the same,” said Nan. “So if the dog gets liver cancer and we can find a cure for that, you suppose that would translate to a human? Pretty much.”

Nan has lived with and loved dogs her entire life. She has lost all but one to cancer, so this program is very near and dear to her heart.

“In this country, 60% to 70% of golden's die of cancer,” she said during her presentation, “but in the UK and Sweden it’s less than 35%, which begs the question why the difference?” In the hope of someday answering that question, and so many others related to canine cancer, Nan has both Koaster and Kevlar participating in a cancer vaccine study at the Flint Animal Center, as well as in the Morris Animal Foundation’s Golden Retriever Lifetime Study of more than 3,000 golden retrievers for the purpose of identifying the risk factors for cancer and other diseases in dogs.

Nan’s other passion is her non-profit Code 3, which provides professional animal disaster response and resources to communities, as well as professional training to individuals and agencies involved in animal-related law enforcement and emergency response. Kelsey, Koaster, and Kevlar are all trained in swift water and frozen water rescue. Though her dogs have not participated in any human rescues, they have rescued other dogs, and Nan’s organization has participated in multiple national disasters, including the floods in Oklahoma this past May 2019.

During visits with the Animal Science and AP Biology classes, Nan fielded questions ranging from how her dogs are reacting to the cancer vaccine (they are doing well and will go back in a few months for a check-up) to why she started Code 3 (to train animal control officers, eventually adding disaster response as well). She then had lunch with students and STEM teacher/Animal Science Concentration Coordinator Katie Hergenreder, who helped coordinate Nan's time on campus.

The entire community was fortunate to have had the opportunity to hear about her life’s work, and perhaps one of those raised hands eagerly asking questions was inspired to pursue her own career alongside four-legged creatures.

A devoted supporter of Foxcroft, Nan has continued to be actively involved with the School since graduating with the Class of 1971. Serving on the Board of Trustees from July 2008 to June 2017, she led the fundraising efforts for Stuart Hall, which was named for her, and in 2018 was honored with the Distinguished Alumna Award.