CHESTERFIELD — Vox, an Alaskan husky who raced with the Hilltown Sleddogs, died last Friday after a GoFundMe account raced to raise funds for surgery to remove his spleen cancer that had been uncovered just days before.

Begun on Jan. 9, the fund raised $6,475 before Vox’s death was announced on the night of Jan. 10, due to the unseen spread of cancer to the stomach and lymph nodes of the 9-year-old sled dog. In just those 24 hours, 61 donors had rallied, and have covered the cost’s of Vox’s unsuccessful surgery.

Marla Brodsky, otherwise known by her artist name as Marla BB and the owner of Hilltown Sleddogs of West Chesterfield, shared that her biggest regret is not being alongside Vox when he died. She reminds other animal owners to love their pets to the end.

“When they are surrounded by love there is no remorse or regret,” she said, explaining that she regrets not for caring for him up until his death, since her last interaction with him had been while he had been sedated before surgery.

The goal had initially been to raise $10,000, which would have also covered the costs of recovery from surgery. But the fund was closed after it was determined that Vox would not make it through surgery, as the amount already collected covered the costs for his operation.

“I love my dogs. I love my people that love my dogs,” she said, thanking those who did contribute.

“I wouldn’t have learned how much people care,” she added, which she said has been a consolation during the death of her dog.

Many of the donors were parents of children who attend her eight-week sled dog summer program, as well as those who saw the GoFundMe posted to Facebook.

The loss of Vox is particularly hard for Brodsky since she anticipated that he would be her companion dog after his retirement from sledding, she said. Her sled dogs need to be kept outside to protect their coats, she explained, and said that he would soon be inside with her, and lauded his personal traits, such as being attentive and an effective communicator — a gentleman who would not paw her for attention when he wanted to be pet. Hence his name, Vox, Latin for “voice.”

He was also her “wheel” which is necessarily the strongest sled dog of her pack to assist in turning the sled.

Over his career, he did both wet and dry land sledding all over North America and in Sweden, including 750 miles in the Serum Run Trail Expedition in Alaska in 2020 and 300 miles Summit Quest, as well as other smaller races in Canada and Maine.

“It could have been four months. I thought it would be four years,” she said, lamenting the fact that if he had retired earlier he would have had the opportunity to be inside with her, and enjoy a retirement after racing well over 1,000 miles in his sledding career.

His unexpected death led her to telling supportors this week in a Facebook post that, “Do not wait to show those you love that you love them. Time may be on your side, but it may not be.”

Samuel Gelinas can be reached at sgelinas@gazettenet.com.