Short Bark and Sides Shrewsbury

24/04/2024

SAM’S FUNERAL AND CELEBRATION OF LIFE - 8th May 2pm

Sam’s celebration of life will be held on Wednesday 8th May at St. Thomas’ Church, Hanwood, Shrewsbury SY5 8LL followed by a gathering of friends at the C**k Inn Pub, Hanwood, Shrewsbury, SY5 8LJ to wish her well as she goes on ahead.

We’d be delighted if you could join us. We will also be providing a weblink nearer to the time if you would like to join us but can’t make it in person.

As per her wishes, no black please – Sam lived her life in full colour, so please wear your brightest threads. Pink and purple were her favourite colours.

If travelling from afar, accommodation is fairly limited in the immediate area although there is a smattering of Airbnb and Syke cottages. There is more accommodation nearby in Shrewsbury. Both Premier Inn and Holiday Inn Express are 10 to 15 mins away.

As mentioned in my previous post, instead of flowers, we would hugely appreciate any donation, large or small, to the Severn Hospice who helped me, the boys and most importantly Sam through the most difficult days imaginable. Any donation will play a part in ensuring that those following have the same love and compassion as we did.

Help Grant McKelvie raise money to support Severn Hospice

20/04/2024

Our wonderful Sam has lost her three year battle with cancer. This is the end of the most horrendous of journeys, but Sam left us while in a peaceful and pain free sleep having had her family and friends by her bedside continuously over the last few days.

Sam lived a life full of love, colour, fun, and adventure - my photos of her are generally up a mountain and always have our boys embraced within her arms. We’ve been privileged to have the time to make wonderful memories over the past months - only three weeks ago we were wine tasting together in Cyprus.

We’ve been humbled by the enormity of love from our friends and family - every one of you so special to Sam and I. We don’t underestimate how much losing Sam will affect each of us; we are lucky to have each other for support.

Sams care over the last 3 years has been provided by literally hundreds of utterly fabulous health professionals, and most recently by the most amazing nurses and doctors at the Severn Hospice in Shrewsbury. Words can’t describe their compassion and kindness these last two weeks - I am so grateful to every one of them.

Sleep well my beautiful. You go on ahead, I’ll catch you up.

21/12/2023

Hi All, I still have a couple of hooks left if anyone is interested, I have the orange and green single hooks left at £5 each , all of the double hooks at £8 each and I have also two each of the large bowl station and small bowl station , the large is £15 and the small £10 (small measures 8” tall , 8 1/2 “ deep and 23” wide), drop me a message if you are interested in any of these , happy Christmas to you all

07/12/2023

Hi Everyone , I hope you are well on your way to being ready for Santa , I have these for sale that I made pre Covid for a craft fayre that I attended and had some left over , they would make fab Christmas presents , if anyone would like one please message me , the small single hooks are £5 each and the double hooks are £8 each, collection would be from my house as I am unable to drive at present xx

26/10/2023

Hi everyone, it’s been a while since I updated you. We had a lovely summer, I took a break from cancer treatment to have valuable family time, and we made the most of it.

Unfortunately scans since then have shown a number of tumours have grown in my lungs and in my brain. So it’s now terminal cancer, and I’m into palliative care. I am still going through brain radiotherapy and a new course of trial chemo, so there’s hope.

Whilst so very upsetting, I’ve accepted I’m not going to be able to return to work. So I’ve taken the hard decision to shut down my passion that’s been Short Bark and Sides.

Thank you all so much for your support as fluffy, waggling friends, and your loving owners. And for all the kind comments since I’ve been off poorly. I’ll leave my FaceBook site open for another couple of weeks, from then please find me on Facebook as Sam McKelvie.

Love you all. Sam xx

27/09/2022

Hello everyone. Bit of an update - after a summer of chemo, I’m now looking forward to an operation on my liver in November ahead of a further operation on my lungs as soon as possible after. With a little luck, I’ll be into monitoring for further spread next year, but hopefully a nice long (maybe permanent) break from treatment.🤞

So I’m currently off chemo, and while waiting for my operation I’m able to do in between groom, washes and brush outs only- I’m not strong enough to do a full groom yet sorry. The dates that will be available will be between the 3rd of October and the 27th of October

If your perfect pooch would like a pamper over the next few weeks or so, please get in touch. Of course, I understand completely if not!

Hoping for normal service resuming sometime early next year, all being well.

All love, Sam

24/06/2022

Hello all my lovely fur babies and your owners.

Thanks for all the continued well wishes from you all. Appreciate it’s been a while since I’ve let you know what’s happening and when I may be back.

It’s not good news I’m afraid. I was due an operation on my liver this month, but due to some significant spread of the cancer these last couple of months the cancer is once again inoperable. So I’m off back to chemo this week for another three months. With luck, this will bring the disease back under control and the op will be possible again.

So it’s pretty unlikely I’ll be back anytime soon. I miss you all.

On the up side young Raphie has joined our family recently - lovely to have a pup about the house and keeping me occupied!

Keep wagging and brushing! All my love. Sam.

10/03/2022

Hello my lovely doggy clients and your owners. As the daffodils come up and there is some warmth in the sun, it’s nice to see the end of winter.

Just wanted to update you on where I’m at. Whilst my latest round of chemo has slowed down the cancer spread, it’s not melted away. So I go for major surgery on the primary cancer next week, ahead of another few months of chemo into the summer. It’s likely further operations on my lungs and liver later in the year.

So I won’t be back to work anytime soon. I’m so sorry, I miss you all so much. However, the sun continues to rise each morning, and I remain positive and pragmatic about the whole thing. I hope to be grooming again later this year, all crossed.

Love to you all. Sam xx

31/12/2021

I hope all my fabulous clients and their owners had a nice relaxing Christmas, thank you for all your support during this past year
I’m wishing you all a happy and healthy 2022 and I hope to see you all again very soon ###x