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Taylor Bowden

@taylbowden

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Owen👶🏻 Penny🦮 & Parker’s🪽mom
🩺 registered nurse
💌 [email protected]

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Owen’s first time @linvillaorchards 🧡🍂🚜 by @taylbowden

Happy birthday my girl!!! Who knew almost 10 years ago that a college sorority big and little sister would mean becoming true family. From starting careers, to buying homes and getting married and now having babies just 4 months apart🥲 we’ve truly shared so much of life’s greatest moments and I am beyond grateful. Happy last year of your 20s!!! + your last birthday before becoming a mom🥹 I’m always so proud of you and ilysm💗 by @taylbowden

7 weeks ago🩵 feels like a lifetime and yesterday all at once🥹😭 and I’d do it all all over again by @taylbowden

3 years married🤍🤍🤍 by @taylbowden

I’ll be here for the foreseeable future🤍🫧 by @taylbowden

Owen Parker Bowden
Born 8/6/26 3:02am
8lbs 11.9oz 21.25in
A love we never knew was possible🩵 by @taylbowden

The day we always knew would come, but prayed would be much farther down the road, arrived far too soon. This week, we said goodbye to our sweet Parker.

We brought Parker home during our first year as homeowners, less than two months after getting engaged. We thought we knew what it meant to bring home a dog, but we had no idea just how much Parker would become our whole world.

He was there through our entire late twenties. Through new jobs, new routines, every celebration, disappointment, holiday, vacation, lazy weekend on the couch, and every ordinary day in between. He was there on our wedding day. He was there with us in this season of trying to grow our family. For nearly every memory we made over the last 5 years, Parker was somewhere in it.

We grew up together. But all 3 of us still have so much more growing up to do. We didn’t get enough time. We’re just kids, kids who love their 5 year old dog.

Parker wasn’t just a part of our story, he was a part of us, he is ingrained in who we are.

The house feels empty without him. Every part of the day feels different. It’s impossible to imagine going on and never hearing the sounds of him again - how loudly he drank water, him barking at anyone that passes by outside or us when it’s dinner time, his burps, his grunts and groans when he’s trying to get comfy, his cries of annoyance when playing with his sister and his cries of happiness when we’d come home.

Cancer didn’t take our boy. We made the heart shattering decision to let him rest when he showed us he was all done fighting. And what a fight it was. He fought hard. We fought hard. We gave each other everything we had until there was nothing more to give.

To our silly boy, thank you. (cont. in comments) by @taylbowden

Happy birthday to the man who is always the best part of every day, week, month, year. My husband, my best friend, my safe place. The best dog dad and soon-to-be dad to our little boy. I love growing beside you through every season of life. I’d choose you in every single one. To another year of loving each other through it all!!! I love you! Happy birthday🤍 by @taylbowden

Baby boy Bowden due to join us in August🩵🌈

To the parents who are grieving, waiting, trying, questioning, praying, hoping, hurting, healing, and carrying so much all at once - we’re in your corner, always rooting for you, and holding hope for you too🫶🏻 by @taylbowden

Love month dump💗 by @taylbowden

We’ve just been surviving the freezing winter days, battling this snow that won’t melt and adjusting to life with our three-legged boy but I wanted to take the time to give a long overdue update!

Two days before Christmas, Parker underwent a full amputation of his back leg, and in early January he started chemo. Only 2 months post-op and he’s fully healed, getting around like he’s only ever known life with three legs and tolerating chemo like a champ. (The only thing he can’t do anymore is launch himself onto you when you walk in the door or steal food off the table and counter…which we joke is a blessing in disguise🙏🏻😅). He’s still just our happy, goofy, food-loving boy.

There was a time we weren’t even sure Parker would make it to Christmas…and a month ago we celebrated his 5th birthday!!!!! He’s gotten so many snow days (although we’ve had enough and are ready for warm weather because this three-legged king needs to get down the shore ASAP). And his little sister is back to tormenting him like absolutely nothing ever happened — which honestly feels like the sweetest bit of normalcy (even though Parker may disagree😬)

We still have a long road of treatment ahead and we’re taking it one day at a time. But we are so incredibly grateful for every birthday, holiday, snow day and ordinary day in between we get to share with him.

I wanted to thank everyone again. Thank you for every message, meal, visit, toy and treat, donation, shared post, check-in. Parker truly would not be here without all the love we have surrounding us.

Today just felt like a fitting day to acknowledge how grateful we are for our sweet, resilient boy and for everyone who loves him. Happy Valentine’s Day💝 by @taylbowden

This is one of the hardest things I have ever faced, even after everything this year has already taken from Taylor and me. My sweet, handsome boy Parker has been diagnosed with an aggressive cancer that appeared out of nowhere and turned our world upside down.

The emotions come in tsunami sized waves of crushing sadness, guilt, anger, regret, frustration, numbness, and flickers of hope. I ask myself why. Why us? Why him? Am I doing something wrong? Are we bad people? Are we cursed, like Madam Zeroni? I know there are no answers, but the questions don’t stop.

Lately, I feel like I’ve been losing myself. The happy, optimistic, fun, hopeful person I used to be feels unrecognizable. I’ve been replaced by someone dark, negative, unhopeful, waiting for the next shoe to drop. I feel like life keeps beating me down anyway chipping away piece by piece, testing me until it feels almost mocking.

And now faced with an impossible, unknown decisions, I am terrified of making the wrong one. I don’t want Parker to suffer and I don’t want to be selfish keeping him here simply because we can’t let go. But I also don’t want to give up on him if he still has a chance, even as my mind is flooded with hopelessness. Every choice feels like it could be the one I regret for the rest of my life.

But, I am praying desperately that this darkness can turn around. Through everything, Parker has been the glue. He always has been. He’s the reason I get out of bed, the comfort when everything hurts, and the purest love and comfort I have ever known.

We are going to do everything we can to fight this cancer and give Parker a chance and comfort he deserves. But the financial burden of treatment is overwhelming. Asking for help feels humiliating and shameful, but we cannot do this alone.

So, I am asking for support, love, prayers, positive thoughts from family, friends, golden retriever lovers, pet parents, and kind strangers.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for caring. And thank you for helping us fight for Parker.

Parker’s gofundme:
https://gofund.me/a15ec33fc by @taylbowden