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PLAINVILLE, Mass. (WJAR) — A Plainville man who said he is dying of cancer is spending his final weeks working to rehome his dog and best friend.

Ten years ago, David Fine said 'Babs' walked into his life, and never left.

Initially, as a puppy, she had been given up two times before a friend of his took her in and asked him to keep her in his family's garage.

From there, they became inseparable, and he's been her 'dad' ever since.

“I had told myself I was never going to get another pet because it breaks my heart to lose them. Fortunately, she’s going to outlive me this time," said Fine.

In 2020, Fine said he had retired as a carpenter.

His dream was to travel.

“It was my lifelong dream. I planned for 30 years or more. I was going to buy a truck, camper, and I’m going to see the national parks. In 2020 I pulled the trigger," said Fine. "I took Bab's with me, I had a Cheshire green smile on my face the whole week I was there."

Fine said he made it to South Dakota during bike week.

He visited Mt. Rushmore, and then while in Wyoming, about 100 miles from Yellowstone, the number one place he has wanted to visit, he began feeling ill.

“And I got sick. I started feeling bad, so sick that I couldn’t drive. I wasn't comfortable driving," he said.

Years prior to the trip, Fine said he was diagnosed Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia that he underwent treatment for.

A year after that, he got vascular disease in his legs, which he said caused some of his arteries to shut down.

“Then last August I started having problems. I was feeling pain in my chest. took about four months to figure out what it was, they came up with stage four lung cancer, and the treatments would be brutal, it wouldn’t give me much time, and I’d be sick all the time, and I choose quality over quantity.”

Five months ago, doctors gave him six months to live.

“I’m alright with it. I came to terms with it, It is what it is and you know," he said. "I can try to extend things, but the chemo would make me so sick by the time I got better from one treatment it would be time for the next one, and that’s no way to live.”

With the remaining weeks, or hopefully months he has left, Fine has made it his mission to find a home for Bab's.

“She’s the most important thing at this point. My fate is sealed, but hers is not, so, I have to make sure she gets as many good years out of the rest of her life as I can," he said. “I don’t want her to feel bad and she’s going to. We’re attached at the hip and when I don’t come home she’s going to know it, and I’ve got too much empathy and that’s what’s the hardest part.”

To make things easier for Babs, for a few months now he has been searching.

He said he has never been married and has no children, other extended family members can't take her because they have pets, and she needs to be the only pet in the household.

It would also be beneficial for there to be no small children.

“I’d like to find somebody like me you know, someone that wants a companion to greet you at the door, when you come in be happy to see you," he said. "She loves to dig, so they would need to keep an eye on her and she doesn't do well with stairs."

Fine reached out to a local veterans program, an ad was published in the paper, and most recently, a post went viral with his 'dying wish.'

Ideally, Fine would love her new owner to be someone local that he can work with to help transition her into a home, that she would go to, once he has passed.

“The type of cancer it’s going to want to spread. It’s going to go to my other internal organs, possibly my back and my head at some point and when that comes, then we call it quits, we check into hospice, give up the dog and that’s probably going to kill me.”

He said Bab's is extremely intelligent, well-mannered and bathroom trained.

She loves to sleep in a human bed and is 'the most loyal creature on the planet.'

“Nobody is going to be good enough, and I hate to say that because it makes me sound like I’m better than everybody else, but it’s like trying to find a home for your child," he said. “Every time I picture her leaving in the back window of a car saying, 'What’s going on?' Where am I going and why aren’t you coming with me?' I just can’t do it, I can't, but I’m going to have to at some point.”

Fine said as far as his health goes, recently he began feeling some symptoms.

With whatever time he has left he plans to tie up loose ends.

“Everybody dies, there are things I wanted to get done. I still want to see Yellowstone. I don't think I’ll make it there at this point, financially it would be tough, other than that I need to do this for her," he said. Then I can rest in peace when the time comes, but I’m not ready to go yet.”

Anyone interested in adopting Babs or speaking with Fine can reach him at Dafine1960@gmail.com

If you would like to donate to David and Babs final trip to Yellowstone, click here.

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