Ali Stark, 70, of Gaithersburg, Md., was the inspiration for the calendar. Having received her diagnosis 32 years ago, she’s now in Stage IV: “I’ve had metastatic breast cancer all over the place, all over my body, my liver, my bones. It cracked a rib and (entered) the brain, and then I thought, ‘How dare you go to my brain?’ “ Stark credits her survival to Herceptin, which she calls a miracle drug, to her “angels” — her son, Cliff; her husband, Joseph; and her best friend, Clancy Kress (president of Critters for the Cure) — and to her two beloved dogs.

Stark lost her 9-year-old standard poodle, Molly, last year to cancer as she was struggling with her own illness, and it took her a while to open her heart to a feisty yorkie-poo. “Molly was like my soul,” she says. “It was very hard on me because the two of us were fighting cancer and Molly lost her battle, and I was grieving a tremendous amount. But along came Eloise. ... I think she is one of the things keeping me going, keeping me alive. ... So, I am blessed. No matter what happens from here on in, I feel blessed.”

For some, the animals are more than a source of solace. Julia Scott learned to laugh her way through her illness, she says as she paints her dog’s nails orange for Halloween. Leslie Foxman chuckles as she scratches LilyPigLips under the chin.

Perhaps the most striking story comes from Bev Gilstrap-Noble, who credits her dog, Chevis, with detecting her cancer early. His relentless sniffing at her breast encouraged her to get checked again, even after a negative biopsy. He was, she says, “her second opinion.”

Gilstrap-Noble’s is one of many inspirational stories in Critters Speak, the nonprofit’s magazine, which documents the women’s cancer journeys, says Kress, who founded Critters for the Cure in 2006. Working together “makes us laugh, makes us cry a little bit. ... It’s something that helps other women that might be going through the same experience. It gives them something to give them hope.”

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