From Silent Killer To Standing Ovation + Resiliency with Chris Bingham (part 2)

A police K9 given weeks to live walked onto an NFL field to a standing ovation—and reminded us why hope is a strategy. We sit down with Chris to trace Tambo’s journey from a sudden ER scare and a brutal hemangiosarcoma diagnosis to a rare break in the odds, immediate chemotherapy, and a plan built on grit, joy, and relentless love. What starts as a private fight grows into a movement as Chris turns chemo days into themed “fight nights,” shares their road trips and recovery, and watches a community rally around a dog who keeps choosing life.

We go deep on what it means to reject fixed timelines and lead with intention. Chris breaks down the mind–body–spirit approach that keeps Tambo strong: top-tier oncology, hydrotherapy and rehab, therapeutic massage, tailored nutrition, active play, and a calm mindset. Along the way, messages pour in from patients and parents who draw strength from a shepherd’s wag and a handler’s voice. Media features, sold-out “Tambo Strong” shirts, and a “Defy the Odds” line help fund care and spread his story. The Philadelphia Eagles honor Tambo during their salute to service game; 70,000 fans rise as he barks at the camera, a live-action reminder that resilience is a daily choice.

Thank you to our sponsors: 

Casa Sagrada 

Taste Life Nutrition

Ciudad Maderas

The Quiet Gift: A Journey of Self Worth and Resilience is now available for download as an audible.  Check it out!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

All of us reach a point in time where we are depleted and need to somehow find a way to reignite the fire within. But how do we spark that flame? Welcome to Reignite Resilience, where we will venture into the heart of the human spirit. We'll discuss the art of reigniting our passion and strategies to stoke our enthusiasm. And now here are your hosts, Natalie Davis and Pamela Cass.

SPEAKER_04 0:41

He stayed at the hospital the next night, and I got to go up and see him the next day. And um I'll have to share some pictures with you. He had a little vest on from doing the surgery to keep his his incision intact. And he came in and he just looked so disheveled. But when he saw me, I saw the life come back into him again. And I could tell he felt safe again with me and he felt comforted. So I just sat there. We sat there in silence for you know a few hours and I comforted him and they had to take him back. And they said, look, if he uh continues to, if he eats breakfast tomorrow and does good, you'll be able to bring him home. I went home that night, had a hard time sleeping because it's like, you know, wondering if he's ever gonna, I'm ever gonna hear his footsteps in the house again. My son's gonna be able to, you know, call his name. And I remember them calling me in the morning. They're like, it's it's great news. He's up, he's vibrant, he's eating breakfast, and he can come home today. And and they're like, I can't believe how well he's moving. And I was just like, wow. And um, I remember going to get him and bringing him home and just being able to see him, you know, walk back in the house and to hear my son's voice again yell, you know, the little footsteps. My son is is two and a half, and to hear him yell Tambo's name and to see his hero again, and you know, Tambo wagged his tail, gave him a little nudge, and and you know, Mackie wa was hugging him and and all was right in the world again for for that period of time. And you know, the the next step from there was then you know waiting for the official official biopsy results to let me know if it was cancer or not.

SPEAKER_03 2:20

Oh my gosh. That that's I mean, it's like you talk about the emotional roller coaster for both of you that that you were going through in that moment.

The Diagnosis: Hemangiosarcoma

Oncology Consult And A Pivot To Chemo

Turning Treatment Into A Movement

SPEAKER_04 2:30

Yeah, yeah, it it was like it was it was a wave, a wave of emotions. Like, you know, I went to work that day and and now I'm at the the pet ER wondering if I'm saying goodbye to my partner. And I remember saying to myself, is I'm I'm not ready for this again. I'm not I'm not prepared. We were just we were thriving. We were thriving. And and and but that's life, right? That's that's what happens in life is we're doing well, and then life hits us, and and in one second, your your your world changes again. And I wanted to really, when I was walking back to him, I really wanted to to break down, but that was a defining moment where I knew that it was my time, and it's still my time to to be there for him. And I I feel in that moment that I I breathed life back into him, and I feel like I've been continuing to do that, and and that's what's been you know keeping him going as part of the reason why he's been he's been so resilient. So they called within within a couple days, about four or five days after that, and you know, is what I suspected. It's a cancer called hemangiosarcoma. It's called the uh the silent killer in dogs because these uh these blood masses they form on the spleen and the liver. And then what happens is they could be acting fine, and then these masses burst, and then they can bleed out. And as I started doing research on it, I started talking to other people, and then they said, they said, My gosh, my dog had the same thing, but I didn't get home in time. The he bled out this mass ruptured, and so many people had gone through that were, you know, they got them to the the pet ER too late. And again, going back to that moment of something, I never leave work early, and something drove me to leave work early that day. And again, I think it was something much bigger than all of us, you know, telling me to leave. So right then and there, that was a miracle in itself. But as I started reading the diagnosis, even after you know, I took him home, they said with if this is semangiosarcoma, he's probably got 14 to 21 days to live. Because if the the cancer is spread to the liver, which we suspected, these blood masses are on there and these masses can burst again, and now you're back to an emergency situation, and it's a very aggressive cancer. So I was already thinking, okay, I've gotten through all this, and now am I looking at a two-week to 21-day window for him to live? So then I had to get an oncology appointment, and I, you know, I kind of did my research, and I'm in the Baltimore area, and I found one about an hour and a half from the house in Malvern, PA, that had a good oncology department. So, you know, we got our appointment set up. You know, I remember driving him there that day. I was very anxious, but part of it was was also therapeutic because it was one of those we were in a long car ride again together, and it was kind of like we were back in it together. And I remember, and I still tell Tambo this to this day, is I said, This is our this is our final mission, this is our final call, this is our biggest, biggest one out of them all. And I said, We're we're in this together. Whatever happens, we're riding this together. And um, so I felt like you know, we were we were going into a uh a war and a fight, you know, driving there. And um I get him in there and they took him back and I had the consult with the oncologist, and she said, Look, Chris, you know, I'm gonna shoot you straight. We're gonna do an ultrasound, but if the cancer is on the liver, chemotherapy isn't isn't going to do much. It's too far gone, and you're gonna have to make some decisions. And I again I didn't know right then and there because then I risked, you know, going to work again and one of these masks rupturing again, and then me not being there. There was no way for me to be with them 24-7. So I didn't know if I was gonna have to make a decision right then and there. And then again, I had these wave of emotions going through me. And I remember them taking him back for the ultrasound and you know, Tambo's looking back at me, like looking for reinsure reassurance to say, Dad, is it okay? And I said, You're you're good, buddy. You know, you're good, you're gonna be fine. And um, it was about 40 minutes, but it felt like, my gosh, it felt like two hours that that time sitting in there. And she came back in, and it just from me being a cop, I can read energy, and it was a different energy. I was expecting more of a somber energy, but this felt good. And she said, She said, I can't believe it. We did we did the ultrasound, and what they thought were massives on the liver wasn't. And as of right now, he doesn't have any cancer on the liver, so we can start chemotherapy today. And huge relief. You know, I broke down crying a little bit, and I remember again calling Jason from Project Canine here. Again, a short conversation. I said, Hey Jay, I said, This is a deal. They can start chemo today. He's like, How much is it? I said, It's gonna be about$700 a session. He said, We got it, whatever, whatever you need. And again, I told the oncologist that, and she was kind of taken aback, and she's like, All right, let's let's get it started. So we we started chemotherapy that day, and the plan was to do five sessions, do one every two weeks, and then we would assess and go from there. So, first chemo sessions were were a little rough, day three or four. He had a he had a lot of nausea and and some vomiting, and he didn't want to eat. You know, once I got the medications in him, he was able to eat a little bit. After two or three days of nausea, he responded back really well. You know, that kind of became the routine. He had those days of nausea, but then he bounced back, you know, pretty quickly. But what I started to do during the chemo sessions is is I was like, nobody wants to take their canine partner for chemotherapy, but I tried to find some some happiness in it, right? And and one of the things I started doing is I started just kind of documenting his his journey on Instagram. Every time we went for a session, I took off work, and that was our day together. It was that hour and 40 minute, two-hour drive to PA. We were in it together, but then I started doing some fun things. I I I did I did like a fight theme for for every chemo chemo session. One I did a the first one I did was a John Cena, the WWE John Cena, where we I put him in a John Cena t-shirt and I had one on, and I had the never give up towel. And uh it's on my Instagram, and I had him come out to the theme music and and I filmed it, and and people loved it. Yeah. And then I did a Rocky one, and I put little a robe and boxing little boxing gloves on him, and he he came out to There's No Easy Way Out, and and we we did our themes every week, and the responses I got were unbelievable. And that's when something bigger happened. People started reaching out to me. I didn't expect it, but people started reaching out to me that were following him saying, Hey, I'm going through chemotherapy right now, and I wanted to quit. And I see Tambo and I and I see his story, and I see his resilience, and I see his willingness to find happiness in the in the darkest of times, and how a dog lives his life, and it's inspired me to keep going. I had mothers that had children going through cancer, and as a as a newer father, that that hits me hard. That's saying that their highlight of the week is is seeing posts about Tambo or seeing him come out in his his his costume and and giving them giving them hope. And I really started to look at it like how dogs and and and animals tend to live their life and it's the simplicity of living in the moment and and looking at what's important and what's in front of us. And I think as humans, sometimes we've we've complicated that, right? And and I think they've they've had it figured out for for a long time. And to see a dog that because Tambo didn't know he had cancer, his body hurt, but he chose happiness every day. He chose to to be vibrant. But also a big part of that, what I realized was me. I was breathing life into him. My positivity toward him gave him the motivation to go forward. And I really started thinking about that with with humans that are that are going through cancer, is that you can give expiration dates to anybody or or timelines and stuff like that, but it's the mind, body, and spirit is what keeps us going. And people need to have hope. Hope, they can say, is is a mythical thing or it's it's not real, but it is because when you have hope, it changes your whole mindset, it changes how your body reacts, it changes how you view the world. And when you have a positive attitude, that that changes everything. And Tambo needed that from me. So he became the fighter, and I became the voice for him, right? And and I I talk about being the voice of the voiceless, and I started telling his story and from the resilience and and building it even bigger of where he came from, of the dog that that nobody wanted, that the dog that that went unnoticed, the dog that connected with somebody who was similar to him, that the two people that kind of found each other, and to go through his career and to thrive, and then to go through two traumatic injuries, and now the battle is life with cancer, and continue to choose life and continue to fight. And I started, you know, doing the the podcast. I had WBAL from Baltimore. They came and they filmed a news interview at the house. So his story just started gaining you know a lot of national, national attention. His social media following, you know, grew by the thousands. And before I know it, people were reaching out to me every day with with stories and and of hope. And that was deep for me to see the impact that this had on other people.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Wow. There's so much, so much there. And I think anybody that is listening to this podcast that has ever had an animal, lost an animal, they absolutely understand this. But there's something so much uh deeper with with this relationship for for you and for Tambo, because like you said, you called him your partner. You were you guys were together all day, every day, trusting each other. And he took care of you, you took care of him. And now you're on the probably most important assignment of your life because look at how many people you're touching.

Defying Timelines And Building Legacy

SPEAKER_04 13:44

Yeah. And that's what I said is every time I would, you know, we would go for oncology appointment, they would try to give me timelines, and I said, no disrespect. I don't want to hear him because I don't believe in them. But each time they do his blood work and they said his blood work's perfect. He's doing great. And then he graduated from his five sessions of uh from chemotherapy, and then the next step is they, you know, he's since been on an oral chemo pill. So he's been on that for uh about six weeks now. And I remember going back for his his five-week checkup, and I was really nervous about that because they were doing another ultrasound, and I know the oncologist was really worried about it. Right before that, our theme for that day is I said he doesn't need a John Cena or a Rocky theme. He's earned his own theme at this point, he's his own fighter. So, right before that, a company in Houston had reached out to me called Houndbound Brewing that does t-shirts, and um they wanted to do Tambo's own t-shirt with a lot of the proceeds going back to Project Canine Hero to fund help fund Tambo's care, which was amazing. So the the t-shirts and hoodies sold out, and they were Tambo Strong shirts, and it said, you know, loyalty, resilience. So I put him in his own t-shirt that day, and uh he proudly wore it there for his checkup. And I remember that they took him back, and she said, you know, we just did a an ultrasound. There, there's no, they call him Mets. There's no Mets anywhere. His liver's clear, his lungs are clear, he's truly defying the odds. And I think they they were shocked just as much. Again, this is a dog that was given, you know, two weeks to live. We've been continuing on that oral chemo pill, and ironically, right before this interview, this this Monday, I have our our next five-week follow-up, which makes me a little nervous because they are gonna do an ultrasound. But but he's been, I gotta tell you, he's been he's been doing amazing, and we haven't stopped. We've been we just got on November 16th, right before that, the uh Philadelphia Eagles had reached out and they had their their salute to service game and they had heard about you know Tambo's story, and they would said we would love to honor Tambo for his not only his service to the country, but for his cancer battle. So I gotta tell you, what an amazing weekend. So I drove out Saturday out to Philly, and I was out there with the Project Canine Hero team, and we we stayed in the in the Airbnb, and then that Saturday we went to the Rocky stairs. If you remember from the movie where Rocky ascends the stairs, so I got to ascend the stairs with Tambo. And uh what an amazing moment. The the underdog being in Philadelphia, the Rocky Balboa story, the the you know, the underdog that nobody gave a chance to. And here I am with him. We got some amazing pictures at the Rocky statue. I got filmed running up the stairs with with uh with Tambo, and it's kind of a full circle moment. So I didn't think anything could top that. And then came the game. They brought us out in the uh second time out in the first quarter, so the stadium was packed with 70,000 people. They read his working bio and everything he did, all the thousands of searches, the 10,000 searches that he did, and then talked about his double CCL tears and his ligament tears. And then they said now he's in the fight of his life with a battle with an aggressive cancer. And as they said that, it's like Tambo came to life. He started, and his face was right on the the big screen of Philly with 70,000 people. He just started barking saying, I'm here, I'm alive, I'm still going. And at that moment, I get goosebumps talking about this. 70,000 people stood on their feet and and gave us uh a standing ovation. And I was like, this is defying the odds. This is coming, this is coming full circle. This is about never giving up, not listening to what other people say, and continuing to have a positive attitude. Like it was surreal. And and to be to be in that moment, I'm still like taking it all in uh of the moment and being on the on the Rocky stairs and and having that that moment with him. So it's been incredible. It was just incredible. You know, it's the best way I can say it.

SPEAKER_03 18:06

I love it. He had his own Rocky Baba moment, it just made his way all the way out to the field, which is huge.

SPEAKER_04 18:13

Yeah, and and and the announcer said, you know, uh true Philadelphia fighter through and through, and what a what a moment. And to be in Philly in the the state that he got his chemotherapy and the story of Rocky, you can't script anything better than that. You just can't. And then I recently just did a um, if you all aren't familiar with the dogist, he's a um he's got about 11 million followers on on social media, and he's known for taking pictures of people's dogs and celebrities. And he had just interviewed Jane Goodall before she passed. Well, they had reached out to me, and I just did an interview for his new YouTube series about you know Tambo's story. So that's on his new Substack series on on YouTube that you can find it on there. And then we just launched Tambo's second shirt line, which is uh Defy the Odd shirt, and um, they turned out great. It says Defy the Odds at the top, it has Tambo with the Capitol building behind him, his hand on an explosive device, and then at the bottom it says cancer warrior. And I can't tell you how many people reached out and said, My dad has stage four pancreatic cancer, and he wanted to quit, but he what he wants one of Tambo shirts. He wants he wants to fight, he wants to defy the odds. And now the real full circle moment, which it doesn't get any more real than this. My dad lives in Florida. I get a call from him, he was having some issues, and uh they couldn't figure out what was wrong, called me up and says he has um just got diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma out of the blue. And um, my dad is a is a very stoic person, doesn't show a lot of emotion, and I'm trying to talk to him, you know, about the you know, Tambo's diagnosis, and all he wanted to talk about was Tambo. How's Tambo? When when can I get a shirt? I said, Dad, I'm gonna send you a shirt. But it's like instantly, he's like, I'm like him. I'm fighting something as well. We're we're in this together, and I think that's what people need. And in a in a world we live in right now with so much, you know, negativity and and and hate and and different sides and stuff, I think the world needs more good stories and needs needs to hear stories like this about resilience and and overcoming adversity and and having hope. And and that's why, you know, I'm normally a very you know private person, but I feel like I have an obligation to to share Tambo's story and and hopefully help and inspire other people. And and one of the things I never thought it would do is I I just finished his children's book. I'm working on the illustration. If you would have asked me a year ago that I'd wrote it, write a children's book, I'd tell you you were crazy.

SPEAKER_03 20:49

So but uh it's I think if we had asked you about any of this seven years ago, you we would have thought you would have thought we went crazy.

SPEAKER_04 20:58

Right, right. And um, you know, I'm about I'm about uh 15 chapters into his his adult book, and you know, I decided to do that in a in a two-part series where I'm gonna end it as our defining moment in Philadelphia at the Eagles game with 70,000 people coming full circle, and then the next one will pick up from there, and that will follow him through the rest of his journey, which will hopefully be you know a long time from now.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

Yeah. Yeah, many, many years. And I see this becoming a movie, an Oscar-winning movie.

SPEAKER_04 21:31

So Yeah, I mean it's gonna see it. And just thinking about like that moment, I I go back to that moment of looking at him when we first came together. And people have said to me, you know, Chris, sometimes you're too guarded, you don't you don't let your guard down, and and looking at this dog and seeing the the dog version of myself, and I'm like, this is meant to be, and then leaving work early that day, and then overcoming those injuries, and then every surgery where, hey, he may not make it through this, or he may not make it through the recovery, and then continue to fight. The dog that initially that everybody just kind of passed by. But that's kind of been the story of my life, right? Like I've rose up through the ranks, but I've had to work hard for it, and I've never been, you know, the first choice for anything, but I know once I get there, you know, I'm I'm gonna be successful. And it's it's about resiliency, it's about never giving up and continuing to push forward, even though sometimes the odds are are stacked against you. And I tell people all the time, I lead a large group of officers now, is to don't let anybody define who you are. Is the minute, the minute you stop caring about what anybody else thinks about yourself, it's such a freeing moment. And and you really start to come into your own of who you are. But so often we let other people define us or or keep us you know categorized in in one area. And and we all have so much potential, you know. So I think that's an important thing to highlight.

SPEAKER_03 23:00

I love that. So, Chris, for me, of course, my my brain in in its uh weird sense of humor, I I think of you know, if someone starts to define who you are in Tambo fashion, maybe you just pee on their wall and walk away.

SPEAKER_04 23:14

I think we've all wanted to do that. There we go.

SPEAKER_02 23:18

And there's that.

SPEAKER_04 23:20

Just pee on their wall. I I I think about that story, and he just thinks that he just looked at looked me right in the eyes and just lifted his leg and pee right on the wall and walked away. Said you're not my person.

SPEAKER_01 23:31

Not my person.

SPEAKER_03 23:32

You're not my people. I'm moving on. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

I I'm waiting for my person.

SPEAKER_03 23:38

Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Chris, thank you for sharing your story and Tambo's story. It's beautiful. And I too hope that you know, part two of this book series that you're doing, we get to continue to see the work of Tambo's dude.

SPEAKER_04 23:52

Yes. Long book.

SPEAKER_03 23:54

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:54

After Philly, I said, we're we're just getting started. That that was that was just that was just the warning shot. We're coming.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

So you have a lot of hope to spread. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:03

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

That's right.

Philadelphia Honors A Fighter

SPEAKER_04 24:05

And and one of the things I wanted to do when his, you know, his children's book is done is I wanted to get, because at the end, the synopsis of the book is it's about, you know, any child that's ever felt small, and and it's about Tambo being the dog that that served the country. And then it talks about him getting sick. It doesn't go into cancer, but I think with a lot of children, is that sometimes they don't understand what happens to animals. And it just talks about him getting sick, but continuing to give people hope and then inspiring children. And at the end, he doesn't leave. He becomes a star in the shape of a German shepherd. And it's a picture at the end. It'll be a picture of my son with a stuffed German shepherd looking up at Tambo, who's always watching over him and inspiring not only him, but other children to to never give up hope, regardless of of how scary things may be. So I thought that was that was fitting. Beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 24:56

I agree. I love that. Well, once you are, you know, all of the books are published and and you're you're ready to talk about those, we'd love to have you back to discuss it and share it with our little.

SPEAKER_04 25:06

Absolutely. You guys have been an absolute pleasure to to talk to. You have great energy. Like I said, I'm I'm very big on energy, and you all have amazing energy. So it's just a pleasure to talk to you.

SPEAKER_03 25:16

Absolutely. Chris, before we hop off, I do want to give you an opportunity. Your social media handles, how can people find you? And Tambo.

SPEAKER_04 25:25

Primarily on Instagram, and that's lowercase k the number nine, and then underscore Tambo, T-A-M-B-O. It's a public profile, so so anybody can follow it. You know, I post updates on on Tambo all the time, and then our our journeys. And and one of the things that I've tried to do too to you know attack this cancer is I I didn't just and I didn't touch on that, is I don't just I'm not just saying, hey, he's taking chemotherapy. We've attacked this from the mind, body, and the spirit. So not only is he, you know, my positive attitude and and keeping him active and doing things, I'm um, you know, I've got a whole holistic approach to medication. I take him for rehab sessions where he does hydrotherapy, underwater treadmill, he gets therapeutic massages. And then we've got him on a whole, you know, I've had companies reach out to me that have have put a whole diet plan together for him. We're attacking this from every angle, and and so many people have been been helpful. And I think that that's really kept him in the in the fight is just hitting this from every angle. And I think that's the same for for us going through anything is not just saying, hey, I I'm dealing with this, I'm gonna take this medication, but you really have to look at it from all angles and how to attack that, you know.

SPEAKER_03 26:39

I love that the mind, body, spirit approach, the environment, what you're taking in from every aspect, what you're taking in.

SPEAKER_04 26:45

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:45

It applies to all of us.

SPEAKER_04 26:47

I did create a TikTok, but I haven't quite I would swore I never got on TikTok either, but I I've I'm I'm just launching that. So that's okay, that's a whole other beast for me to understand. It's a beast.

SPEAKER_02 26:58

You took the words right out of my mouth. It's it's a beast I'm still learning that one.

SPEAKER_03 27:04

So well, we will make sure that we uh tag your socials in the show notes as well. Chris, any final words that you have for our listeners that we haven't touched on today?

SPEAKER_04 27:15

Just in the darkest of times, you you can always find hope and you can always find light. You just have to you just have to know where to find it and you have to, you know, be patient because it's there. And that, you know, life is is gonna hit us hard, and we we gotta be prepared for it. You know, you gotta surround yourself with good people and have the right mindset to do it. And when you do that, anything's possible. You know, resilience is is a part of life, and that's one of the biggest parts of life, you know. It's like what Rocky said in the in the movie, it's not how how hard you get, it's it's how hard you get, and and and you can keep moving forward. You know, that's how winning is done. So, and that's the key.

SPEAKER_01 27:53

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 27:54

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you to you, thank you to Tambo. This has been an absolute pleasure, and I think that's a perfect and most beautiful way for us to end. Again, we will put all of Chris's contact information in the show notes, and you all know the deal. If you want to know what's happening in the world of Reignite Resilience, head on over to ReigniteResilience.com. Until next time, we will see y'all soon. Have a good one. Bye, everyone.

SPEAKER_00 28:17

Thank you for joining us today on the Reignite Resilience podcast. We hope you had some aha moments and learned a few new real life ideas to fuel the flames of passion. Please subscribe on your favorite streaming platform, like or download your favorite episodes, and of course, share with your friends and family. We look forward to seeing you again next time on Reignite Resilience.