🐶 A Dog, Cancer, and AI

I’m writing this with my dog curled up at my feet. 

I look forward to this time just about every day. I love cuddling up with my furry-child every chance I get. 

Unconditional love. Belly rubs. Next-level companionship.

This week’s story hit me right in the chest. And even if you’re on team-cat, I think it’ll hit you the same way.

It has nothing to do with hype or flashy demos or product launches.  

This one is about love, time, and what a determined person can do with a laptop, modern AI tools, and the courage to keep asking, “What else can I try?”

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🐶 How AI helped Rosie Get More Time

A software builder in Melbourne used AI tools to study his dog’s tumor, build a draft treatment plan, and bring that plan to doctors in about 60 days.

Key Facts

• 🦠 Time Running Out – Rosie had aggressive mast-cell cancer, and standard care gave her very little time.

• 🧬 AI Data – Paul spent about $3,000 on tumor DNA sequencing and used ChatGPT with AlphaFold to study the results.

• 💉 Doctor Approved – Doctors reviewed the plan, a lab made a small batch of mRNA, and Rosie showed early signs of relief after the first shot.

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Paul Conyngham adopted Rosie back in 2019. 

She was a rescue dog. 

One of those “I’m just happy to be here” kind of souls that somehow becomes the center of an owner’s entire day without ever asking for it.

Then 2024 showed up with the kind of sentence no pet owner forgets: aggressive mast-cell cancer, very little time, and no standard treatment that offered real hope.

Paul did what most of us would do first. 

He tried the approved paths:

Surgery.
Chemo. 
Thousands of dollars.
Appointments. 

Waiting. Hoping. 

And then the gut punch of realizing the cancer kept coming back anyway.

At that point, most people hit the wall. We accept the limits and start preparing for goodbye.

Paul didn’t.

And I want to be really careful how I say this: 

He didn’t “outsmart” cancer.

AI isn’t a magic wand. 

He kept going because he had a mission: buy Rosie time and comfort.

So he made a move that sounds insane until you remember what’s changed in the last few years.

He treated AI like a lab partner.

And it worked better than he could have hoped.

📊 The Data That Made Everything Possible

Here’s the first step that made the rest of this story real.

Paul paid about $3,000 to sequence Rosie’s tumor. That produced a massive genetic dataset. Think “terabytes,” not a neat spreadsheet.

And this is where the story flips from “sad” to “wait… what?”

Paul had no biology training. 

None. 

But he understood something many business owners still miss: if you can get the right data, and you can ask good questions, you can move faster than you think.

So he took that tumor DNA data and started working with tools like ChatGPT and Google’s AlphaFold. 

ChatGPT helped him understand his options and frame research questions. 

AlphaFold helped identify how mutated proteins might look and behave. 

That matters because cancer often comes down to specific mutations that create targets the immune system can learn to recognize.

🔍 What He Actually Did (And What He Didn’t)

Now let’s talk about the part people get wrong when they hear this story.

Paul did not mix chemicals in a garage and inject his dog. 

That’s not what happened. 

And honestly, I’d run from that version of this story had it been this.

What he did was create a credible treatment blueprint. 

A starting plan that real scientists could evaluate, fix, and produce responsibly.

He connected with researchers at the University of New South Wales, including nanomedicine researcher Pall Thordarson. With their support, a personalized mRNA cancer vaccine was produced in less than two months.

That timeline matters.

Because in oncology, time is the enemy. 

And that’s true for dogs and humans alike. 

The old bottleneck has always been the “design” phase: identify the right mutations, decide what targets matter, map them into a vaccine strategy, and do it fast enough that the patient can actually benefit.

AI compressed that design phase in a way that simply wasn’t possible a few years ago.

☀️ What Happened After the Vaccine

Rosie received her first injection in December 2025, followed by a booster in February 2026.

And the results? Enough to make you stop scrolling.

Most of Rosie’s tumors reportedly shrank dramatically. One tumor described as tennis-ball-sized shrank by about half within weeks. 

Paul shared a moment that feels small but says everything: after the shot, Rosie had enough energy to jump a fence chasing a rabbit. A total contrast to how low she’d been before.

Paul has been clear about the limits here, and I respect that a lot:

“I’m under no illusion that this is a cure, but I do believe this treatment has bought Rosie significantly more time and quality of life.”

Rosie isn’t a guaranteed “victory over cancer” story. She’s a time-and-quality-of-life story. 

And in real life, that can mean everything.

💭 What I Think Is the Biggest Takeaway Here

So why am I sharing a story about a dog and a cancer vaccine in a newsletter about AI and business?

Because this is what AI looks like when it stops being a toy and starts being agency.

This story is basically a live example of what personalized medicine has been aiming for: neoantigen-based cancer vaccines. 

The idea is simple to explain and hard to execute. 

The hard parts have always been:

• Speed: Can you design something fast enough?
• Cost: Can normal people afford the early steps?
• Access: Can it reach more than a tiny slice of patients?

Rosie’s case hints at something big. 

AI can compress the thinking and planning cycle. 

It can help a motivated person go from “I don’t even know what to ask” to “Here’s a workable plan that professionals can judge.”

That lesson isn’t limited to medicine. 

It applies to your business even if you sell roofing, run a dental office, manage a logistics team, lead a nonprofit, or own a local gym.

Because the pattern is the same:

1. You hit a wall.
2. The “standard playbook” isn’t working.
3. You either accept it… or you start building a new path with better questions, better data, and faster feedback.

👉 Ask yourself this:

• Where in your business have you quietly accepted, “That’s just how it is”… even though it’s costing you money, time, or peace?
• If you could shrink a six-month research cycle into a weekend of structured back-and-forth with an AI assistant, what problem would you finally take on?
• What data do you already have that you’re ignoring because it feels too messy? Support tickets, call transcripts, invoices, job notes, photos, inventory logs. If Paul can start with tumor DNA, you absolutely have your own version of “sequencing the tumor” sitting somewhere in your business right now.
• Who are the “real experts” in your world? The people you should bring in once you have a solid first draft.

If you take one thing from Rosie’s story, I hope it’s this: you don’t need permission to begin. 

You do need humility, safety, and qualified experts when the stakes demand it. 

You. Can. Just. Do. Things.

And you can start learning and forming options faster than you think.

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👀 Ladies In San Diego - I’m Speaking In Your Town This Week

ICYMI - There’s still time to join us!

I’ll be speaking at Energetics of Business Live in San Diego March 19th at the VIP day for this event, and I’d love for you to join me!

This isn’t your typical business conference. EOB Live is focused on the energetics, the healing, and the deep inner work that’s required to scale your business and uplevel your life.

My friend Erin has created exactly that and here’s the highlights she shared with me:

✨ 2-3 days of transformation in sunny San Diego

✨ Incredible speakers (I’ll be there!)

✨ 75+ women business owners healing together, networking, and building true connections that last a lifetime

✨ The kind of conversations where you finally feel “these people get me”

✨ Heart-centered entrepreneurs ready to expand into their next level

Interested in joining me? Here’s the link 🔗

Use code BEMYGUEST to save 30% off tickets

Also, as a bonus, anyone who joins I’m throwing in a totally free 3 month membership to CTRL+ALT+BUILD, my private AI slack community so you can keep the momentum going with me. 

SECURE YOUR SPOT

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📌 Tying It All Together

Try this three-step rhythm this week. You don’t need to be a scientist. 

You just need a clear mission and some messy data.

Step 1: Name the mission in one sentence.
”Reduce returns by 20%.” “Cut onboarding time in half.” “Stop losing leads after the first call.”

Step 2: Bring one messy data source.
50 customer emails. 20 call transcripts. 3 months of invoices. A week of delivery photos.

Step 3: Use AI to produce a “first draft plan,” then pressure-test it with a human expert.
Ask for risks, blind spots, and what evidence would prove it works.

That’s the pattern Paul followed. Mission first, data second, AI for exploration, experts for execution.

If you try this, tell me what mission you picked and what data you used. 

I read every response, and I’m always looking for real examples to share (with your permission).

P.S. I’ve got one VIP day spot for March left, and I’m reviewing applications every week.