Cancer treatment fundraiser set up for Game of Thrones direwolf

A fundraising page set up by the owner of a Northern Ireland dog which starred in hit fantasy drama Game of Thrones has raised £13,000 to help pay for the pup’s costly veterinary bills.

illiam Mulhall, from Co Down, owns Odin and Thor, the Northern Inuit dogs who played direwolves Summer and Grey Wind in the hit HBO fantasy drama.

He runs Direwolf Tours, which takes fans to visit many of the GoT filming locations across Northern Ireland, accompanied by the two famous dogs.

Writing on his GoFundMe page, William announced “with a heavy heart” that at the end of last year, they had discovered Odin had cancer.

He had hoped that profit made from tours during the busy summer months would help pay for the dog’s treatment, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, most of them have been cancelled.

William said that due to the severity of Odin’s condition, he is receiving specialist treatment “which requires driving hundreds of miles back and forth to Dublin every week”.

“Originally we wanted to keep this private until we knew he was on a stable road to recovery, but due to the current circumstances with everything going on with the Covid-19 virus, the past week has led to the vast majority of our upcoming tours over summer being cancelled – tours that we were relying on to secure the rest of Odin’s treatment,” he wrote.

Pleading with Thrones fans to help him reach the £15,000 target, he said: “Currently the medic bills alone have reached over £8,000, this is before the chemotherapy has begun. This is why we are asking your help to raise the funds to meet the current bill and continue the treatment.

“Odin along with his brother Thor have brought joy, excitement and made the highlight of peoples trip to Ireland for the past four years.

“Not only that but before he became a globally recognised dog, he was our family member. We had him since he was a pup at seven weeks old and he and his brother have brought our family together and changed our lives forever.”

William said that any donations large or small “would mean everything to us and to Odin and would give us a better chance to help beat this illness”.

“We are grateful to have been able to show the world Odin and Thor over the last few years and hope that we can continue.”

You can donate to help Odin at www.gofundme.com/f/raising-for-odins-cancer-treatment

Belfast Telegraph