Final treat for cancer-stricken pooch

Molly the dog has been given one last tub of Notarianni's ice cream after being diagnosed with cancer

Staff at historic parlour Notarianni Ices made a special delivery of its renowned vanilla treat to Belgian mastiff Molly after hearing she could have just days to live.

Owner Julie said: “You should have seen her face – she was well excited. It was brilliant.

“We put the tub down in front of her yesterday and she just went mad. She didn’t leave it until she got every last morsel out of it.”

Molly the dog has been given one last tub of Notarianni's ice cream after being diagnosed with cancer. She is pictured with Josh Smith.

Bond Street resident Julie said Molly, who was rescued by her brother Danny more than 10 years ago, started to look tired and lose weight just before Christmas.

Vets put it down to age but tests carried out later showed a cancerous mass enveloping Molly’s liver, Julie, 41, said.

“There are signs of secondary cancer too, so it’s spreading. It’s devastating to be truthful,” she said.

“There’s nothing they can do. There’s an operation but she wouldn’t survive it.

“They said it could be a day, a week, or a month. We could wake up tomorrow morning and she might not be here.

“It’s just a waiting game.”

Molly, who is thought to be 11 – or around 77 in dog years – would enjoy a trip to Notarianni’s ‘about five or six times’ every summer, Julie said.

“We would take her for a treat,” she said. “But it would only last about five seconds.

“We would get a tub ourselves and a cornet for her, otherwise she would go mad.”

Mum-of-one Julie emailed manager Luca Vettese in the hope Molly would be able to enjoy one last taste of the firm’s dairy delicacy.

And despite the family-run firm shutting up shop over winter with no plans to reopen until March 5, Luca obliged, hand-delivering a tub of ice cream to the family home on Tuesday. Julie later sent an emotional Facebook message to Notarianni’s, on Waterloo Road and close to the Prom in South Shore, which the firm shared on its social media accounts.

In it, she said she was ‘speechless’ at the kind-hearted gesture.

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart,” she wrote.

“You really have restored my faith in humanity.”

Customer Kirsten Jones commented: “What a beautiful thing to do. All our dogs have enjoyed the ice cream.”

And Ailsa Yeadon said: “That was wonderful of you to take Molly some ice cream. Thank you for being so kind and thoughtful.

“Our thoughts are with Molly and her owners – much love.”

Luca, the great-grandson of Notarianni founder Luigi, who opened up shop in Blackpool in 1928, said: “I didn’t think of it as a big thing, it was just a nice gesture to make someone happy when they are going through a hard time.

“We shut for the winter but I keep a personal supply for me and my family. I had some left over so I took Julie a tub around. Her family have been coming for years and years.”