January 17, 2013
Pals, I recently got a plea from a single mom with a young daughter and a sick Corgi girl. What started as one problem turned out to be something much worse, and they need our help. Here is Kali's story in the words of Corgi Mom Kristen:
"I have a 7 year old Pembroke who has back problems. When Kali was 3 she got hurt and ruptured her disk. Right now she is in pain and breathing heavy. I'm a single mother, who cant afford to the vet bills to help her. She's mine and my daughter's best friend. When she hurt her back 4 years ago the vet said that she would need surgery but she never needed it cause she recovered."
Kristen took Kali to the vet on January 3rd, and it was discovered instead that Kali has a mass in her abdomen... and it could be cancerous. They did some blood work to try and learn more.
"So the vet called me and the test they got back showed Kali is anemic, but she's making red blood cells. He said that can be because of cancer or a tumor, or that she could have something called autoimmune hemolytic anemia. He said that all her major organs are fine. He said he'd call me in the morning once the rest of her test back."
Kristen spoke to the vet again on January 5th and learned that more blood work was needed, as well as an ultrasound of her abdominal mass. The ultrasound showed a mass, and that her abdomen was full of fluid. When I got the results from Kristen, my heart was broken:
"Kali has leukemia. The vet said that he can go into remove the mass and that'll be about 800-900 bucks depending on what he removes. Or that he can give me a referral to UC DAVIS for cancer treatment. He said that cancer treatment in dogs doesn't always work and since she has leukemia, which is untreatable, he thinks just removing the mass and making her comfortable till its time is the best thing that I can do. I asked how long he thinks she has and he said because of the weight loss he'd say about 2 months. Could you do a small fundraiser, just to help pay for vet bills and her meds? I've decided that doing surgery would be too much and she'd be in pain for the remainder of her life. I just want to keep her comfortable and happy as long as I can."
The cost of diagnosis, including blood work, ultrasound and two months of meds for Kali, is $505. Please share her story, and donate if you can, so we can help make this sweet girl as comfortable as possible for the rest of her days.