Mango Strong
Donation protected
2020 has been RUFF on all of us!
This year, we’ve learned about resilience, patience, and necessity. The sudden and devastating shut down of the event industry has dragged on for months. As things became more dire – living off savings and a little side hustle – is right when Mango felt we needed more drama!
I was faced with what I fear most: another health emergency for Mango, everyone’s favorite diabetic chihuahua. With less than an hour to decide, I placed my faith and trust in Dr. B and his colleagues. The emergency surgery was a success – and is exactly why I’ve maintained health insurance for Mango.
Making it through surgery like a warrior was only the beginning. The reality of canine diabetes – just like among people – is that no health issue is simple. Complications of her diabetes flared up.
Loving pets is a hard job. The rewards are incredible, but the costs can still be very real. Like many other dogs receiving treatment for a chronic condition, Mango’s diabetes spiked the severity of everything. This is an everyday reality for many pet parents.
It’s now our reality, too. We are fortunate because Mango has health insurance. But chronic conditions are expensive and have limits. The oxygen therapy that was saving her life and helping her heal cost $2,000 each day! Complications caused by her diabetes are only covered up to 35% by her insurance. This was the hardest lesson of the terrible decisions families with diabetic dogs must make every day. As we recover from this setback, we know we have to do more.
I hope you can support us as Mango heals and we start a new project: Mango Strong! With your donation, we will get a handle on Mango’s medical care and lay the foundation for a new charitable organization to confront canine diabetes and start winning.
How you can help?
A trip to the vet is terrifying for every family – and the costs can often be insurmountable. Just a sample of what Mango went through:
$2,000 a day for life-saving oxygen treatment
$500 for an echocardiogram
$300 every day for blood glucose monitoring
$100 for a single dose of congestive heart failure medicine
$80 for urinalysis
$75 for an hour of oxygen treatment
$30 for insulin
$6 to dispose of medical waste
Your donation will help Mango heal. And one-third of all donations will help us establish Mango Strong, helping us finish the legal work to establish this new organization. Together we can help prevent canine diabetes and help families save furry lives.
So, what happened to Mango?
On July 18th, we woke up to Mango shaking uncontrollably and throwing up. We immediately called her specialty vet (who has been treating her diabetes and many other conditions for 3 years) and we took her in. After initial testing, Dr. B called with hesitation in his voice telling us that her gall bladder had ruptured, there was fluid in her abdomen, and a mass in her liver. He informed us an emergency surgery was imminent and we had 1 hour to decide if she was going to have the surgery, or not even come home. After weighing the pros and cons with him, we decided to go through with the surgery.
The cause of rupture was a blood clot on the artery connecting her gall bladder to her liver. A diagnosis and procedure that the surgeon – or her colleagues – have never seen in their careers. There was no mass or bleeding from the liver but there was in her spleen. Along with her gall bladder, it was removed. This was great news! Her vitals were stable, and she was recovering well.
Just 2 days later, we got a call from her critical care team saying she was in dire condition and we needed to come in and see her right away. Up to this point, they had not allowed us to visit her because of strict COVID regulations. What they thought was pneumonia was actually congestive heart failure. We got to see her and hold her paws in her oxygen chamber. With tears in our eyes, we told her it was her decision when to go. When we left, we had no idea if we would ever get to see our sweet girl again.
The power of love! Just 2 hours later, the Care Team called us. She was making slow progress and they would call in the morning with an update. The news in the morning was a great progress report, and now the issue of costs. Her oxygen therapy was expensive, but it was helping her recover. We couldn’t take her off the oxygen after everything she had fought through, so we told them to do whatever they had to do. We’d figure it out. It wasn’t the surgery, but the complications of her diabetes – which is no longer covered by insurance – that were the root of the problem.
There’s always a silver lining! This year has shown me first-hand how financially devastating this disease and treatment decisions can be on families. For this campaign, 70% of your donations will go to help Mango's laundry list of vet bills while 30% will go directly to Mango Strong. Once Mango's bills have been paid 100% OF YOUR DONATION WILL GO TO DIRECTLY TO MANGO STRONG HELPING FAMILIES IN NEED.
can't begin to tell you how excited I am to give back to the community that has embraced my little warrior for the last 3 years.
#MangoStrong #SmallBusinessRelief
This year, we’ve learned about resilience, patience, and necessity. The sudden and devastating shut down of the event industry has dragged on for months. As things became more dire – living off savings and a little side hustle – is right when Mango felt we needed more drama!
I was faced with what I fear most: another health emergency for Mango, everyone’s favorite diabetic chihuahua. With less than an hour to decide, I placed my faith and trust in Dr. B and his colleagues. The emergency surgery was a success – and is exactly why I’ve maintained health insurance for Mango.
Making it through surgery like a warrior was only the beginning. The reality of canine diabetes – just like among people – is that no health issue is simple. Complications of her diabetes flared up.
Loving pets is a hard job. The rewards are incredible, but the costs can still be very real. Like many other dogs receiving treatment for a chronic condition, Mango’s diabetes spiked the severity of everything. This is an everyday reality for many pet parents.
It’s now our reality, too. We are fortunate because Mango has health insurance. But chronic conditions are expensive and have limits. The oxygen therapy that was saving her life and helping her heal cost $2,000 each day! Complications caused by her diabetes are only covered up to 35% by her insurance. This was the hardest lesson of the terrible decisions families with diabetic dogs must make every day. As we recover from this setback, we know we have to do more.
I hope you can support us as Mango heals and we start a new project: Mango Strong! With your donation, we will get a handle on Mango’s medical care and lay the foundation for a new charitable organization to confront canine diabetes and start winning.
How you can help?
A trip to the vet is terrifying for every family – and the costs can often be insurmountable. Just a sample of what Mango went through:
$2,000 a day for life-saving oxygen treatment
$500 for an echocardiogram
$300 every day for blood glucose monitoring
$100 for a single dose of congestive heart failure medicine
$80 for urinalysis
$75 for an hour of oxygen treatment
$30 for insulin
$6 to dispose of medical waste
Your donation will help Mango heal. And one-third of all donations will help us establish Mango Strong, helping us finish the legal work to establish this new organization. Together we can help prevent canine diabetes and help families save furry lives.
So, what happened to Mango?
On July 18th, we woke up to Mango shaking uncontrollably and throwing up. We immediately called her specialty vet (who has been treating her diabetes and many other conditions for 3 years) and we took her in. After initial testing, Dr. B called with hesitation in his voice telling us that her gall bladder had ruptured, there was fluid in her abdomen, and a mass in her liver. He informed us an emergency surgery was imminent and we had 1 hour to decide if she was going to have the surgery, or not even come home. After weighing the pros and cons with him, we decided to go through with the surgery.
The cause of rupture was a blood clot on the artery connecting her gall bladder to her liver. A diagnosis and procedure that the surgeon – or her colleagues – have never seen in their careers. There was no mass or bleeding from the liver but there was in her spleen. Along with her gall bladder, it was removed. This was great news! Her vitals were stable, and she was recovering well.
Just 2 days later, we got a call from her critical care team saying she was in dire condition and we needed to come in and see her right away. Up to this point, they had not allowed us to visit her because of strict COVID regulations. What they thought was pneumonia was actually congestive heart failure. We got to see her and hold her paws in her oxygen chamber. With tears in our eyes, we told her it was her decision when to go. When we left, we had no idea if we would ever get to see our sweet girl again.
The power of love! Just 2 hours later, the Care Team called us. She was making slow progress and they would call in the morning with an update. The news in the morning was a great progress report, and now the issue of costs. Her oxygen therapy was expensive, but it was helping her recover. We couldn’t take her off the oxygen after everything she had fought through, so we told them to do whatever they had to do. We’d figure it out. It wasn’t the surgery, but the complications of her diabetes – which is no longer covered by insurance – that were the root of the problem.
There’s always a silver lining! This year has shown me first-hand how financially devastating this disease and treatment decisions can be on families. For this campaign, 70% of your donations will go to help Mango's laundry list of vet bills while 30% will go directly to Mango Strong. Once Mango's bills have been paid 100% OF YOUR DONATION WILL GO TO DIRECTLY TO MANGO STRONG HELPING FAMILIES IN NEED.
can't begin to tell you how excited I am to give back to the community that has embraced my little warrior for the last 3 years.
#MangoStrong #SmallBusinessRelief
Organizer
Laura Windell
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA
