Keifer's Memorial Fund
(Note from Leah 10/14 My buddy, my best-friend, my Keifer, my big boy, my panther, my bubsy... passed away in my arms at around 11am yesteday morning.
What started out as a small successful fundraiser to help my buddy get a non-invasive treatment to improve his quality of life, has ended in much sadness, and huge medical bills... this fundrasiser is now a Memorial Fund and will remain open.)
Details in the campaign updates. I am devasted.
(Note from Leah 10/13 - Keifer was released from the treatment center on 10/11 and 12 hours later I had to rush him to the emergency room. We are still in critical care. No one quite knows why ... "it wasnt supposed to happen this way", was the quote from his Dr. At this point all I care about is getting my Keifer home- but the reality is we have accumlated $7000 worth of expenses in the last 48hrs.. so I've raised the goal and am keeping this page open.)
(Note From Leah 10/10 : Although we surpass our initial goal - I am keeping the fundrasing page open as the size of Keifer's tumor led to an extended week-long stay in the treatment center. This raised the expected cost quite a bit)
Hi Friends:
It's me Keifer. Leah Cevoli's Kitty-Cat.
For those of you that don't know me, I'm a 16 year old black male kitty. I've been with Leah since August 1999, when she first moved to Hollywood. I was just a baby, and she almost named me "Hollywood", thank goodness she stuck with her rock n roll roots and named me Keifer. 
I'll cut to the chase here friends. My Mommy (Leah Cevoli ), has taken great care of me. We've been on many adventures together. I've even driven cross-country twice in a mustang convertible AND had a wild weekend in a Las Vegas hotel room, but those are stories for another time.
Right now, I'm sick. I'm not doing well. There's a combination of things wrong. Some of these have been in my life for a few years, like hyperthyroidism, and others, like heart disease are new to me. I'm being watched for kidney disease. I'm slightly anemic. I have fluid in my lungs. And just this week, I was diagnosed with Hypertrophic Cardio Myopathy - aka heart disease. I'm currently on three types of medications.
Mommy and Me, based on the Dr's reccomendations and some 2nd and 3rd opinions believe it's in my best interest to undergo a treatment called RadioIodine Treatment. This is to cure my thyroid disease.
The Dr's hope is that since we caught the heart disease so early on, and since my thyroid levels have been up and down a lot, that if we can cure the thyroid problem, my heart will be much happier, and keep me around a lot longer. The Dr said it's even possible that the heart disease could correct itself. She said, "The heart is a muscle and right now it's working to hard. If we fix the thyroid, the heart muscle could correct itself." That's our best case scenario.
We would be being treated by one of the BEST in this field, Dr Broome
And this is the facility, in Orange County, CA
AVMI
So here we are, on GoFundMe, asking for a little bit of help.
Mommy has spent over $4000 on my health and care this year, and she's determined to make this happen no matter what, but I told Mommy, "Mom, you help SO many other ppl fund their dreams and promote their projects, let's ask your friends for a little help with these costs."
I'm kind of looking forward to being a radioactive, old-man kitty. I wonder what sort of super powers I"ll gain from this treatment... hmmmm....
I'll keep you posted, and thank you again for contributing your hard earned dollars to make this a little easier on my Momma. I know you love her (almost) as much as I do.
Love,
Keifer
(& Leah Cevoli )
Comparison of Iodine treatment with standard pill treatment
http://www.animalendocrine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/CompChart-for-I-131-and-MMI.pdf
