Your favorite kitten rescuer needs your help!

Most of you know Deej from her expansive social media presence as your local kitten rescuer. You may even just know her by her brightly colored hair, unique cat-themed art designs, or from the goofy kittens that are frequently featured in her stories and posts. Some of you have even had the pleasure of working alongside Deej, befriending her at a local art market, or may have adopted your cat from her!

However you know her, it should be abundantly clear her passion has always been to ensure sick kittens do not get overlooked or under cared for due to a lack of knowledge or resources. While working in veterinary medicine over the last 10 years, and while fostering hundreds of cats, she began building a social media presence focused around her medical kitten cases. Her pages would eventually become a safe haven and educational site for cat lovers alike to watch her work her magic saving kittens from the most minor to major of disease, injury, or congenital abnormalities.

As her kitten loving community has grown, her pages have become dedicated to educating the public, getting kittens she has saved placed into loving homes, fundraising for medical supplies and veterinary care, and just bringing joy to the lives of other pet lovers.

Last year, Deej co-founded the Inked Kittens Club, a 501(c)(3) medical kitten rescue based in Charlotte, NC. In just over a year, the rescue was able to connect 136 cats with new loving homes.

Unfortunately, through that year, Deej began battling a complex medical battle of her own. She became plagued by severe, debilitating migraines and extreme nausea that left her on bedrest. She has been out of work since July due to her symptoms and has been going through months of testing and consultations to determine what was going on. Just since then she has gone through 3 MRIs, 2 CTs, 2 rounds of radiographs, 2 round trip drives and hotel stays to Jacksonville, multiple blood tests, and a 3 night stay at the Mayo Clinic. After months of being a medical mystery just like many of the kittens she rescues, she was finally diagnosed with a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) - Venous Fistula resulting in a CSF leak. It is also suspected she may have a form of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome - a condition that complicates her condition.

After all of that she was finally able to undergo surgery at the Mayo Clinic a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, her recovery process has been horribly painful and has brought on a new onslaught of symptoms with no clear answers as to why. She is scheduled for more testing in the next week to determine the next steps. To make matters more difficult, she has also been battling kidney stones for two years, with one now measuring 1 cm and requiring its own surgical procedure in the near future.

My friend has given everything to aid helpless animals, even at the expense of her own health. Now, she needs our help. Between travel, medical bills, ongoing care, and the likelihood of future treatments, the financial strain is overwhelming.

If you’ve ever been touched by the unconditional love of a rescued pet—or simply want to support someone who has dedicated her life to saving lives—please consider donating. Every contribution, no matter the size, will help her focus on healing so she can get back to what she was born to do: giving vulnerable kittens a fighting chance.

Deej would never ask that money be given to her rather than her kitty counterparts, so I have organized this page on her behalf in the hopes of seeing our favorite kitten lover back on her feet soon without the crushing weight of medical bills to weigh her down.

Thank you for reading, sharing, and supporting her through this difficult journey.