Patriot's Furry Fundraiser

Patriot is a 4 year old Bernese Mountain Dog. He loves hiking, camping, and barking. He is extremely smart, well behaved, and my best friend.

On November 14th Patriot started acting odd and having abdominal pain. He was taken to the Pet Emergency Hospital in Pueblo where they performed as many test as I could afford. The blood test showed an elevated white blood cell count and the x-rays showed an odd shaped spleen, but nothing definitive was discovered.

On January 8th Patriot went to Mesa Veterinary Clinic in Pueblo because he was not eating, lethargic, and had blood in his urine. The vet repeated the blood test and the results were alarming. His red blood cells counts were at 15% (normal is 40%-45%). Patriot was in need of a Blood Transfusion immediately and was taken to the Animal Emergency Care Center (AECC) in Colorado Springs. The AECC took chest x-rays, an ultrasound of his abdominal area and performed the blood transfusion.

The blood transfusion went well and Patriot's red blood cell count is at 28% and rising as of January 9th.

The ultrasound revealed an odd shaped spleen and samples were taken with a syringe. The cytology analysis revealed that Patriot has
histiocytes that have turned bad and killed part of his spleen. This has resulted in a necrotic spleen and if it is not removed Patriot will bleed, internally, to death in a few days. There is a 50/50 chance that the histiocytes are just a random occurrence and will go away with the removal of the spleen or they could be a rare form of cancer found in Bernese Mountain Dogs called Histiocytic Medullary Reticulosis. Patriot has always beat the odds and I have faith that the histiocytes are not cancerous.

Patriot is in need of a Splenectomy to save his life. Myself, my roommate, and some close friends have gathered our resources to pay for his emergency veterinary bills up this point and $2500 towards his surgery, but that still leaves him $2500 short.

Please help us fund the rest of this procedure. I am not asking anybody for much, but I am hoping that somewhere you will find it in your heart to help Patriot. Thank you.