This morning my bloodhound, Banana, was trembling and having labored breathing. I took him to his vet where he was x-rayed and diagnosed with pneumonia, sent home with antibiotics and bed rest to recover. They said to call

if he got any worse. About an hour after I got home he started coughing more which led to him coughing up blood. I called my vet immediately who told me to take him to the Emergency vet. So I did. He is now staying in the hospital, at SAVES, South Asheville Emergency Specialty, for at least 24 hours. The estimate ranges from about $2,000-$6000. I do not have this money.

I am just going to be 100% real here. I hate so much that I have to make this fundraiser. For the longest time I prided myself upon being a hard worker, financially stable, and able to fully care for my animals and self with no issues, while also helping others. Over the past couple years I have gotten hit by so many uncontrollable things that have dug me so far into a hole that I truly now don’t know if I will be able to get out of it.

Here is my story if anyone would like to know my truth that I have been minimizing:

I am a small business owner of a local dog grooming salon, ZenDog Spa. Right before Hurricane Helene hit Asheville, I suffered severe health issues that put me out of work for 3 weeks. What I was experiencing was “end stage burnout” where my nervous system was shut down to the point of developing chronic health issues. This developed from the combination of PTSD from a long term domestic violence situation that I had recently left, and other stress that evolved from overworking myself past my limits. I was subconsciously avoiding the PTSD by putting all of my energy into work. Which caused my nervous system to shut down. I took recovery very seriously during those 3 weeks and improved a lot - and then Helene hit. I was so blessed to have neither my home nor business in the flood. But I had to close my business for 2 months due to the city-wide water outage and I still had extensive home property damage to my home from trees and additional trees needing to be removed. Since Helene, like most Asheville businesses, my business has suffered tremendously.

I have spent the entire last year+ taking it week by week not knowing if i will be able to sustain my business, while trying to keep my health going and being responsible for my employees’ livelihood as well. (They are a true gift from the universe and I am so grateful.) We put our entire hearts into the care we give to our clients. Many of you may know me well and know that my dogs, and my dog clients, are my whole reason for living.

I had to use my last bit of money from my business to pay the deposit for Banana’s hospital stay. January and February are the slowest months for dog grooming business. I have been working on 4 additional side hustles that will unfortunately take a little more time to come to fruition.

If I am by chance so lucky to raise enough money for Banana’s full treatment cost - anything additional will go straight into my business to help us stay open, improve, and grow additional services.

All I have ever wanted out of this business is the ability to guarantee that the dogs in my care are safe and happy and to be a positive employer with a positive workplace. It has been a struggle but I have achieved all of those things. I care about my employees and my clients so much and I do not want this to end for any of us because of a series of very unfortunate events.

I know everyone is struggling right now. You will have my unending gratitude for any donation amount and any share of this fundraiser.

And I promise u will pay it forward when I am on the other side of all of this. It is one of the great joys of my life - helping others.

If you have gotten this far, thank you.

I will update as I learn more about Banana’s condition.