It's hard to ask for help, but here goes. I am Helen McMahon Sanderford. On July 26, I lost my beautiful 4.5-month-old Weimaraner puppy, Lola. She went from seemingly fine on Monday to critically ill by Friday. With no clear diagnosis or treatment path forward, I had to make the heartbreaking decision to let her go. Then, to add to the devastation, my pet insurance only paid $500 of the $8,123.05 bill. I feel embarrassed to ask for help in paying for this, but my husband and I are retired and on a fixed income. I thought my pet insurance would reimburse most of the costs. I called AKC Pet Insurance from the ER to say that I had some big bills coming to them, and the rep told me that I had a $100 deductible and then they would pay 80%, so I approved the ER charges. That was apparently incorrect.

Lola seemed fine that Monday. Tuesday, I could tell she didn’t feel well; she had vomited and was very bloated looking, so I took her to my vet, who determined she had roundworms and prescribed medications to treat that. She didn’t really improve. On Friday, she collapsed and could no longer walk, and I rushed her to the Emergency Vet an hour away where it was found her condition was indeed very dire. She had fluid around her heart and in her abdomen, and a mass in her chest. She couldn’t breathe well, so had to be on oxygen. The vet bills added up quickly as they rushed to figure out what was wrong with her. She was in the ER for less than 24 hours to run up an $8,000 bill. They drained fluid from her chest cavity three times to take pressure off her heart and lungs, which gave her some relief. Ultimately, they said she needed to be transferred to NC State where she could get a CT and so specialists could treat her; however, they did not have the capacity to admit her until Monday. Lola made it through the night but declined sharply on Saturday. Her prognosis was extremely guarded even if she could have been transferred, and NC State was talking about charging $19,000 more. I made the heartbreaking decision to let her go so she wouldn’t suffer any longer. The results of the necropsy won’t be back for 3 weeks, but they suspect lymphosarcoma. My breeder is taking care of me in terms of another puppy. I’m thankful for that, but that is just a drop in the bucket towards the over $8,000 vet bill. My breeder advised me to obtain pet insurance for Lola and provided me with 30 days of insurance through AKC. I decided to continue with the AKC policy and chose their “Basic” policy, which was half the price of their other option. What I didn’t understand was that the “Basic” policy only covered $500 per incident but allowed an unlimited number of incidents. Because I thought I had coverage per the rep that I talked to on the phone, I approved the treatment Lola received at the ER, believing that 80% of it would be reimbursed by insurance. Lola was my long-awaited, dream puppy, with so much potential. She was a direct descendant of my beloved Jada, and I thought she would likely be my last Weimaraner. I had so many hopes and dreams of everything we would do together as she followed in the footsteps of my other very accomplished and multi-titled dogs. She fit into our family so perfectly, and we are just devastated to have lost her so soon.