Hi Everyone,

If you've never met him, this is Charlie. Charlie is about 10.5 years old and has been with me since around 2014, when he was adopted from the Oceanside Humane Society. I remember that day at the shelter clearly; he jumped on my shoulder and let out a huge, loud, vocal meow (something that he became very fond of using every morning at 4 a.m.) - I knew right then that we were taking him home. And to think he was just a "$4 Promo Cat" on his paperwork.

Since then, Charlie has been my rock through various stages of life, changes of scenery, and has always been my reliable little buddy no matter what was thrown my way. He's very emotionally intuitive, rambunctious, a voracious eater, a great big brother to the other cats, Squirgus and Bumblegump, and I've been fortunate enough to have him just purr away on my lap for the last 10 years.

Unfortunately, on the weekend of 09/20, he started acting out of character; what I thought was just a hiccup ended up being a prolonged twitch that became more frequent. Normally extremely food-motivated, he began to eat less and less in the coming days, went pretty much silent, and generally had a lapse in energy levels.

After taking him to the vet, an x-ray discovered that he had a mass in his chest, determined to be either a Thymoma (benign) or a Lymphosarcoma (cancerous), both of which are projected to grow. A blood panel revealed low white cell count, low platelets, high calcium, and elevated kidney levels. All of these symptoms are consistent with either possibility of the tumor found. Seeing and hearing of this development, as you can imagine, has been devastating.

Since then, we've been able to get him eating some again with an appetite stimulant and anti-nausea medication, as well as regain some activity level, but his prognosis isn't clear. As of right now, he has an oncology consultation scheduled to lay out the treatment options, costs, and expectations, but one thing is certain; the tumor has to be removed, which comes at a staggering cost of 10-12 thousand dollars.

[please note that the prognosis has since changed: he has a non operative lymphoma, and is now being treated with chemotherapy]

I can only hope for the best, but Charlie boy means the absolute world to me. I feel like I owe it to him to at least try to help him in any way I can to healthily extend his life.

That brings me here; I know this is a desperate hail Mary, and I wish I didn't have to ask for help, but I have always said I will do anything for my little buddy continue living a long and healthy life. Anything and everything helps offset his medical bills and treatment costs to come, which have already started to pile up. I will try to be as transparent with costs as well as updates as possible as they come.

Attached in the images below are the initial diagnosis and projected costs of the operation, and some more of Charlie.

To Everyone: I sincerely thank you for reading his story so far, and considering helping my sweet boy. The best $4 I've ever spent.