DISCLAIMER: For those who wish to make payments directly for her care, you may do so by using Client ID Number 1113738 and contacting The Animal Medical Center to assist with the $500 balance:

The Animal Medical Center
(212) [phone redacted]
510 East 62nd Street
New York, New York 10065

As of 10/8/2021 BentLee is currently under the care of oncologist Doctor Rita Ho at:

(914) [phone redacted]
Animal Specialty Center
9 Odell Plaza
Yonkers, NY 10701

DISCLAIMER: If you'd like to donate to Animal Specialty Center, they do not provide client identification numbers so in order to make a payment for BentLee's care you would need to call the number noted above and specify that you would like to make a payment for BentLee Knox. It is very important that you are clear when giving the last name as this is how she is identified. 

For more detail on BentLee's journey we ask that you please visit @bentlees_journey on Instagram. Regular updates are posted here from current to the beginning of her journey in August of 2020. Please feel free to reach out via direct messaging with any questions you may have.

BentLee is a 9 year old  rescue pup who was shipped to Pets Alive West located in Elmsford, New York from Dekalb County, Georgia. BentLee was adopted at 1 year old on 2/11/2013. After 7 happy years of adopted bliss, she was diagnosed with lymphoma and a (now) in-operable tumor on her nose in October of 2020. 

BentLee receives medical care from a powerful team of doctors including her oncologists Doctor Rita Ho + Doctor Alex Sahora-Andrews of the Animal Speciality Center located in Yonkers, New York as well as Doctor Charlie Brown + Vet Tech Anna-Elyse Kahnert of Warwick Valley Animal Hospital.

BentLee began her cancer journey with a prescription for Chlorambucil + Prednisone  in addition to Vinblastine injections but has since been transitioned to Palladia + Prednisone as a result of the tolerance built up to the Chlorambucil + Vineblastine.

BentLee’s tumor was removed 1/2021 by Doctor Charlie Brown. Due to the size of the tumor, at the time of surgery it was not guaranteed that all cancerous tissue could be removed. 

As her mom, I made the best decision I could and allowed Doctor Brown to work toward the best margins possible which subsequently left BentLee with a cleft lip.

After five short months of bliss, the tumor reared its ugly head. The tumor is now in-operable due to the fact that her nose would need to be removed in order to be sure all cancerous tissue has been removed.

With the tumor growing back larger than it ever had and without a lip to continue expanding to —it began growing inward and started to put pressure on my poor bb’s teeth. Her lymph nodes also began to swell to the point where they resembled jowls.

In October 2021, BentLee was prescribed a chemotherapy regimen of Chlorambucil + Prednisone  with weekly Vinblastine injections to supplement her progress. Sadly, three months of weekly Vinblastine injections and the corresponding bloodwork totaled $7,024.

To date I have paid well over $5,000 for BentLee’s medical care by way of selling my valuables, having bake sales + raising money via GoFundMe. Although I have become quite the master at getting creative with obtaining her the care she needs while still maintaining my non-related bills, there was no way I’d be able to swing this. 
 
After coming across @FurTheBrand on Instagram, I figured it was worth a shot. At this point I had completed several other applications for a donations with other organizations and was either turned away or never issued a response. 

Feeling hopeless I gathered the information requested on the application and tapped send. My heart was broken and I worried this application would end up just like all the others. But this happened to be the stroke of luck we were waiting for. We received a response within a few short days and were ultimately approved for a $4,500 donation. 

Everything was going well until it wasn’t anymore. BentLee’s tumor had once again split open and it was clear it was growing again. We returned to the Animal Specialty Center and were advised that Palladia would be our best option. Due to the tolerance  BentLee has built up to the Chlorambucil + Vinblastine, she was deemed not a good candidate for CCNU.  

The problem is Palladia comes with a hefty price tag. including all the necessary bloodwork fees, Palladia comes out to $1500 per month and treatment for BentLee is expected to last at least a year at this time.

With approximately $3500 left of our generous donation from @FurTheBrand and the counsel of Doctor Alex Sahora-Andrews, I once again made the best decision I could for my baby. At this time we have enough funding to pay for two months of treatment which will get us through until February 2022.

Our first dose of Palladia was absolutely miserable. BentLee had become so sick having constant diarrhea and vomiting hourly. I’ve had so many highs and lows with my muffin but this was one of the lowest lows by far. Poor thing probably threw up everything she had eaten that week and it broke my heart to see her like that.

After a month of treatment BentLee is doing much better. Her tumor is beginning to shrink again and her lymph nodes have reduced to an immeasurable size. Doctors are confident that if BentLee is able to continue on the Palladia she will continue to do well. 

I am extremely concerned that I will need to make a hard decision if I am unable to continue to receive refills on her prescription. BentLee is the apple of my eye and I do not want to put out her flame unnecessarily if I am not able to get a refill on the Palladia her doctors say that she will go downhill quick and it would be inhumane to put her go through that. As previously stated above I have literally done everything in my power to raise money for her care and I am just completely out of options at this point.