Support Bella’s Battle with Cancer

Bella, a self-proclaimed West Hollywood local celebrity, UTA’s sand volleyball mascot, nap queen (specifically napping on a pile of shoes), known for her beautiful blowouts (and crazy Jack Nicholson hair), big stinky breath smiles, loves to play a game called “don’t get off the elevator with my mom and give her a heart attack while I hide in the apt building”, huge fan amongst kids who think she’s a little bear, but mostly my sidekick and best friend is fighting her little heart out. On August 12th, she refused to eat breakfast and wouldn’t stand up. As an avid foodie, I knew immediately something was wrong. We rushed to the VCA ER where they ran a gamut of tests and X-rays to determine she has pyometra (fluid around her uterus) or so they thought. They called in a specialist surgeon and at 1:55am I got a call no pet parent wants to get. It wasn’t pyometra, but tumors on her liver. They could stop here or try to remove as much of the tumors as safely as possible along with her uterus. She made it through surgery, but then the next battle started, recovery. During recovery, she suffered pancreatitis and acute kidney injury. We’ve been battling all week long in the critical care unit to get her kidneys healthy. We found out Saturday, August 19, that 2 of the 3 masses are benign, but the one they couldn’t fully remove is indeed cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma. There are a few treatment options, but for now we are focusing on kidney recovery. With her kidney levels improving, she’s eating, drinking, walking, smiling, and wagging her tail, the doctors are hopeful she still has more left in her tank. I know she’s fighting for me, she’s just not quite ready to cross the rainbow bridge. She’s been the most low maintenance, unproblematic health-wise pup, but when she turned 13, I asked her vet about insurance coverage. He advised that she likely wouldn’t be approved for insurance since she’s older and in-tact (not fixed). Without coverage, this is all out-of-pocket. Truly any donation amount will help immensely and allow us to continue giving her the care she needs. If nothing else, just keep her on your hearts and give your fur babies extra cuddles (Bella’s favorite, IYKYK) and kisses from us.