Chemotherapy Treatment Fundraiser for Quipe

Hi everyone,

Our names are Rocio and Skyler and we are the proud mama and papa of our 4.5-year-old Cavapoo, Arequipe, Quipe for short.

Before seeing his health decline, people who knew Quipe would know him as a sassy, cuddly, peanut-butter-loving boy. Most days you would find him hanging out with his big brother Melo and following his mama around the house, occasionally stealing her kitchen towels for attention.

In mid-November we began to notice a stark health decline in Quipe. Lethargy, disinterest in food, enlarged lymph nodes, and heavy breathing. We took him in for a check-up and the first vet said he was fine, normal vitals and nothing too concerning.

We felt otherwise, however. We knew what Quipe's norm was and he was far from it - so we became fierce advocates for him.

In the span of a week he has lost his vision due to retinal detachment and was hospitalized in ICU, requiring roughly 36 hours of oxygen to help him breathe. Quipe has never had any pre-existing health conditions that would make us think what he has been going through would be as bad as it has gotten. Three ER visits later, a total of three overnight hospitalizations, and at least ten veterinarians later, we have narrowed down his condition to lymphoblastic lymphoma. The video attached shows Quipe coming home and being reunited with his dad and brother Melo after his long stay in the ER.

Given how rapidly his health declined over Thanksgiving weekend, we have had to act rapidly and try to access as many diagnostics as possible. Each time, we have traveled to an animal hospital in Aurora, about an hour to an hour and a half away from the city to access the best specialists we could find for our guy. This process has been heart wrenching and emotionally draining on our family, to say the least. We have heard diagnoses from acute leukemia to blastomycosis, but had to wait before starting treatment as each disease required different treatment.

We are so grateful to our friends and family who have reached out to support us during this really difficult time. Seeing our family member suffer and waiting to hear results has been gut-wrenching. We look forward to helping alleviate some of the discomfort he's experienced.

If you are willing, and able, we would appreciate your support as we look forward to a year of chemotherapy and additional expenses to treat Quipe's cancer. Given his rapid decline, we have already accumulated approximately $8,000 in medical bills and have an additional projected $5,000 for chemotherapy, both completely unexpected expense, which is especially challenging as Rocio is in graduate school at the moment.

This might be new to you, as it was to us, but dogs tend to respond quickly and well to chemotherapy, unlike what you may know about humans in treatment. That being said, we know that with chemo we will give him the chance to have a fulfilling and happy health for the time he has left.

We're grateful you've made it this far and we know if you have, you probably also understand the profound love we have for our dog. He is our best friend, our emotional support, and is one of our biggest sources of joy and love. Here's to tackling cancer and giving him the treatment he deserves!

Note: any additional funds raised that go beyond the care needed for Quipe will be donated to non-profits dedicated to helping families who cannot afford cancer treatments for their pets.

With love and gratitude,

Rocio & Skyler