Covering Bella's Emergency Vet Costs

On February 1st, we made the long drive to Chicago to meet this sweet girl, Bella (fka Bell). We have always dreamed of having a Newfoundland and with Jake’s 30th birthday only a few weeks away it felt like the perfect time. Bella was a rescue from a kill shelter in Alabama and she was nothing short of a miracle in our life. Jake has dreamed of having his own puppy, Felicia had been struggling with personal grief, and Jedha was in need of a friend. We never expected this girl to perfectly complete our family, but she absolutely did. From the minute we met her we could picture her in every moment of our future.

We were gifted with 11 short days of her company before she couldn’t keep her pain masked. We had no idea what she was going through, nor did the shelter or our vets. She seemed perfectly happy and full of life. February 11th we played, ran in the snow, and cuddled up close like any other day. February 12th at 7am, she was nearly unresponsive. We rushed her straight to the hospital and she was admitted right away in critical condition. She fought for her life for nearly 24 hours and we were by her side for every minute they would let us in to comfort her. The horrors that she went through and that we witnessed are gut wrenching and are something we will never be able to forget. Through it all, she fought so hard and we were not about to give up on her. We worked with the vets to give her every chance. Even when everything was going wrong in her body and we knew she might not make it through surgery, we knew it was her only chance. She somehow pulled through and it left us with a glimmer of hope that our baby would be able to come home with us again. The vets had emptied her intestines to find the most severe case of giardia they had ever witnessed among many other parasites that had shut down her stomach and intestines. Only a few hours later her condition had worsened greatly and the vet determined that she was experiencing total organ failure on top of fully infected lungs from aspiration pneumonia. We made the most painful decision of our lives to end her suffering and say goodbye. Our hearts are destroyed and we are deeply grieving the loss of our sweet baby.

11 days will never be enough time, but we are grateful for every second of it.

On top of the heartbreak, we now also face $10,000 in unplanned veterinarian bills for the care that Bella was given to try to save her. We made the decision to put everything into the chance to save our little fighter. We knew we would find a way to cover the costs if it meant giving her a chance. Of course, nothing can help us get through this loss, but if you feel inclined to support us, we would greatly appreciate anything you can offer.

Thank you all for your love and support in this traumatic experience.

The Bair's