Desperate help for Linux

Chiara Meschino is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

First of all, thank you for taking the time to view our campaign.

My name is Chiara and I’m Linux’s mum.

Although Linux’s story is sad, it means a lot to share his wonderful spirit with you and we invite you to follow our journey below.

About Linux:

Linux is a two years old, adventurous Border Collie with his whole life ahead of him.

I truly cannot believe that I am writing this or that this is happening to him.

To anyone who knows me, Linux has always been my everything, he’s not a therapy dog but he’s MY therapy dog.

To those of you who do not know Linux, he is one of the sassiest and most courageous Border Collies you'll ever meet.

He has a soft, intuitive side, he has been a major emotional support for his loved ones and our little family, especially for his little human sister who misses him every second. She adores him and all his silly ways.

He has seen us through illness: physical and mental, and through every day life. He is always patient and unconditionally comforting.

Linux has been a part of our family since he was 8 weeks old and we could not imagine our life without him.

Squeaky toys are his favourite, along with a good antler and a frisbee.

Linux’s story:

At the end of September, we noticed Linux started sneezing, coughing and scrolling his head in a strange way, but after half an hour he stopped.

Three days later, we found out his tummy was super red and with a lot of moisture, so we phoned the Vet right away and got an appointment for the following day. Vet suspected an allergic reaction and we started antihistamine medication and antibiotics.

The week after his skin was much worse, so we went back to the clinic for a blood sample, swab and two cortisone injections.

Three days later he started loosing patches of hear on the head and at the following Vet check up we started regular cortisone tablets.

We had a follow up appointment at the Vet with no changes, but during the night we noticed Linux didn’t want to lie down and was trying to sleep standing up. We phoned the emergency Vet quickly, they runned a full neurological check up and accorded that the problem was pain related.

At this point it’s the end of October, conditions looking worse so back to the Vet for blood tests and we started an anxiety medication.

At the beginning of November we finally got referred and accepted for a Dermatology opinion in a specialist centre in Bristol.

They performed a skin biopsy and straight stopped the Penicillin he was having for more than a month, thinking it was causing the problem, they also performed the first pulsed light treatment, everything under general anaesthesia.

On the 9th of November, after Linux was awake crying and refusing to lie down for more than 36 hours, I managed to make him more relaxed and he fell asleep on me. Not long after, he started shaking.

I phoned Bristol and they told me to go straight there.

They admitted him straight to the Intensive Care for sedation and pain management. They performed an MRI brain which fortunately didn’t show anything. Also on that day the biopsy results were back and they confirmed an autoimmune disease called Erythema Multiforme, probably triggered by the Penicillin.

The team decided to keep him in so they could clean his lesions properly and manage the pain.

I wanted to spend the night there, but obviously I wasn’t allowed to stay in so I decided to visit the following day.

When I saw him he became very uncomfortable, started crying and I didn’t want to make him feel abandoned every day so I decided to stay home during the weekend having regular updates, if this was the best for Linux.

On the Sunday doctors informed me it was necessary to insert a urinary catheter as Linux was too uncomfortable to walk.

So, we have gone through various treatment journeys to get to these diagnoses, and Linux was brave the whole way.

There are many medications infusions they give him daily to combat the symptoms and he will probably continue to need treatment for the rest of his life.

Today, Monday 13th November, I’m at the Centre as Linux didn’t eat this morning and he’s very stressed, so they phoned me to come in hoping he could be happy and eat something. He’s getting very difficult to treat because of the stress he’s facing and they’re very worried about how to manage him.

Our Campaign:

Hopefully we have captured a little piece of Linux’s spirit for you.

We carry ourselves with a lot of pride, and it is hard sometimes to ask for help, but for Linux’s wellbeing, we are setting those feelings aside.

He's been my rock through so many ups and downs, and now it's my turn to be his, he's never given up on me and I refuse to let him be defeated by this disease.

Dealing with his recovery, treatment, and on-going care ourselves has been tough financially and emotionally.

A couple of close friends and family have suggested we start a fundraising for him to see what our next steps can be.

Linux’s condition was totally unexpected, and for sure we didn’t expect to go over the yearly insurance limit of 15,000£ in less than 2 months.

If not treated, the lesions can lead to infections and with his condition we have limited choices on antibiotics he can tolerate.

Linux is still very young and has a long and happy life ahead of him. But we need financial support to get him on the road to recovery since we don’t know what the final costs will be and depending on any complications and/or his length of stay. His diagnostics and current hospital stay has already totaled up to 13,000£.

Please

If you or anyone you know has the financial resources to help save my boy's life, Linux and I would forever be indebted to you.

Anything you can contribute will be greatly appreciated, as well any shares of Linux’s battle.

Please help, donate and/or share what you can, no amount is too small.

Linux and Chiara