Donate to Cover Debbie's Life-Saving Treatment

As you all may or may not know, my friend and colleague, Joanna Glushak, has been on tour with the play “Clue” since last February. She has been traveling with her beautiful companion dog, Debbie, who I had the honor of meeting while on the 1776 tour with Joanna last year. They have been moving from city to city every week. Yes, it’s been stressful, but it was all going smoothly until they arrived in Costa Mesa, CA, on July 24th. That night, out of the blue, her dog Debbie took a turn for the worse. She started vomiting blood and began having bloody diarrhea. Joanna rushed her to the emergency pet hospital nearby at 5:30 in the morning, where they diagnosed her with possible pancreatitis. They did blood work and sent Joanna home with some medications. They did not work. Debbie got progressively worse and had to be admitted to the hospital, where she underwent a necessary sonogram. Finally, when that didn’t show the exact problem, she agreed to let her have an endoscopy to save her life. They needed to check for cancer and pancreatitis, which for dogs is extremely dangerous. Debbie had to be admitted for 6 days. She could no longer eat. The inflammation in her stomach had caused her to retain so much fluid. She was then tube-fed and suctioned of excess fluid throughout the days she was there. It turned out that Debbie has inflammatory bowel disease and pancreatitis. She will probably be on medication for the rest of her life and has to be on a very strict diet. Joanna had to move on to LA, their next city, without Debbie. Finally, 6 days later, she drove down to Costa Mesa to pick Debbie up. The doctors felt she could go home. She was back eating small amounts but still on many, many medications that Joanna had to wean her off of for 2 weeks. Aside from the stress of not knowing if Debbie would live or not, her medical bills amounted to a total of $18,249.38. That is the reason I am setting up this GoFundMe. Joanna has lost 4 of her closest friends and family in the last 5 years, 2 recently, and I just couldn’t see her losing her beautiful companion Debbie. For the last 3 years, she has pretty much spent her life on the road, and we all know that it wasn’t like it used to be. You’re lucky if you break even when you come home. That being said, on her behalf, I am asking you to contribute anything you can to help her pay off this debt. Otherwise, she will come home not having saved a penny. Not a good scenario. If you cannot contribute, please don’t worry; she completely understands. We are all struggling right now. And if you can share this with anyone you know who might be able to contribute, that would be great too.

Joanna was hesitant to do this, but I insisted so she wouldn’t incur more interest fees and could go home with some money saved and a lot less day-to-day stress. Thank you all in advance for your understanding and your contributions, however big or small.