Help save Brody’s life!

Over the past few days, I’ve received your messages asking for an update about Brody’s fight to survive an aggressive infection. I’m sorry that it’s taken me until today to respond. With a heavy heart, I can now share with you that the outcome of Brody’s fight was not the outcome we, and all of you, prayed for.

 I remember the first time I saw Brody’s photo online, I knew right away that he was special. The following day my partner and I went to the shelter immediately after work. He stole our hearts so we applied to foster-to-adopt. During the months that we fostered Brody, he very quickly felt at home with us and his Beagle sister and brother. He flourished with our love and nurturing. He was always ready to go anywhere we went, his eyes bright with anticipation. He loved our walks and our cuddle time, not to mention he completed his first session of training at BTS-K9! He was the gift of love that completed our Beagle family, we were committed to adopting him as soon as we could. Having him neutered, a condition of adoption, was the last hurdle we had to overcome. After being neutered (Monday), which is usually a routine surgery, we noticed that Brody had some swelling starting Friday. After a recheck at the clinic (Friday & Saturday) where he was neutered, we headed home, confident that he was going to be alright. In the days that followed, his swelling worsened, and he was obviously not feeling well. We returned to the clinic (Monday) where he received additional treatment, then referred to a local emergency care hospital where Brody spent the next eight days being treated for an aggressive infection. Over those eight days, I would sit with Brody several times a day, praying he’d recover and come home. After a couple of days of treatment, we started seeing a little improvement in his bloodwork. We were cautiously optimistic, continued praying, providing everything we could so that Brody would have a chance at recovery. On the eighth day, Brody’s case was referred to a specialist. After reviewing his treatment, doing bloodwork and performing an extensive physical examination, we received the unbearable news that Brody’s chance of survival was not good. We were faced with having to make the excruciating decision to stop his treatment and let our sweet boy go. We were heartbroken but we knew that this was the right decision for Brody. After spending the entire day with our boy, I said goodbye to Brody-James, while holding him and telling him what a good boy he was, how much we loved him and how grateful we were to have been loved by him. In those two weeks, from the day of his surgery to the day we said goodbye to our sweet pup, we experienced such intense sadness, fear and helplessness. After seeing my posts on Facebook about Brody’s fight to overcome his infection, we started receiving an outpouring of support in prayers and encouraging messages. And, as the cost of Brody’s treatment grew beyond our financial limit, while we worried that we wouldn’t be able to continue his treatment, we started to receive financial support from friends, family, organizations and individuals, all of whom were fighting for Brody just as much as we were. We were overwhelmed with gratitude by the amount of support which had such an impact on us and our ability to continue Brody’s treatment.

To every person who prayed with us, who wrote words of encouragement and support, who re-posted Brody’s story, and everyone who donated to Brody’s treatment, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. To the Beagle Community, The South Florida Beagle Rescue Group, my local military community in FWB, and BTS-K9, we cannot express in words the gratitude we feel for your support in spearheading the financial donations for Brody’s treatment and hospitalization. When we were at our lowest point, your love and support got us through Brody’s fight to survive and will continue to get us through as we grieve the loss of our sweet boy