Help Athena the Best Dog's Fight Against Cancer

In mid-August, Athena, the World's Best Dog, was diagnosed with cancer. She had a skin infection on her stomach and while looking over it, we found a lump that turned out to be a mast cell tumor. To say we are devastated is an understatement.

On September 8th, Athena will have surgery to remove the tumor and undergo scans to find out how bad it is and if the cancer has spread. Once we have those answers, we'll decide on next steps. Currently, Athena is also fighting an ear infection and a years-long battle with MRSP (also known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius). Because of this, she's now on extremely expensive antibiotics to get her prepared for her upcoming surgery. Our vet, Dr Allen at Florissant Animal Hospital, is incredible and I'm so grateful Athena is in her capable and loving hands.

While we don't know how the future looks right now, we do know that this endeavor is going to be expensive. We also know that so many of you love Athena too, so we've created this GoFundMe to help raise money for the Goodest Girl. We had such wonderful support when Jacob passed almost a year ago, but we've never managed to get back out of the red or refill our savings account after him. And between that, Satsuki's summer of vet appointments (we had a health scare over her kidney disease), and Athena's recent infections, our savings are now completely depleted. In short: we need help.

The $5k we are attempting to raise will be going towards the surgery, the pre-prep she's currently going through, and the post-surgery steps that will need to be taken to help her keep fighting this cancer. The estimate we received from the vet just for the surgery and x-rays/ultrasound is roughly $4k. The extra thousand will be for the pre/post antibiotics and next steps. It probably won't cover it all if we need to move forward with chemo, but it'll be a start.

I can't imagine a world without Athena in it. She's the first thing I see in the morning and the last thing I see at night, curled up next to me on the bed and patiently dealing with my tossing and turning. She's my secret-keeper, my nursemaid, my solid rock when I need her. There is no other dog like her on Earth and she needs to stay on this planet for many more years.

Any help our community could give us, whether it be donating or sharing this campaign, will be incredibly appreciated. We would do anything for this dog and that includes asking for help when she needs it most. We love y'all.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts,

Nikki & Jake & Athena