Hi, my dog Bertie who has just had his 3rd birthday has been the bravest dog and for the last 2 years has been battling 2 immune mediated conditions called immune mediated meningomyelitis and immune mediated polyarthritis. He has seizures and epilepsy which is linked to his meningomyelitis and he is medicated daily for these. He has had 19 rounds of chemotherapy so far to suppress his immune system and is doing so well. Bertie is my absolute world, originally he was training to become my therapy dog for autism and adhd but I retired him due to his health. We are very lucky that he has an incredible neuro team and our insurance has covered and continues to cover quite a lot of his medical costs.

1 year ago I set up this page for him as I thought I was going to be saying goodbye to my best friend and my whole world, my safe space, my comfort at night and reason I get up in the morning. All of a sudden he couldn't stand at all, he was sqealing in pain and after rushing him back to the specialists it was finally discovered he had a huge abscess in his shoulder muscle, it had likely been there for months. The damage it caused was massive but he's been as brave as always and has battled on. He is now the proud owner of a battle scar on his shoulder but that's all you would see as a reminder of the ordeal.

Due to him being severely immunocompromised from chemotherapy and daily immunosuppressants his wound from the abscess needed changes and washouts 3 times a week. He was admitted for 6 weeks as originally he was needing it doing daily. He came home after 6 weeks and I was doing the 140 mile round trip 3 times a week. Me and Bertie were physically and mentally exhausted from it and I had the extra

stress of financial worries. Through some amazing, generous and the best people I could wish to have

in mine and his life we were offered so much support through this page.

Bertie is covered by very good insurance and most of his treatment is covered each year, however I pay for a lot of his meds out of pocket (sometimes as much as £400 a month) so it saves as much as possible of his allowance for admissions (planned and emergency).

The petrol costs are huge some months due to numerous trips, he has recently started a new drug which is very expensive and some months there just seems to be lots of extra expenses.

I know everyone is struggling at the moment but even if you can just share our page me and Bertie would be hugely grateful.

He is worth every single penny, every single sleepless night and I could not be prouder of him. He is the most resilient boy who to look at you wouldn't know what he has battled and what he continues to battle.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me and Bertie. Your support has meant so much and has made it all feel a bit less like a battle that just me and him are fighting.