Meet Mia

Mia is our beautiful Golden Retriever, and she is more than just a dog — she is family.

I’m Beata, a mum of three children, raising my two youngest daughters on my own. Mia is our comfort, joy, and a source of healing in a home that has already faced heartbreak. We are also a home for foster cats and Mia became a great foster mum for them.

Our Family’s Story

Three years ago, we adopted a German Shepherd that my children absolutely adored. Sadly, as he grew older, we faced a lot of challenges with his behaviour. Starting with many veterinary checkups, followed by behaviourist and trainer visits, unfortunately, we were faced with the last option, to re-home him to a quieter house.

It was devastating for the whole family — especially for my daughters.

After a great heartbreak, we were incredibly lucky to welcome Mia, a 9‑week‑old Golden Retriever puppy, into our lives.

She brought happiness back into our home.

When Everything Changed

Just one to two weeks later, Mia became seriously unwell.

She began vomiting after every meal or drink, and after extensive and costly veterinary investigations, she was diagnosed with Megaoesophagus — A very rare condition where the oesophagus dilates, loses muscle tone, and cannot push food into the stomach, resulting in chronic regurgitation, weight loss, and high risk of aspiration pneumonia. This condition is so rare that there are not many qualified veterinarians with experience of dealing with it.

I was warned by many veterinarians that managing a dog with this condition will be very complicated, hard to deal with and expensive. They advised me to put her down, but I refused to give up on her. The breeder proposed to give me another healthy puppy, but Mia would have to be put down, but that wasn’t an option for me.

A Daily Fight for Survival

I educated myself through specialist vets and international support groups and completely restructured our lives around Mia’s care.

Every single day, Mia requires:

A very expensive specialised diet, it requires the food to be made daily to the right consistency. It must be low fat and easy to digest.

Four feeding sessions daily, during which she must be seated in an upright position in a special chair which I haven’t managed to get yet due to cost reasons.

45 minutes per feed, carefully managed so food gets to her stomach with the help of gravity.

She is not allowed to drink water, due to the high risk of aspiration pneumonia. Therefore, her diet must contain a large amount of water in the food. She also eats gelatine cubes to fulfil her daily water requirements.

Despite all this, Mia still regurgitates daily — but she fights on.

Against the odds, she grew into a gentle, loving, one‑year‑old dog, deeply bonded to the family and an irreplaceable part of it.

A Sudden Medical Crisis

Recently, Mia’s health took a serious turn.

She has now been diagnosed with pneumonia, with possible stomach ulcers, and urgently needs advanced specialist scans and imaging to identify the cause and determine if there is a life‑saving treatment available.

These investigations are essential — but extremely costly.

Why We Need Help

Until now, I have covered everything myself — but the financial burden has become unmanageable.

Between:

Ongoing veterinary care

Specialist diagnostics

Emergency treatment

Her specialised lifelong diet

I can no longer do this alone.

Why This Matters

Mia has helped me through some of the darkest moments in my life, but now it is my time to help her.

The thought of losing another family member breaks my heart. But without essential treatment there is no other alternative.

If there is the smallest chance in helping her stay alive, and live as good life as she can, I will do anything and everything I can to assure it happens.

Mia is not “just a pet.”

She is love, stability, comfort, and family.

How You Can Help

If you are able to help — by donating or sharing — you are giving Mia a fighting chance and helping us keep our family whole.

Every contribution, no matter how small, truly makes a difference.

Thank You

From the bottom of my heart,

Thank you for your kindness, support, and compassion.

— Beata & Family