Please help our family grieve our loss of Lyla

Hi everyone, my name is Joe Borsellino.  Lyla is my seven-year-old lab, who I adopted as a puppy. On Thursday morning, I received the text message anyone with a pet dreads: “Lyla is acting off”.

 

She was with my family, and without question they all piled into the car to rush her to the hospital and I met them there. The hospital (Valley Cottage Animal Hospital) was amazing and the staff was absolutely the best. But they had to tell us something no one wants to hear: Lyla has cancer. To be more specific, she'd developed masses on her spleen which were caused by a type of cancer called Hemangiosarcoma (cancer of the blood vessels)—very common with labradors. Luckily, they were able to remove her spleen but that will still only give us a few more months with our soon-to-be 8 year old pup.

The surgery and care after have been extremely expensive and I want to be able to give Lyla everything that I can for the time she has left after she's given so much to me and my family. Any donations you can give are greatly appreciated.

 

 

Let me back up and tell you a little bit about myself and Lyla. I am a 28 year old zookeeper who grew up in Stony Point, NY (right across the Hudson river from NYC). Throughout my life I always loved animals. But I couldn’t have ever imagined how huge a role they would play in my life.  I always wanted a dog  by my side but unfortunately I was very very allergic to any sort of pet dander.

As I grew up I found my love for animals grew into my biggest passion and at age 17 I started working at the Bronx Zoo. Throughout the few seasons working there I learned how better manage my allergies from being constantly around animals and other allergens. So I decided, why not try to finally adopt the dog I'd always dreamed of?

 

 

After much convincing my family said it would be okay for me to come adopt a “smaller dog”.  But when I found Lyla at a shelter, I knew smaller wasn't an option. She was small then, as a puppy who'd been brought up north from a kill shelter down south, but we knew she had a lot of growing left to do. It was especially hard to convince my parents to invite Lyla into our home, but after many promises, he agreed.

 

And so in walks the most loving, caring, loyal, brilliant, beautiful and perfect puppy into our lives.

Years pass and we realize she’s not a small dog anymore. But just as she grew our love for her grew too. She's given us so much happiness and joy. She's always willing to play or cuddle on the couch or demand belly rubs. When someone in my family is sick, she'll refuse to leave their side. Whenever my 86-year-old great aunt has to be home alone, Lyla protects her and gives her a sense of safety and security. Two years ago, my sister adopted a dog (Cleo) with a lot of fear and anxiety issues, but Lyla immediately made her feel safe and helped her build her confidence. Now they can play for hours, with Lyla being super gentle the whole time so she doesn't hurt Cleo, who's 1/3rd her size. And when my fiancé's dog is there too—we have to dive out of the way because Lyla's having so much fun.

Now, back to myself for a minute. I actually grew too. My career laid out in front of me and I found myself becoming a full-time zookeeper. I get to share my love for animals with not just Lyla. But all animals I work with.  And at the end of every day, I knew when I came home from work, she would run to greet me at the door and be so happy to see me that she'd even jump up and hug me.

Although my love for Lyla never changed, I felt that I was doing the right thing when I moved into my apartment with my fiancé and left Lyla to live in the home she and I both grew up. That way she could be close to my family and watch over them as I would have if I had been there and she'd have all the room she needed. They have taken absolutely amazing care of her and I’d love for her to be in our lives as long as possible without question.

 

 

Unfortunately, that doesn't look like it will be much longer. Recovery is very rough for her right now as she developed an arrhythmia in her heart. We had to transfer her to a second hospital (Oradell) in order for her to get a second blood transfusion. Now we’re waiting for our sweet girl to heal up and come home so we can spend the next (hopefully more than few) months with her saying goodbye.

 

 

We were able to get her the surgery she needed so that she could have more time. But unfortunately the bills have already reached $12,000 and are still growing. Any donations towards her medical bills will be greatly appreciated.  Anything extra will be spent making her as comfortable and happy as we can during the time she has left. Please help us send her off in the best way possible.

Lyla has done so much for not just me, but my whole family.  Even though we’ve had Lyla in our lives for 7 years we can’t imagine a life without her.  We can only hope that during this time we're able to give her back a fraction of the love and happiness she's shown us during her life. 

Thank you for taking the time to read. Please share this page as much as possible. Thank you again!