Help Maple Fight Blastomycosis and Save Her Eyes

Meet Maple, a 2.5-year-old healthy and thriving Golden who is the light of her mom’s life.

She was just diagnosed with Blastomycosis, a systemic fungal infection caused by the inhalation the spores of the fungus Blastomyces dermatitis (B. dermatitidis), which lives in soil and decomposing wood and leaves, and as it turns out, is more common in certain areas of the country than most people realize.

Her symptoms started with a cough, then a sore on her nose, and then a droopy and oozing eye. The condition was missed and/or misdiagnosed by 2 vets, and she ended up in the emergency room for two days undergoing tests before the diagnosis was finally realized, but it had already spread to her eyes. She is now fighting to keep her eyes and has a long uphill battle of ophthalmologist appointments, ongoing medication/regular testing (can take up to a year), and if they’re unable to eradicate the infection from her eyes, potential surgery to remove one or both of her eyes.

This has been absolutely devastating for her mom (my sister) and our entire family, who love this pup dearly. We seek to educate more people (and vets who may not have it on their radar for consideration) of the condition and the symptoms so other cases can be caught earlier without succumbing to the same fate.

You can read more about Blastomycosis here.

If you feel inclined, please donate to help offset some of the cost of this precious girl’s treatment and give her the best chance at fighting this terrible infection. She has so much life left to live!

And if you opt not to donate (which we completely understand and respect!), please educate yourself and others to build awareness of this incredibly invasive, rapidly spreading, difficult to diagnose disease.

Thank you!