Help Michala Cover Frankie's Medical Expenses

I am fundraising on behalf of my friend, Michala, and her darling boy, Frankie. Frankie recently had some pretty serious medical issues that needed to be addressed. While Michala was able to pay for these costs using credit cards, the financial burden this has placed on her (in conjunction with some other life events) is rather severe.

Pets bring love and joy into our lives. They are our most constant and unjudging of companions, and I don't believe anyone should be thrown into financial straits to keep their furry friend happy and healthy. Please read on to learn more about Frankie's ordeal, and consider donating whatever you can to help cover the costs. Think about your own beloved pet and how stressful and heartbreaking it would be to have to make a choice between your pet suffering or landing in tremendous debt to cover their care.

Frankie's Medical Journey, as shared by Michala:

I got Frankie in June 2020 after I got better from Covid and adopted him as a rescue from a foster home. He was bullied by some of the other cats in the home and spent much of the beginning of his life confined to a single bedroom.

When I first took him to a vet he had bumps all along his neck (he still has those). The vet said they are cysts and it appears that he is prone to them, but as long as they do not bother him, we will leave them alone.

In December of 2021, I came home from work and his front left paw was double its usual size, so I brought him to the emergency vet. It wasn't our normal doctor and before I could even explain what was wrong the vet said "Oh he's a polydactyl!" He is not, his injured foot was just that bad. It turned out to be an internal cyst that turned necrotic and exploded within Frankie's paw. He was able to have emergency surgery to remove it that night with a 2 week recovery period.

On Thursday last week, during the ice/snow storm, I noticed he was limping when walking and I checked his paws for any more cysts and found nothing. But later when I picked him up I felt a large, ping-pong, sized lump in his right armpit. We were able to get into the vet right away and they checked him out. At first glance and after performing a partial lance, they believed it was another cyst, but we had to schedule surgery for him this past Monday.

When the surgeon called me after the surgery he explained the issue was so much more than they originally thought. Frankie's surgery was originally slated for 20-30 minutes and instead took about 2 hours. While they still believe it is a cyst (a synovial cyst) it didn't even appear in my Frankie how they do in other pets. I found it in his armpit, but it actually stemmed from the top of his shoulder and went through his muscle and nerves to push through his armpit. They had to cut around and then reattach nerves to get it all out. They do think they were able to get most of it and it shouldn't come back, but the other option would have been to cut open his bone to check.

Between these two surgeries and the visit on Thursday, I was hit with unexpected medical bills for Frankie that came in little over $2500 in the last 6 weeks. This has unfortunately coincided with other expensive life events (several car repairs and my own medical needs -knee, tooth, contacts), so I had to split Monday's payment across two credit cards and I am maxed out on all credit now.

How can you say no to this sweet face?!?