Please donate towards Piper’s Life-Saving Surgery

PLEASE donate if you can & share…

Aaron and I rescued Piper only 2 months after we lost our twins, Aksel & River, unexpectedly at 32 weeks during delivery. I had gotten Covid and unfortunately it spread in utero. I almost didn’t survive either; for a long time I wished I hadn’t. Piper gave me something to snuggle, nurture, hold, and even a responsibility. I couldn’t just shut down and give up… because she needed me. I quickly realized that Piper was saving ME… not the other way around.

Last week Piper started acting very strange. She normally loves affection, but she wasn’t wanting to be touched at all. She is such a good girl so we knew she didn’t “get into something” she shouldn’t have. By the second day of her not eating or moving much we made the decision to take her to get looked at. We have been staying on the Eastern Shore while I recover from my hip replacement, so we called the only local vet in Cape Charles. Thankfully they were able to get her in at 3pm that day! After necessary labs the vet told us she had Pyometra; a fairly common uterine infection that becomes life threatening very quickly. [*I’m going to attach more information to spread awareness. Pyometra can occur in any un-spayed female dog around the age of 3+. More below*]. The good news of it all… her blood hadn’t become septic yet, but if she didn’t have surgery that night, she wouldn’t have been with us the following morning. The veterinarian took one look at us and recommended euthanasia because the surgery would be anywhere between $3,000-$6,000 (he gave a rough estimate), but he emphasized twice that he “wasn’t judging”. I get we look homeless, and we still technically are, but Piper is more than just any ol’ dog to us. The issue was… they wouldn’t do surgery without the minimum payment up front… which was $3,786.30! We didn’t have that money, but we just started driving to the Veterinary Hospital in Virginia Beach (over an hour away) that had her booked for the surgery @ 8pm. We were so scared, Piper was bleeding so heavily, and at any moment her uterus could have ruptured; then she would’ve died in the back seat on the way there. I looked at Aaron and told him that God will make this happen, it’ll all be ok. We said a prayer on the way, and started contacting anyone and everyone we knew.

Luckily we were able to use someone’s truck, because our bus is still in the shop (again) after breaking down on the way to my hip replacement surgery earlier in October; hence the reason we are staying in Cape Charles right now. Oh trust me in that prayer we said I told God that I’m honored he knows we are strong people, but we can only take so much… loosing Piper on top of all this was NOT an option.

We had been through living in a tent, for months, until we figured out a way to keep our family TOGETHER under a solid roof. There were many nights Aaron and I shared a meal, so she could have one too. The day we got the bus I knew everything was going to be ok. We had finally made it… AS A FAMILY. It might be a crap old bus that keeps breaking down on us, but it’s our home. It’s the only home we have. The only one we’ve had in years. The entire reason we decided on a bus is so we can use it eventually to transport rescue dogs that would otherwise be euthanized. So they can know there are good humans left in this world that won’t abandon them. Piper inspired ALL of this.

Piper changed us; giving us hope in a dark time. She made us see the world in a different way. We know now, just how much animals can heal us. That’s how we want to help others… through helping the dogs that will end up saving them, while they think they are saving a dog. Dogs teach us loyalty & unconditional love through actions, not words.

Thankfully we had a compassionate soul lend us the funds for her surgery. This decision was made while Piper was bleeding out on the table, they wouldn’t have started the surgery without the payment going through. Our prayers had been answered, but unfortunately the person who lent us the money is also struggling financially, so they need us to pay it back ASAP. This is why I am making this GoFundMe. I know so many of you have already helped us in getting the bus, so I hate that I have to even ask, but we couldn’t put Piper down without at least trying to save her. Especially knowing that if the surgery was a success, she could live 10+ more years; God willing.

It’s been almost 2 weeks since Piper’s surgery. She still has her staples in so we have been trying to keep her from jumping & playing too much. She is back to her normal happy, loving, spunky self… with ALL the tail wags included. God is so good! Any donations will help tremendously to pay back Piper’s surgery costs. Labs, surgery, and medications included cost a total of almost $3450.00. On top of our tough girl making it through surgery, they had refunded a small amount when we went to pick her up; which was another blessing. I’m including pictures of the receipts, before & after surgery (Trigger Warning: some photos can be graphic), and if possible the video I made to share on social media to spread awareness of Pyometra (in hopes of saving families & doggies from going through what we did).

**Pyometra- a serious and life-threatening infection of the uterus that causes it to fill with bacteria and pus. Many dogs with a pyometra have vaginal discharge and/or blood puddling. They may feel very sick with a poor appetite, lethargy, vomiting and sometimes increased thirst or urination. The most effective treatment for pyometra is surgery to remove the uterus and ovaries, also known as a spay or ovariohysterectomy. Any female dog that has not been spayed can develop a pyometra, but they are more common in middle-aged to older female dogs who have been through multiple heat cycles. Most dogs have a good prognosis if diagnosed and treated promptly, but it can be deadly if left untreated. Pyometra can be easily prevented by spaying at a young and healthy age. An average of 1 in 4 un-spayed female dogs get a Pyometra.