When your beloved four legged friend urgently falls sick or is acutely  injured, and you have to make a quick decision to save their life with an emergency surgery, while signing a medical plan for $10,000 without guarantees, you feel deeply sick in more than one way.

Tala is a kind, wicked smart, humorous, healthy 2.5 year old female Australian Shepherd who captures hearts and smiles wherever she goes. To me she is beyond special. Most animal guardians feels this way about their pets, and we are all right about this.

In testing times, more than anything, we have to have to trust our inner voices, follow what we believe is right. There is always a price we pay for loving and caring deeply. When do you set a limit for love, hope and belief,  how do you put an amount or value for an animal, a friend, a family member, a soul...
When is enough, enough? Where do you draw the line? So many factors determines how to proceed. How do I justify putting myself in a serious financial debt when I am already struggling to survive and making ends meet working seven days a week...Again, with love, hope and believing...

How you value anything in your life, a soul, is not as straightforward as numbers and green paper.  I value the memories, the time spent with her, the hours, months and years of training, bonding, playing I have invested in her to be my loyal companion and be successful in the community. I value how she helps me therapeutically, mentally, physically and emotionally, living with anxiety and depression for years. I value how she manages to light up my everyday, making my heart skip a beat whenever I see her, her endless entertainment, motivating me to keep pushing forward, inspiring me to learn more, enjoy life, a hopeful future, being grateful for every lesson and appreciate every moment. I value how she teaches me about life and myself. I value how she helps me with work and chores. I value how she falls asleep next to me, how her soft fur comforts me and her sweet face waking me up in the mornings. Our everlasting love and connection is timeless. I cannot imagine life without her by my side.

After vomiting 20 times during the night, acting painful and refusing her meal I knew something was seriously wrong. Radiographs showed multiple displaced organs, the liver had moved and her intestines and spleen had been pushed into her chest cavity, most likely from a horse kick nine months earlier. Her body gave no clinical signs until this night and lived with a small hernia in her diaphragm presumably for months. She went through a several hour long complex surgery to repair a diaphragmatic hernia, removing the intestines and spleen from her chest cavity, as well as a splenectomy, fixing the hernia and closing her up. She is currently recovering with a chest tube and close monitoring of her breathing in critical care.  Her biggest concern right now is how the lungs will handle the new space that was created when organs were removed. Once her tube is removed, the next 24 hours will raise the risk for pneumothorax, pulmonary edema. 

Tala has many skills, she loves agility and enjoys turning our home into a creative furniture course, she is a herding dog and can move the chickens in and out of their coop, fetch the horses from pasture and bring them inside. She is a loyal watch dog and protector, even saved me from numerous encounters with wildlife. She is a certified therapy dog and emotional support dog. She is my working partner, mentor and tester in dog training and evaluations.

I value and respect the skilled people in the veterinary profession who works selflessly and dedicates their life to help and provide for others. Her surgeons and nurses are hopeful she will make a recovery and already showing lots of strength. 

I have spent most of my life caring for and helping animals and people, asking for help is hard but now I need to ask for help. Donations will go directly to pay off surgery, hospitalization, post care related cost. 
Never underestimate your ability to help and make a change for the better for someone. 
I value you. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for donations, well wishes, prayers, love and care. 

Peace and Love, 
Johanna and Tala