Help Stormi Fight Her Cancer Battle

Hi everyone,

This is difficult to do but I know it's important to ask your community for help when you need it.

This past January, I rescued a sweet, beautiful husky from West LA Shelter. There were 2 reasons why I wanted to do this. 1, I became aware of how overlooked shelter dogs are, how many animals are put down every day because the shelters are over capacity, how many are given up for reasons I can't begin to understand (in this case, my dog, who was surrendered...I'm not sure why), or how people are ignorant to this issue and buy animals from a breeder rather than saving a life, etc. It all broke my heart. 2, I knew the mental health struggles I was dealing with would improve with bringing her into my life. I went to the shelter with an open mind and connected with her the moment I saw her. I went back multiple times to see her and took a leap. It felt amazingggg to do something good by rescuing her, but I like to say she is the one who rescued me.

Since the day I brought her home, Stormi has dealt with an ear infection (or so I thought). Her left ear is constantly giving off a strong odor and has dark brown residue coming out (you can see some of it in the second and third photos). She's always shaking her head and scratching her ear. She's been treated with ear drops by her primary care vet countless times without any success. After about 8 months of drops and ear washes, I took her to an ear specialist this past Friday (9/27). After he examined Stormi, he found she has a tumor blocking her ear canal (photo 4). Although this is difficult news, I am relieved to finally know the real issue. It is so severe that she will need to have a procedure done that will remove the tumor. For this, she will have to go under anesthesia. Additionally, prior to her procedure, she needs to have a CT scan done to tell us how deep this tumor goes, if it's affecting her ear drum (I am praying she does not end up deaf in her ear at the end of this) and/or if it's deep into her middle ear.

This is a lot at once emotionally and financially. I would love to get her better as quickly as possible so she is no longer suffering so much, but it is impossible to do on my own. Receiving such a hefty quote was a true shock for me, and so I am asking my friends and family to help us in any way you can. It will cost around $8,000.

If you've gotten this far thank you for taking the time to read this. She has been through so much already after being given up before we found each other. She is the most incredible animal and has already handled this so well. She deserves to be happy and healthy as soon as we can make it happen! Any contribution you can make means the world to me and I am so grateful. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

With love,

Natalie