Hi, my name is Leonardo Perez, and I’m raising funds to help my family recover from the financial fallout of a medical emergency involving our chihuahua, Coffee.

About a year ago, Coffee entered the U.S. and was in Miami during a process that involved CDC requirements. During that time, her health took a sudden and frightening turn. She stopped eating, lost a lot of weight, and we were terrified we might lose her.

Coffee’s condition became critical while she was still there. We received a call to pick her up earlier than planned because her health was rapidly declining. The original plan was for her to complete a 30-day quarantine due to arriving from a “high-risk” country, but that plan changed unexpectedly because of her medical state.

We dropped everything and traveled from Texas to Miami to bring her home and get her the care she needed. Between emergency veterinary bills and the travel, lodging, transportation, and other logistics required to reunite with her, the total cost came out to about $14,000. We covered it because we had no other choice, but we had to put most of it on credit, and it wiped out our savings.

I’ll be honest, I never thought I’d start a GoFundMe. Someone suggested it back then, but I really believed I could handle everything myself and keep us afloat. Between a move and everything that happened with Coffee, the debt became more than we could comfortably carry, and I’ve been trying to dig out ever since. Recently, I also lost my job, which has made it even harder to catch up.

Coffee is doing much better today, and we’re grateful she’s still with us. This fundraiser isn’t for ongoing treatment right now, it’s to help us recover from what we already had to pay to save her and bring her home safely.

I have receipts, invoices, and photos documenting what we paid and what Coffee went through, and I’ll share updates with sensitive personal details removed for transparency.

If you’re able to donate, thank you. If you can’t, sharing this fundraiser helps more than you know. We truly appreciate the support.

Leonardo Perez