Helping Baby Bender
Donation protected
Bender was hit by a truck in front of his vet on June 6th - it’s truly a miracle that he’s alive.
His medical care was very costly, which is why I’m creating this fundraiser. Details are below (click “more” below the photo).

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Bender is my sweet, energetic 3 year old Great Dane. We went to the vet on 06/06 to get his yearly vaccines and heartworm shot. He’s always had very high anxiety at the vet and they normally have to come out, pick him up and take him inside. Unfortunately, when I opened up the back of my vehicle, he jumped out and I didn’t catch the leash. He went to the grassy area and was sniffing around and I didn’t want to run towards him because I didn’t want him to bolt. As I got closer, he kept moving and the next thing I knew, we were at the roadway. At this point, I was screaming at him to get back, and that is when a truck hit him going 45-50MPH. The impact was so hard that it sent him flying at least 10-12ft. I rushed into the roadway and he couldn’t move. A woman who was taking her Great Dane puppy in for shots saw it and came running to my side- she is actually a vet tech at the ER I ended up having to take him to. She helped me get him out of the roadway and then ran into the clinic to get help. We finally were able to get him onto a gurney and into the clinic. He still hasn’t moved at this time and was heavily breathing-blood coming out of his mouth and snout. They were on the phone with the ER hospital and they finally got him stabilized enough for me to rush him there. He only had a few scrapes, but has lost a lot of blood internally. It was only a 12 minute drive to the hospital and they didn’t know if I could make it. They sent a vet tech with me to keep an eye on him in the back. About 3/4 of the way there, she said that he was turning blue and she called them to make sure they had oxygen waiting outside, too. I gunned it and safely ran two lights and I start talking to him telling him to just hang on. We get there and they rush him back and I heard the vet tech tell one of the vet techs that he started improving when I started talking to him. After about 30 minutes, they were able to stabilize him enough to do an autoinfusion. He had about 1.5 liters of blood lost, which is a massive amount, and they basically remove that while putting it back into his body. She came and told me my options. She said that he had about a 5% chance of living. She said that they could either stop his pain now or do a CT to see if they could find out where the bleeding is coming from. She said that even then, if they find out and have to do surgery, it’s unlikely that he’d survive it. I told her to move forward with the CT. She does the CT- she discovers that he had NO broken bones! She said that there was no obvious split between the liver and spleen. She said that they couldn’t see his other lung, so that could be the cause. She said that, best case, it could have been the impact that caused tiny vessels to explode everywhere and that’s where it’s all the blood is coming from.

She said it’s up to me to decide if I want to move forward. She said that they ran a specific test to check how much oxygen his cells were getting. She said that a normal dog should have a reading of 400-500. Bender’s was 30 (not 300, 30). She said that she couldn’t believe he was alive and even took it a second time and it was the same reading. She gave me my options and said that he probably won’t make it through the night- I said I wanted for him to stay overnight and just see what happens. It was a sleepless night- I was still in shock and the thought that he was suffering because of my mistake and probably wouldn’t make it just made it that much worse. I kept thinking how my other dog was going to react- he saw his brother and then he just never came back. I was just waiting for that phone call. Well, it didn’t happen! I called around 8 and she said that he made it through the night, so she thinks that he has a good chance of survival. I go and visit him and it’s one of the saddest things- he could barely move and was hooked up to so many tubes and machines. She said that there was still internal bleeding- they had done a second autoinfusion that night, but they got less blood out than the first time, so it meant that the bleeding was slowing. She said that his clotting factors weren’t too great, but it’d be an extra $1500 for them to put in platelets and I know that I don’t have enough to cover that plus the rest of necessary treatment- I said let’s just see how he does. At this point, she said that his blood tests were surprisingly good with exception to a liver-specific test. She said that she expects it to be high with the trauma that he’s experienced, but it’s very worrisome if it doesn’t level out in the next few days. Anyhow, I visit him that evening and they said that they were able to get him up and he took some steps, which they couldn’t believe, that afternoon. She said that his breathing was improving, too. I felt at ease when I went home that evening. Anyway, I go back the next morning- it’s now Saturday. They no longer had him hooked up to an oxygen machine- just fluids and pain meds. They said that they hadn’t been able to get him to walk earlier in the morning. I asked him to get up to go outside and he did! Granted, he’s VERY swollen, stiff and in a lot of pain- so he’s very wobbly and taking baby steps, but he’s still doing it and they said that he was doing better than the day before. They couldn’t believe how far he was able to go. She said that they’d like to keep him one more night, but at this point, I’m 7k in including the other vet bill and medications. She said that she would like to keep him there, but she understood and she wasn’t too worried since he was improving and walking. I went ahead took him home that evening. Early morning Sunday (12:30AM) his breathing wakes me up and I call the vet. His respiratory rate was around 80– 35 is the high range of normal for resting. I take him in and he has a fever- they give him fluids and his temp dropped. She also ran an ultrasound and the fluid in his abdomen has completely cleared! The gas/air in his chest is gone, too, but he still has fluid- she said it will take longer for fluid in the chest to be absorbed because there’s less places for it to go. They sent me home with fluids and IV kit to make sure he doesn’t get dehydrated.

As of this point, he hadn’t eaten, drank or peed on his own.
It’s now Sunday- this morning he took a few bites of food, he drank on his own and got up and peed on his own! He’s also eaten a little food since then, too.

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Thursday, June 6th was the most traumatic day of my life. It’s just me and my two dogs and they mean more to me than some kids mean to their parents.
I was raised in church, but stopped believing in God in the second year of college, which is over a decade ago. Instead, I just focused on being a good person. I never thought I’d find myself trying to bargain with a God that I didn’t believe in. That Thursday and into Friday, all I did was pray and tell God that I will know that he is real if he saves Bender- that I’d do anything. I know that him making it was nothing short of a miracle- him surviving the impact in the first place, making the ride from the vet to the ER, NO broken bones, surviving on an oxygen level of 30 and making such progress in three days. The vet and vet techs couldn’t believe it and said that they never thought he’d make it. This was a miracle from God and I’m so thankful to him and the skilled vets and technicians - and of course Bender’s will to survive.
It’s been quite the emotional roller coaster and Bender still has a long road ahead of him- we both do. I’ve had to max out credit cards - treatment has already cost over $7,000 and I still have more bills to come for future visits and tests. I know that I have been more than blessed and it’s worth being in debt and having him alive and on the way to being well. I hate to ask and become a charity case, but if you feel compelled to donate towards the medical bills, I’d be so appreciative. If you don’t feel compelled or not in a position to donate, I just ask that you please remember him in your prayers.
*Also, I can provide all medical bills/receipts upon request- I just didn’t want to post since there is private information.
His medical care was very costly, which is why I’m creating this fundraiser. Details are below (click “more” below the photo).
—
Bender is my sweet, energetic 3 year old Great Dane. We went to the vet on 06/06 to get his yearly vaccines and heartworm shot. He’s always had very high anxiety at the vet and they normally have to come out, pick him up and take him inside. Unfortunately, when I opened up the back of my vehicle, he jumped out and I didn’t catch the leash. He went to the grassy area and was sniffing around and I didn’t want to run towards him because I didn’t want him to bolt. As I got closer, he kept moving and the next thing I knew, we were at the roadway. At this point, I was screaming at him to get back, and that is when a truck hit him going 45-50MPH. The impact was so hard that it sent him flying at least 10-12ft. I rushed into the roadway and he couldn’t move. A woman who was taking her Great Dane puppy in for shots saw it and came running to my side- she is actually a vet tech at the ER I ended up having to take him to. She helped me get him out of the roadway and then ran into the clinic to get help. We finally were able to get him onto a gurney and into the clinic. He still hasn’t moved at this time and was heavily breathing-blood coming out of his mouth and snout. They were on the phone with the ER hospital and they finally got him stabilized enough for me to rush him there. He only had a few scrapes, but has lost a lot of blood internally. It was only a 12 minute drive to the hospital and they didn’t know if I could make it. They sent a vet tech with me to keep an eye on him in the back. About 3/4 of the way there, she said that he was turning blue and she called them to make sure they had oxygen waiting outside, too. I gunned it and safely ran two lights and I start talking to him telling him to just hang on. We get there and they rush him back and I heard the vet tech tell one of the vet techs that he started improving when I started talking to him. After about 30 minutes, they were able to stabilize him enough to do an autoinfusion. He had about 1.5 liters of blood lost, which is a massive amount, and they basically remove that while putting it back into his body. She came and told me my options. She said that he had about a 5% chance of living. She said that they could either stop his pain now or do a CT to see if they could find out where the bleeding is coming from. She said that even then, if they find out and have to do surgery, it’s unlikely that he’d survive it. I told her to move forward with the CT. She does the CT- she discovers that he had NO broken bones! She said that there was no obvious split between the liver and spleen. She said that they couldn’t see his other lung, so that could be the cause. She said that, best case, it could have been the impact that caused tiny vessels to explode everywhere and that’s where it’s all the blood is coming from.
She said it’s up to me to decide if I want to move forward. She said that they ran a specific test to check how much oxygen his cells were getting. She said that a normal dog should have a reading of 400-500. Bender’s was 30 (not 300, 30). She said that she couldn’t believe he was alive and even took it a second time and it was the same reading. She gave me my options and said that he probably won’t make it through the night- I said I wanted for him to stay overnight and just see what happens. It was a sleepless night- I was still in shock and the thought that he was suffering because of my mistake and probably wouldn’t make it just made it that much worse. I kept thinking how my other dog was going to react- he saw his brother and then he just never came back. I was just waiting for that phone call. Well, it didn’t happen! I called around 8 and she said that he made it through the night, so she thinks that he has a good chance of survival. I go and visit him and it’s one of the saddest things- he could barely move and was hooked up to so many tubes and machines. She said that there was still internal bleeding- they had done a second autoinfusion that night, but they got less blood out than the first time, so it meant that the bleeding was slowing. She said that his clotting factors weren’t too great, but it’d be an extra $1500 for them to put in platelets and I know that I don’t have enough to cover that plus the rest of necessary treatment- I said let’s just see how he does. At this point, she said that his blood tests were surprisingly good with exception to a liver-specific test. She said that she expects it to be high with the trauma that he’s experienced, but it’s very worrisome if it doesn’t level out in the next few days. Anyhow, I visit him that evening and they said that they were able to get him up and he took some steps, which they couldn’t believe, that afternoon. She said that his breathing was improving, too. I felt at ease when I went home that evening. Anyway, I go back the next morning- it’s now Saturday. They no longer had him hooked up to an oxygen machine- just fluids and pain meds. They said that they hadn’t been able to get him to walk earlier in the morning. I asked him to get up to go outside and he did! Granted, he’s VERY swollen, stiff and in a lot of pain- so he’s very wobbly and taking baby steps, but he’s still doing it and they said that he was doing better than the day before. They couldn’t believe how far he was able to go. She said that they’d like to keep him one more night, but at this point, I’m 7k in including the other vet bill and medications. She said that she would like to keep him there, but she understood and she wasn’t too worried since he was improving and walking. I went ahead took him home that evening. Early morning Sunday (12:30AM) his breathing wakes me up and I call the vet. His respiratory rate was around 80– 35 is the high range of normal for resting. I take him in and he has a fever- they give him fluids and his temp dropped. She also ran an ultrasound and the fluid in his abdomen has completely cleared! The gas/air in his chest is gone, too, but he still has fluid- she said it will take longer for fluid in the chest to be absorbed because there’s less places for it to go. They sent me home with fluids and IV kit to make sure he doesn’t get dehydrated.
As of this point, he hadn’t eaten, drank or peed on his own.
It’s now Sunday- this morning he took a few bites of food, he drank on his own and got up and peed on his own! He’s also eaten a little food since then, too.
—
Thursday, June 6th was the most traumatic day of my life. It’s just me and my two dogs and they mean more to me than some kids mean to their parents.
I was raised in church, but stopped believing in God in the second year of college, which is over a decade ago. Instead, I just focused on being a good person. I never thought I’d find myself trying to bargain with a God that I didn’t believe in. That Thursday and into Friday, all I did was pray and tell God that I will know that he is real if he saves Bender- that I’d do anything. I know that him making it was nothing short of a miracle- him surviving the impact in the first place, making the ride from the vet to the ER, NO broken bones, surviving on an oxygen level of 30 and making such progress in three days. The vet and vet techs couldn’t believe it and said that they never thought he’d make it. This was a miracle from God and I’m so thankful to him and the skilled vets and technicians - and of course Bender’s will to survive.
It’s been quite the emotional roller coaster and Bender still has a long road ahead of him- we both do. I’ve had to max out credit cards - treatment has already cost over $7,000 and I still have more bills to come for future visits and tests. I know that I have been more than blessed and it’s worth being in debt and having him alive and on the way to being well. I hate to ask and become a charity case, but if you feel compelled to donate towards the medical bills, I’d be so appreciative. If you don’t feel compelled or not in a position to donate, I just ask that you please remember him in your prayers.
*Also, I can provide all medical bills/receipts upon request- I just didn’t want to post since there is private information.
Organizer
Stephanie Novotny
Organizer
Edmond, OK