In July 2017, we brought home the most wonderful dog in the world- sweet senior pup Constance aka Connie Fur aka Conini. Since then, she has been our everything. She was originally found abandoned in a trailer in rural Georgia, in unbearable heat and with nothing but dirty mop water for at least a week. She was underweight, had a painful eye condition called entropion, and was heartworm positive. She was taken to a high-kill shelter in Vidalia, Georgia, where she was taken off the euthanasia list several times since she was a staff favorite. Luckily she was still there when Badass Brooklyn Animal Rescue found her! Together with their partners at Sweet Onion Animal Protection Society, they began the long process of bringing her back to health. 

Since we've adopted Connie, she's been a high-needs dog--in addition to having a heartworm history and past eye surgery, she has many allergies, including wool and humans! So she's needed monthly allergy shots, weekly medicated baths. Although it didn't make the most sense on paper for two young first-time dog owners, we fell in love with her and were happy to do whatever we needed to keep her happy and healthy. Last summer, Connie began to develop a variety of quickly-growing bumps. Since she's had a history of skin issues, the vets didn't think much of it. Eventually she had 80-100 bumps, stopped eating, and felt lethargic. We got a second opinion, and she was referred to a dermatologist. In late September, her biopsy revealed the heartbreaking diagnosis: a very unusual presentation of epitheliotropic lymphoma. 

Today, after five rounds of oral chemo, daily Accutane, and one round of another type of chemo called asparaginase, we got the amazing news that Connie has achieved clinical remission! She is bump-free, and her blood work looks great. Most importantly, she feels FANTASTIC. She's energetic, opinionated, and so happy. We are so lucky she was with us these past few months--some of our most cherished memories with her have happened since her diagnosis. 

We are overjoyed by this news. At the same time, this treatment has been incredibly hard financially. Since September, we have spent upwards of $8000 on Connie's vet visits and medications, oftentimes spending money we didn't have. Since she had so many pre-existing conditions to begin with, we never took out pet insurance. It should also be mentioned that her particular type of cancer has a high rate of return, and she needs to continue on her current treatment until at least three weeks from now.

Normally we would be able to take some time to recover from this. However, a chain reaction of other extenuating circumstances have made it imperative that we rebuild a bit more quickly (to make a long story short, my dad passed away a month ago, and we are adopting his dog who has nowhere to go as of this spring). This means moving out of our studio apartment and all that comes with it (deposits, credit checks), in addition to taking on the cost of another dog. We have no doubt this is the best solution for everyone, but if you are able to help offset the costs of Connie's treatment, we will be in a much better position moving forward. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts. Connie sends you so many kisses. 

Many thanks to the Live Like Roo Foundation for already lending support to Connie and many other good dogs fighting cancer.