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Final update 1/21/19:
We had to let Leia go yesterday afternoon. She had the open chest surgery but the doctors found that the mass was too large and invasive. The mass could not be resected/removed or de-bulked. The prognosis was poor. We had to decide in the middle of the surgery if we wanted to let her go intraoperatively, before she woke up, or if we wanted her to go through surgery recovery and try chemo/radiation therapy. It didn't make sense to put her through 2 weeks of painful major surgery recovery and then go through cancer treatment that may or may not have worked. In addition, she had the recurrent pleural effusion in her chest that made it hard for her to breathe. This was just going to keep coming back unless the mass was resolved. We couldn't keep putting her through chest taps twice a week. She would have suffered more. It would've been torture for her and for us. Because of these reasons we had to let her go peacefully. Her last feelings were not of pain.
Our last memory of her was of her happily walking away as the vet tech took her. We never officially said goodbye, because we didn't know it was going to be goodbye. But perhaps it's not because she will always be in our hearts.
We are going to miss her so much. She meant a lot to us. She was always full of life, personality, fun energy, and always made us laugh. She was the definition of pure puppy innocence and joy. She was our first puppy and will always be a puppy- our little Princess Leia. She didn't even have 2 full years on this earth, but I hope she enjoyed the time she had with us. We will always remember the 1.5 years we had with her. We loved her so much.
I want to thank our family, friends, colleagues, Rescue City family/RC supporters for all of your help and support. Your contributions were able to help us get 2 additional weeks with her and afford the initial diagnostics, hospitalization, and surgery. I am amazed that so many wanted to help save little Leia, especially those who have never met her. And I am grateful that we were able to at least try and save her.
Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. Though broken, we will heal eventually-- but we will never forget your generosity for our Princess Leia. <3 </3
__________________________________________
Hi everyone,
We are asking for your help to afford Leia's cancer treatment and medical bills. She is not even two years old and we just found out on 1/2/19 that she has an extensive mass taking up the majority of her chest cavity. The mass is pushing against her vital organs- her lungs and her heart. The most immediate issue is that the mass is causing bloody fluid buildup in her chest cavity (pleural effusion). The fluid builds up at a rate of 500 mL a day. That means she needs a chest tap/drain every 3 days (+$300 per ER visit) or else she can't breathe. When she first went to the ER they removed 2 liters of fluid from her. After 3 additional days of hospitalization, they removed an additional 2+ liters. And she is only 39 lbs! Doctors are amazed that she is even alive since she was not able to breathe from all the fluid in her chest.
Leia's bills have already been $6,000 so far- and this was just to keep her alive that night at the ER, hospitalization, and tests. This does not include the surgery and/or chemotherapy or radiation treatment we plan to get her, which can be upwards of $15,000. Unfortunately we don't have pet insurance because cancer is totally unexpected for a dog her age. Her biopsy IHC results are expected by 1/21/19. Even if we can only get her another year that would be one-third of her life that she didn't have. And for a dog that is equivalent to ~7 human years. She is a fiesty pup and we want to help her fight. We can't give up on our puppy.
Leia's adoption story: We adopted Leia from Rescue City, a Brooklyn based dog rescue, in the Summer of 2017. She is my husband and I's first puppy together, and my first puppy ever. Since adopting her, she has been the sweetest, most playful, and silly dog. Sure, she has chewed up and broke a couple of things, but she is pure-hearted and pure innocence. There has not been one person or one animal she didn't want to play with. Some of Leia's favorite things to do are: playing with her new sister, Nebby (also adopted from Rescue City) and playing with her cat brother, Gohan. (Leia and her sister, Nebby's, Instagram: dogprincessparty)
Her birthday is on Valentine's Day and we are hoping she makes it past 2 years old and gets treatment. My husband and I are beyond devastated and have been thinking about her every minute since we found out the news. We lost our first dog, Zelda, 5 months ago and now we might lose Leia. It has been an incredibly tough time for us :(
We are grateful for anyone who can help whether it's by donation or sharing. I also have Venmo (@ShelleyZ), which would be more ideal so that the full amount of your donation goes directly to Leia’s bills. Thank you for reading!
Leia (formerly Willow from @RescueCity) at ~3 months old):
Large mass in her upper chest cavity (white area above the lungs), pushing her lungs and heart up:
After/Before chest tap (2L of fluid removed, with 1L+ left behind). You can see her lungs are more visible and inflated in the left picture, after the tap:
Leia's ER, hospitalization, and testing estimates:
We had to let Leia go yesterday afternoon. She had the open chest surgery but the doctors found that the mass was too large and invasive. The mass could not be resected/removed or de-bulked. The prognosis was poor. We had to decide in the middle of the surgery if we wanted to let her go intraoperatively, before she woke up, or if we wanted her to go through surgery recovery and try chemo/radiation therapy. It didn't make sense to put her through 2 weeks of painful major surgery recovery and then go through cancer treatment that may or may not have worked. In addition, she had the recurrent pleural effusion in her chest that made it hard for her to breathe. This was just going to keep coming back unless the mass was resolved. We couldn't keep putting her through chest taps twice a week. She would have suffered more. It would've been torture for her and for us. Because of these reasons we had to let her go peacefully. Her last feelings were not of pain.
Our last memory of her was of her happily walking away as the vet tech took her. We never officially said goodbye, because we didn't know it was going to be goodbye. But perhaps it's not because she will always be in our hearts.
We are going to miss her so much. She meant a lot to us. She was always full of life, personality, fun energy, and always made us laugh. She was the definition of pure puppy innocence and joy. She was our first puppy and will always be a puppy- our little Princess Leia. She didn't even have 2 full years on this earth, but I hope she enjoyed the time she had with us. We will always remember the 1.5 years we had with her. We loved her so much.
I want to thank our family, friends, colleagues, Rescue City family/RC supporters for all of your help and support. Your contributions were able to help us get 2 additional weeks with her and afford the initial diagnostics, hospitalization, and surgery. I am amazed that so many wanted to help save little Leia, especially those who have never met her. And I am grateful that we were able to at least try and save her.
Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. Though broken, we will heal eventually-- but we will never forget your generosity for our Princess Leia. <3 </3
__________________________________________
Hi everyone,
We are asking for your help to afford Leia's cancer treatment and medical bills. She is not even two years old and we just found out on 1/2/19 that she has an extensive mass taking up the majority of her chest cavity. The mass is pushing against her vital organs- her lungs and her heart. The most immediate issue is that the mass is causing bloody fluid buildup in her chest cavity (pleural effusion). The fluid builds up at a rate of 500 mL a day. That means she needs a chest tap/drain every 3 days (+$300 per ER visit) or else she can't breathe. When she first went to the ER they removed 2 liters of fluid from her. After 3 additional days of hospitalization, they removed an additional 2+ liters. And she is only 39 lbs! Doctors are amazed that she is even alive since she was not able to breathe from all the fluid in her chest.
Leia's bills have already been $6,000 so far- and this was just to keep her alive that night at the ER, hospitalization, and tests. This does not include the surgery and/or chemotherapy or radiation treatment we plan to get her, which can be upwards of $15,000. Unfortunately we don't have pet insurance because cancer is totally unexpected for a dog her age. Her biopsy IHC results are expected by 1/21/19. Even if we can only get her another year that would be one-third of her life that she didn't have. And for a dog that is equivalent to ~7 human years. She is a fiesty pup and we want to help her fight. We can't give up on our puppy.
Leia's adoption story: We adopted Leia from Rescue City, a Brooklyn based dog rescue, in the Summer of 2017. She is my husband and I's first puppy together, and my first puppy ever. Since adopting her, she has been the sweetest, most playful, and silly dog. Sure, she has chewed up and broke a couple of things, but she is pure-hearted and pure innocence. There has not been one person or one animal she didn't want to play with. Some of Leia's favorite things to do are: playing with her new sister, Nebby (also adopted from Rescue City) and playing with her cat brother, Gohan. (Leia and her sister, Nebby's, Instagram: dogprincessparty)
Her birthday is on Valentine's Day and we are hoping she makes it past 2 years old and gets treatment. My husband and I are beyond devastated and have been thinking about her every minute since we found out the news. We lost our first dog, Zelda, 5 months ago and now we might lose Leia. It has been an incredibly tough time for us :(
We are grateful for anyone who can help whether it's by donation or sharing. I also have Venmo (@ShelleyZ), which would be more ideal so that the full amount of your donation goes directly to Leia’s bills. Thank you for reading!
Leia (formerly Willow from @RescueCity) at ~3 months old):
Large mass in her upper chest cavity (white area above the lungs), pushing her lungs and heart up:
After/Before chest tap (2L of fluid removed, with 1L+ left behind). You can see her lungs are more visible and inflated in the left picture, after the tap:
Leia's ER, hospitalization, and testing estimates: