Oliver Memorial Debt Relief

Hi, my name is Mike O'Donnell, and I'm trying to raise funds to help my family cope with the debt we just got into on behalf of our beloved dog Oliver's end-of-life journey. We charged $27,242.10 to our credit card in a month of trying to care for and save Oliver.

My husband and I have two teenage sons that we are in the process of adopting out of the New York foster care system, and we now have 3 dogs (including 2 rescue pit bulls that we found on the street and adopted) and a rescue cat that my husband found as a kitten.

At the end of November, I brought our 11-year-old papillon Oliver to the vet with a cough, for which he was treated.

When the cough worsened, I brought him back to the vet at the end of December for what seemed to be pneumonia. Oliver spent 4 days back and forth to the vet to spend the day on IV antibiotics and rest in their oxygen tank.

After Christmas, when his cough was not getting better, I brought him back to the vet. This time, with more x-rays and an echocardiogram, the vet diagnosed Oliver with terminal and untreatable lung cancer and compassionately told me that we would only have a few weeks left with Oliver. My family and I were crushed and desperate to do whatever we could to save Oliver.

We tried every kind of homeopathic remedy we could to improve Oliver's health and extend what time he would have left, including putting him on a keto diet, intermittent fasting, nebulizer treatments, low EMF red light therapy treatments, and feeding him turmeric, mushroom extract, coconut oil, etc. We followed the advice of many and showered little Oliver with Love.

We took Oliver to a veterinary hospital to consult with an oncologist. They performed a CT scan on Oliver and told us that he had lung torsion, that one of his 8 lungs was twisted, and that there might not be cancer. They could perform surgery to remove the twisted lung and Oliver could live with his 7 remaining lungs. We were ecstatic and felt like we were experiencing a miracle. Our little buddy Oliver would be OK. We charged the very expensive surgery to our credit card, as we had been doing with all of Oliver's treatment.

Oliver's surgery was major surgery, and he needed to spend 2 days at the hospital to recover.

My son Malike and I were very happy to bring Oliver home on January 25, two days after his surgery. Oliver spent a restful night home with us, and we were relieved that he had survived the surgery and would be on the mend.

Later that night, Oliver was sitting with my husband and suddenly passed away in my husband's arms. It was shocking and traumatic.

We are all grieving the loss of our sweet Oliver. So many people, in person and on social media, have kindly reached out to offer love, comfort, and condolences. I'm incredibly grateful.

Now, as we navigate the shock and grief we feel in Oliver's absence, we are staring at a $27,242.10 credit card bill. It does not come naturally to me or my family to ask for financial help, and I feel quite uncomfortable even just creating this Go Fund Me. But for the sake of my family and our finances, I am asking if you would be willing to donate to help us pay off the enormous debt we got ourselves into for Oliver's sake.

I appreciate any contributions, no matter how small, as acts of generosity and love in Oliver's memory in our time of sadness and financial stress.

For anyone curious to see how exactly we accumulated more than $27,000 of credit card charges for Oliver's care, here's a breakdown of what we charged when (I have all the receipts, but Go Fund Me doesn't have a space for me to upload them for this fundraiser)

Nov 27 - $235.70 - initial vet visit about Oliver's cough

December 19 - $1,321.69 - vet exam, x-rays, bloodwork, IV antibiotics, oxygen tank therapy

December 22 - $1,330.87 - cumulative charge for 3 more days, Dec 20, 21, and 22, of IV antibiotics and oxygen tank therapy

December 27 - $570.15 - vet exam, x-rays, radiologist consultation, and oxygen tank therapy

December 28 - Echocardiogram and a day of oxygen tank therapy

January 11 - $155 - vet follow-up exam and x-rays

January 12 - $19.6 - medication prescription refill

January 16 (Vet Hospital) - $4,460 - surgery consultation and CT scan

January 17 - $27 - medication prescription refill

January 25 (vet hospital) - $18,201.30 - Cumulative bill Jan 23 surgery, Jan 24 hospitalization, Jan 25 x-rays, biopsy, medication

January 26 - $206 - cremation services

THANK YOU!