Marley's Mission: Raising Money for Animal Health

Hi everyone. My name is Eric. I'm better known as "DJ Yoshi."

On Tuesday, January 9th, our 11 year old Beagle Marley was playing with other pups at his favorite place Camp Bow Wow. Two days later, Marley lost all motor function in his legs. At 8:30, we rushed him to Animerge to see what's going on.

Despite X-Ray's coming back clean, the emergency clinic didn't have the technology to give a proper diagnosis.

We rushed Marley to Eclipse Hospital in Whippany, NJ at 1AM.

When they put him on the stretcher to take him back to get the IV started, we weren't sure what the future would hold.

How could an active and relatively healthy dog go from running and playing to being immobile? We kissed Marley on the snout and went home in tears.

After an MRI revealed a herniated disc, we gave his neurology team the green light for surgical intervention.

That Friday was the longest day. We looked at pictures; watched videos of him; we cried; we prayed... We did A LOT of praying.

His neurologist, Dr. Crooks called with news that he was resting after the 3 hour surgery. We were able to bring Marley home with us two days later.

The pup is home and will hopefully make a full recovery so he can enjoy hunting, belly rubs and treats for years to come.

I want to thank the team at Animerge and Eclipse Vet Hospital for doing what they did to save Marley's life.

This was an incredibly sobering experience.

The initial bill from the emergency vet was $1150.00

Marley's Total Surgery Cost was $12,850.00

Pet care is unlike anything that I've seen. I believe that it's 100% necessary, but everything is self pay and out-of-pocket. I understand that it's a business. Up front, we had to pay the $1150 for Animerge and give a $2500 deposit for the hospital. We covered the difference by applying for Care Credit when we were able to bring our bug home.

That's when the thought popped into my head: "What would happen if a family couldn't afford the surgery?" What would happen to that family's beloved member of their house? I know that some places will start a payment plan, but without collateral and guarantees, not many places operate like that these days.

So any money from this campaign, that's what it's going to:

It will go to dogs, cats, birds and other pets like Marley who have loving families. But sadly, sometimes love isn't enough. Sometimes that family needs financial support to help keep their fur friends snuggled up next to them for years if not decades to come. The excess of funds will be used to start:

Marley's Mission. We plan for it to be a 501c(3) organization aimed at working with veterinary hospitals like Eclipse where we can provide financial support for families who cannot afford emergent procedures and surgeries for their pets.

Thank you to anyone who donates.

Your dollars will help go to the care of other happy pets out there.

My wife, Melissa, and I are going to utilize the funds to work with one Animal Hospital in the counties that we live/work to ensure that your efforts will go towards saving the life of a pet in need.