Hello everyone,

If you know me, it goes without saying that my dog, Piper, is absolutely my best friend. If you don’t know me or didn’t know much about her, let me fill you in. Piper is my beautiful 3 year old golden retriever. I got her when I was a sophomore at UVU and since then we’ve developed a nearly inseparable bond. Everything from hiking together, pontoon rides in Minnesota, paddle boarding Utah Lake to just cuddling on a rainy day, we do it all together. Being only 3, we have lots of long, memorable years ahead of us. Since day one, she has become the glue that keeps me bound. She’s been by my side through hard finals, the meticulous studying needed for FAA checkrides, the loss of my Dad, and most recently a furlough from my job as an airline pilot due to Covid-19.

Unfortunately her and I now face our most difficult battle together. Over the weekend while my mom was dog sitting, she noticed that Piper started to act a little unlike her usual bubbly, lovey self. She became super lethargic, incredibly weak and as the hours progressed it became worse and worse. Finally on Monday we decided it was time to run to the vet.  After some quick blood work and a thorough exam, our vet was convinced she was just facing a nasty infection and a course of antibiotics would helpout tremendously. As a result of the infection, she was running a 104.1 degree fever, and had a few abnormalities on her blood test results. This included a significant drop in her blood platelets, the normal range for a healthy dog is between 100,000 u/L and 150,000 u/L, her initial test found it to be 89,000u/L. So with antibiotics in hand, piper and my mom headed back home for some bed rest. Yesterday afternoon, she seemed to be on the mend. She was a little more like her usual self, ready to play and demand attention. But as night started to roll around,things took a turn for the worst. At 1:30 Thursday morning, Piper was admitted to the Red River Emergency Animal Hospital in Fargo. She had a temperature of 104.7 (105 and up is very dangerous for dogs) and upon further blood tests we found her platelet count had plummeted to 29,000 u/L. (Serious and life threatening conditions can start to presentbelow 30,000 u/L) They immediately began to start her on steroids and order a plethora of other tests to try and figure out just what the issue is. As of Thursday morning, the only guess is an autoimmune disease named IMT (I’ll go into depth on whatever the diagnosis is once we hear more). We’re hoping and praying for a miracle at this point, which we desperately need. 

The next problem that’s presented itself is the terrible timing of these crazy expensive vet bills. We’re only 1 day into this battle and I’ve had to break into my emergency fund and completely deplete it. The vet is saying that we might be looking at a final treatment cost of close to $10,000 in an okay scenario, she wouldn’t talk about worst case scenarios just yet. If you know me, you know I’m not one to typically reach out for much help. I’ve generally done a pretty good job at facing challenges head on with ease but right now, Piper and I need all the help we can get. I completely understand that everyone may be hurting right now. I understand, it’s been 3 weeks now since I got my last paycheck and there’s no quick and easy answer as to when we might start flying again. It’s with deep hope and gratitude that I ask for anything you can offer to help take care of these bills. Even if you can’t make a donation to help offset these costs, your encouraging words, thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated as well. 

Dogs are truly family. I’ve known this my whole life growing up with them. Raising piper from a 15 pound ball of energy to the wild loving girl she is now has put a whole new perspective on just how truly special they are. They give us endless love and affection no matter how sick, hurt or tired they are and it’s totally unconditional. I have to do absolutely everything in my power to make sure my sweet girl lives through this, I owe it to her. 

I’ll update this page as I have more updates. 

Thank you again, 

Alex and Piper Penelope