I'm creating this GoFundMe for my dear friend, Victoria Tulipani, Justin Burke, their kids and beloved dog, Santino, who is facing an unexpected medical emergency.

On Thursday, Dec 4th, Santino started vomiting excessively. He was brought to the pet emergency as he’s only 7 months old and just a tiny 4 pounds. They gave him an x-ray and said that he had eaten a non food item but it looked small enough for him to pass on his own, so they gave him anti-nausea meds, fluids, and he was sent home to be monitored.

Over the next few days, he didn’t improve and became lethargic, so he was brought him back to the ER that Sunday evening, Dec 7th.

A new doc gave him an ultrasound, and they thought his intestines were collapsing and said he needed emergency surgery or he would die in 2 days. There was supposed to only be a 10% chance that the surgery wouldn’t hold so odds were good. They operated that evening.

When they were operating, they found a large obstruction in his intestines, and it had ripped his intestines open and it was poisoning his body. The location of the tear was right next to his pancreas, so they had to re-attach his pancreas to his intestines and said it was a bigger surgery than they thought originally. Because of the delicate place of the tear there’s now a 50% chance that the stitches in his intestines won’t hold and will start leaking, which would require another even bigger surgery. They also said that there’s a good chance he will now have pancreatitis for life.

Santino came home on the evening of Tuesday, Dec 9th, and was being monitored closely. The hospital waited to discharge him because his blood sugar was low and his blood cell count wasn’t looking how they wanted it to. His incision was infected but we hoped he would still heal properly.

On Thursday, Dec 11th, we brought him back to the pet emergency to have his incision checked. After additional testing it was determined that he needed to have another emergency surgery as his abdomen was septic.

As I’m writing this update, he’s still in surgery and we’re awaiting to hear from the surgeon and praying for a successful surgery and recovery.

Unfortunately, they do not have pet insurance and are at $40k+ in medical bills and counting.

We believe in collective prayer and ask that everyone keeps sweet Santino, Victoria and Justin's family in your thoughts and prayers for a full recovery. We’re praying this surgery is successful and holds