Let’s help Heather K. Westfall, Vmd

Dr. Heather has helped so many of our furkids over the years. Now it’s our turn to help her!
For 30 years, Heather has been rescuing, repairing and rehabbing our furry friends. She and her husband Dan, have taken in hundreds of dogs and cats over the years, mostly at their own cost, to love, heal and find new loving homes for them. Those who could not find homes remained their family members for the rest of their lives.
Her quest to help those who have little chance for a new lease on life started when she was 16, and started working in animal shelters. She realized these sick, frightened and elderly little ones had very little hope of walking out the front doors into a new life.
During these years, she also worked as a veterinary technician nights, holidays and weekends to pay for the care of her rescues and to pay for school, while finishing her undergrad in Biochemistry. Her goal was to go to Vet School, so she could do even more work with needy little ones - a dream she shared with Dan, her husband.
As a veterinarian, she was able to bring in more and more animals in need, as far away as NYC. Along with the help of amazing volunteers, she started Henry Hope.
However, during this period, she herself was getting sicker and sicker with a mystery disease that took ten years to finally diagnose, and by then, severe  damage was done.
Heather has been diagnosed with Relapsing Polychonodritis. It’s an aggressive, systemic autoimmune disease with no known cure. Unfortunately in the last two years, the disease has become very aggressive, particularly in her lungs and trachea. It’s progressing rapidly. The inflammation deteriorates the cartilage of the trachea so it can’t stay open properly and inflames and thickens the lungs causing “small airway disease”. Without proper treatment this can be fatal! The disease is causing inflammation in her ears, central nervous system problems, eye inflammation affecting her vision, rib inflammation (she even broke them from coughing , but she came to work that day anyway and did 30 surgeries for the shelter...I know , I was there), constant coughing, spine and hip inflammation, and abnormal blood pressures and heart rate.
Our government has decided to cancel her subsidy for medical insurance! The nightmare that has been going on for years with this continues only to get worse, and she is at risk of losing coverage yet again. Without this Heather can’t get the treatment she so needs. She and her husband are overwhelmed with medical debt as well as she has been unable to pay the bills from her last rescues. With treatment we’re hoping she can do the one thing she is good at (don’t ask  her to cook, you’ll regret it...lol) - veterinary medicine, surgery and Henry’s Hope once again. With treatment, at least she has a chance. Her prognosis is a questionable one, given the amount of damage thus far. But we know that without continuing care, her prognosis is a difficult one to face.
Please join me in helping Heather! She never let any of us down when we needed her!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart!