Hi, my name is Clarice and I am raising money for my dear friend Tara Green. For medical reasons, Tara is unable to work at the moment yet has been left with $12,500 in veterinary bills as a result of trying to save the life of George, her 10-year-old ginger tabby, who died after undergoing surgery to remove a mass on his inner ear.

George's story:

On Friday, June 27th, George was unusually quiet and off his food. Tara's vet thought this might be a recurrence of pancreatitis that he had had the previous fall. George was given subcutaneous fluids, blood was drawn for testing and he was sent home.

The next day, George was nowhere to be found. Tara ultimately located him burrowed deep in the lining of the underside of the couch. When she got him out, his condition was much worse. He had trouble sitting up, was drooling out of the left side of his mouth, and appeared to have gone blind in his left eye, which he couldn't close.

Tara immediately took George to VEG (Veterinary Emergency Group) in Fort Lauderdale. The vet called an on-call neurologist to discuss the possibility of a stroke, cancer, etc. George's chest and abdomen were then x-rayed to rule out metastasized cancer. George was administered more fluids, a dose of Cerenia and a dose of Mertaz and then sent home.

On Thursday, July 3rd George saw a neurologist, where he was diagnosed as having had a stroke. However, they did not want to do any diagnostic testing and referred Tara to a cardiologist, since they detected a heart murmur.

Tara made an appointment with a veterinary cardiologist and had to leave George with them while they did an echocardiogram, EKG and various other diagnostics on his heart. They did detect a heart murmur, but more importantly, they did not feel that George had had a stroke. They strongly urged Tara to bring George for another neurological consult as soon as possible.

The next day, Tara took George to a new neurologist , who turned out to be the only ray of hope Tara had seen since the beginning of this awful journey. He felt that it wasn't a stroke at all and did not think the problem was neurological. He felt that it was vestibular and that something in his inner ear was growing so big that it was impinging upon George's facial nerves. He was given an MRI. The scan showed that he had a massive growth on his inner ear. The neurologist believed surgical intervention could restore George's quality of life and recommended a surgeon that he trusted.

The surgeon too believed that the growth was operable. The operation was done and George made it through like a champ. But just as the surgeon was heading to the phone to call Tara, George's heart stopped beating. They performed CPR and critical care cardiac meds got George's heart beating, but it stopped again and the vets were unable to restart it. George was gone.

Tara's Story:

Because of severe arthritis in both hands, Tara has been unable to work since February. She just had surgery on her left hand, and once she has recovered from that she will need the same surgery on her right hand, meaning she'll be unable to work for a further six months.

It is for this reason that I am seeking to help Tara. Please help her get through this difficult time by lessening the financial burden of George's medical bills.

Anything you give to help Tara would be greatly appreciated.