Stevie's Page

Hi Everyone,

 

As many of you know, our little dog Stevie (she's a girl, the beard's deceptive) had a truly horrific road traffic accident on Wednesday and following dedicated care and two five and a half hour operations from some truly incredible vets and veterinary surgeons, is now on a long road to recovery.

 

Although, very sadly, her chances of achieving a good standard of life for the future remain very uncertain, we know that everything that could be done, has been done, because we believe Stevie deserved a chance, she's not just a beautiful tiny dog, she's a beautiful tiny member of the family.

 

Anyone who's met Stevie (particularly those who aren't very attached to their carpets and soft furnishings - sorry about that) falls in love with her. And if not, she works very, very hard to win you over. She loves meeting new people and just like Tina, her mama, you know you're in when she rolls over for a belly rub. She's incredibly playful, particular favourites include "Where's Stevie" (a version of Hide and Seek where she always hides in the same place leaving you to do the hard work of pretending to look in multiple other places while building the tension), "Retrieve the ball on the Common only to carry on running right past you at the last minute" and "Oops somehow the ball's under the TV Cabinet/Sofa/Footstool again can you come and get it for me?".

 

I genuinely had no idea of the incredible work that vets will carry out to save an animal's life, and when I heard what had happened I assumed there was only one inevitable conclusion. But following two exhaustive operations, she needs time, rest, love and a little bit more of the incredible outpouring of good wishes and positive thoughts which have carried us this far. And, collectively, we could really do with some money. Because although we do have insurance for Stevie and the annual limit was set higher than we hoped we'd ever need, we blew that before we were allowed to step out of the car at the amazing specialist referral centre that is currently caring for her. They are being kind enough to cap their fees for us, but this still leaves us with a bill after insurance in excess of £12,500 (so far).

 

When we took Stevie to the referral centre she was still entirely incontinent, suggesting the sacral nerve, which in dogs runs through the sacrum bone, the first bone after the coccyx in their tails), was damaged. This was also suggested by a lack of sensation in her completely fractured rear left leg and her tail. The neurologists did, eventually think they had found some sensation in both of those locations and decided to operate, however we knew if that nerve was entirely severed and irreparable, the surgeon would scrub out to call us and we would have to make a call on whether to wake her up again, a decision I'm still not sure I would have been ready for. The other significant damage she suffered was an explosive fracturing of her pelvis.

 

While I wouldn't normally feel it was appropriate to ask people to pay for the results of our choices, I think we did what many people do when someone they love is faced with a need for urgent medical care and said yes, with the means of payment to be something to be considered later. Although, of course, not the same thing, this has given me some kind of insight into the agonising decisions that people in countries like the USA (which could at least easily afford to help to ease that for its citizens) must go through.

 

We know many of you love Stevie and we've been deeply touched by the overwhelming outpouring of support we've received since the accident. First and foremost, please keep sending those loving thoughts, but if you could also help us with the substantial burden of these costs, we would deeply appreciate it.

 

Lots of love,

 

Ben and Owen and Stevie xxxxx