Hello Community,

Life can be unpredictable, and unfortunately, Lewis and I are currently facing a challenging situation. I’ll try to keep this story concise, but please feel free to reach out to me with any questions.

In May of this year, I adopted Lewis. I had finally found a place where I wasn’t working out of my house and had a living room for the first time in years. At the same time, I came across Lewis’s story about needing a new home. I was so excited that it was all lining up perfectly, still am so grateful for this little guy.

I quickly got pet insurance (something I’m incredibly grateful for now) and started a small savings account for unexpected expenses. Unfortunately, our “just in case” scenario unfolded rapidly.

Lewis had a mass on his chest that hadn’t been examined. It looked unusual to me, so when we scheduled our first vet visit together, I showed it to our vet, who expressed concern. She recommended that I have it sampled and tested that day.

The lab results came back positive for a cancerous mass. She was hopeful that we might have caught it in stage one, and it could be removed easily, allowing us to resume our normal lives.

Sadly, that wasn’t the case. We had the mass tested, and it turned out to be stage two cancer. He has a 45% chance of surviving for another 3 or 4 years, and he’s only 6 years old. This news is heartbreaking, and I’m grateful that we removed the mass, potentially giving him a little more time with us. Another unfortunate truth is that his little body did not react well to the surgery and his wound got infected the next day. We are now on antibiotics until his open wound closes. Currently doing really well on the antibiotics, just takes many weeks to heal and open wound.

This situation is emotionally taxing for me for several reasons. As some of you know, Lewis is the first dog I’ve had since the tragic loss of my other dogs nine years ago. Life happens and it only makes this entire situation even more poignant for me.

I’m reaching out to the community for help because the entire process, including surgery, medication, and lab testing, has cost me a total of $2,857.53 that I did not have. I had just started his savings account in May, so I didn’t have the funds to cover these expenses. Fortunately, his insurance has covered a total of $1,441.61, and I received generous donations from an amazing group of people who purchased art and donated a total of $450.00. However, I still have $1,015.92 left to pay on a credit card that I had to open to get Lewis the care he needed.

Anything is helpful. I wish I didn’t have to ask, and as many of you know, I live paycheck to paycheck. Thank you for taking the time to read our story. I also promise with all my heart that I will give Lewis the best 45% of the time we have together, and not worrying about the credit card debt will help me provide that for him. Thank you.