Support Molly's Family After Lucy's Tragic Loss

On Sunday during our family vacation, Lucy (my mother Molly's dog) suffered a freak accident. Her collar became entangled in the tie out stake. In her fear she rolled, causing her collar and lead to tighten around her neck. Molly was there to aid Lucy within 2-3 seconds. Several neighbors ran to assist. First attempts to free Lucy failed. Someone ran for a knife. By this point my sister Elly and I finally reached her after swimming in and sprinting up from the lake. Somehow we got her free but she had lost consciousness. She was given rescue breaths and my sister Elly was able to bring her back to life. Elly kept Lucy alive for the next several hours until we could make it to the nearest emergency veterinarian, which was a 1.5 hrs drive away. The vet diagnosed noncardiogenic pulmonary edema (fluid in her lungs) and Lucy was placed in an oxygenated chamber to help compensate for her damaged lungs. At this point, there was significant hope that she would make a full recovery despite likely needing to spend several days in the chamber. We needed to give her that chance to heal. We were informed it would get worse before it got better. She made it through the first 24 hours without the need for extensive life saving procedures such as intubation. We were so proud of our Lucy girl. It seemed like she just needed more time to recover - and we couldn't deny her that opportunity despite blowing past the initial financial limit we had set at the beginning. Tuesday afternoon we got good news that she was showing signs of improvement. She was doing well enough that they'd try to titrate her extra oxygen down to normal levels overnight. We rejoiced. We finally breathed again. Only to wake up Wednesday morning to the devastating news that Lucy had taken a turn for the worse. My ears were ringing as I heard the doctor on the phone say something about her heart, saying there was even more fluid in her lungs, saying it was time for extraordinary measures or time to euthanize her. The impossible. The worst case scenario. Before, she was fighting and exhausted but after this turn for the worse, she was now suffering. So we gave her the peace she deserved. Lucy passed away Wednesday morning after battling for 2.5 days.

Lucy was something special, a "simply better beagle" as my mom, Molly, always bragged. Molly was diagnosed with colon cancer last year. It demanded surgeries followed by a grueling cocktail of chemotherapy drugs over 6 months. Always the one to focus on the finish line and keeping her head up, Molly declared that in celebration of surviving chemo and colon cancer there would once again be a beagle in the Keogh household. She selected the perfect beagle, one that she would pick up from Texas during our family road trip to see the total solar eclipse last April. Lucy represented a symbolic win. She was the fresh start and made it feel like all was right again. Lucy was less than a year old but had already wiggled her way deep into our hearts. She was happy and spoiled during her short time - often curling up cozy on the bed despite Molly's promises that no dogs are allowed on the bed. She was wickedly spry, leaping off the patio and soaring through the air. She loved sitting on top of somewhat bizarre places like the end of the slide or on top of a table. The sploot pose was constant as was her playfulness. She had a lot of personality and she was very loved. The loss of her feels incomprehensible and unfair juxtaposed against how much life she had and how much light she brought to our entire family.

There are absolutely no regrets about giving Lucy the chance to survive, although the financial burden of her emergency care is significant to our family. I've set this fund up with the intention to ease the financial burden so my parents may have less to worry about while they grieve this unexpected and devastating loss.