Support Rea, Brian & their rescue pup's surgery

Hi, my name is Tessa, and I'm hoping you can help carry Rea through some difficult life events.

 

Our beloved Rea and her partner Brian recently got a rescue dog, Brumby, and he’s come on hard times health-wise. Rea and Brian, who live in Victoria, B.C., went into significant debt to pay for a $15,000 life-saving surgery for Brumby.

 

This happened just two weeks after Rea lost her mum.

 

Rea is in deep grief, and we’re asking for your help towards covering the cost of Brumby’s vet bills.

 

Rea is an incredible friend, a community builder, a role model, an artist, an event organizer, and an electrician in training (exciting, right!?). She’s working her way up through the electrician Red Seal program, but the starting pay as an apprentice is minimum wage, so money was already tight before this pet emergency.

 

Brumby got sick because he ate something that he shouldn’t have, and it got stuck in his small intestine. Rea and Brian rushed him to emergency. Once there, an ultrasound also revealed he needed a liver shunt, as well as surgery on his intestine. The vet bill ballooned quickly.

 

Now, they need your support.

Brumby is gentle, loves tummy rubs, and happily joins Rea and Brian on long walks and hikes. Rea and Brian spent more than a year searching for the right rescue dog to bring home.  Likewise, Brumby spent his first year and a half on earth being shuffled from home to home as far south as California. Now, this searching trio has united to form a perfect little family.

 

When deciding whether to go ahead with the $15,000 operations, some people suggested that it was time to put Brumby down and get another dog. But that didn’t feel right to Rea or Brian, especially because Brumby is just 1.5-years-old and the prognosis is that he will make a full recovery. So they went for it, in hopes that they would find a way to pay for it. 

 

“It was Brian’s enthusiasm that led to us going through with Brumby’s surgery because I was unable to make any decision when I factored in the financial hardship. But Brian supported it, he could see how much I was hurting and grieving and he’ll do anything for me,” Rea said. 

 

Brumby went into surgery on June 18 and is now on a successful road to recovery. Brumby has been Rea's little shadow since her mum passed away and it's a healing journey for the both of them.

 

If you’ve ever known Rea, you know how genuine her love is, and how quickly she stops what she’s doing to help others. I’ve known her for 15 years, and I’ve seen how contributing to a more equitable world is in her DNA.

 

Specifically, Rea spent several years building up two non-profits, the Victoria Tool Library and Koksilah Music Festival, and she was a founding member of the vibrant and unforgettable West Coast League of Legendary Wrestlers. She also published queer and feminist zines that showcased peoples’ experiences as tree planters, and there are surely other projects from her past that I didn’t catch wind of.

 

While I spent my late 20s building a career and grasping at financial stability, Rea built communities. And countless people are better off because of it.

 

The past few years have been particularly difficult for Rea while her mum’s health was in steady decline. Brian has been a fantastic cheerleader, supporting her at every turn, and being there to hold her. Rea’s mum’s passing, in combination with the pandemic, means Rea has been spending more time with her family and dearest friends, and less time in her many communities. Because of this, she said it now feels hard to ask those communities for support in her time of need.

 

“There are friends I haven’t even seen or spoken to in more than two years, I’ve just gone inward,” she told me.

 

“That’s OK,” I said, “there’s no wrong way to process grief. They still remember you.”

 

If you can, please help me carry Rea and Brian in this difficult time. I encourage you to give generously, whatever that looks like for you. Share in your communities. Every size of donation is a show of support, and that’s what Rea, Brian, and Brumby really need right now. Thank you!