Anyone that knows me, knows how hard it is for me to ask for help. Maybe I have too much pride.. or maybe because I have issues talking about myself as I am a very private person. Regardless the reasoning, enough people have told me to get my story out there that I feel it's time to listen to them. Pride aside, here is our story.

My name is Laura, and the pictures you see are of me and partner's handsome boy, Vito. Vito has had a really rough go of things lately. About a week ago, he stopped eating (considering he is a black lab and eats everything in sight, it rang alarm bells immediately). We brought him to the vet to find out his chest cavity was full of bloody fluid, and off to LSU vet school we went for a further work up. He was diagnosed with a lung lobe torsion via CT and had a lung lobectomy. This is a pretty rare occurrence in dogs and usually there is no underlying cause as to why this happens...and of course, this would be something my dog would get... but anyways, Great! all went well in surgery, just had to wait for the chest tube to come out and our boy could come home!

A few days after surgery, he was continuing to produce a lot of fluid through his chest tube. The Doctors at LSU became worried and did a few tests on the fluid. Come to find out, he now had a chylothorax, which is essentially lymphatic fluid draining into his chest cavity instead of draining into his bloodstream. We now started thinking this was probably his primary issue and the fluid accumulation is what caused the lung torsion? It's a chicken vs egg reasoning at this point, but we still are left with having to do something about.

We managed to find the money for the CT and lung lobectomy through our amazing support system/family. However, due to this new development, he needs another extensive surgery to try to resolve this or a smaller procedure to buy us some time.

We are playing a dangerous game with him right now, trying to come up with more money before his lungs refill and impede his ability to breathe. We have utilized as much family support as humanely possible, drained bank accounts, etc... so now I am opening it up to the public. We are desperate. It's so hard to make the decision to put him down when we have come this far and this is potentially something that can be fixed. He is only 6 years old and he has a lot of life left to give. I ask you to please share and/or donate to Vito's cause. His mommies really love him and want him home healthy! Please Please help us!