Mabel's Recovery

Guys, we f*cked up!

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Mabel (left of picture) was poorly last week, so much so that she refused food - those who've ever owned an English Bull Terrier will understand how unusual this is - so we took her to our local vet who, despite scans and x-rays were unable to ascertain what was wrong but recognised she needed overnight care. We were recommended another local(ish) vet, who again ran various tests and scans but were still none the wiser and referred her to a specialist. Fortunately something showed up on the specialist's scans - a cork from a wine bottle, had been ingested whole, had caused a blockage as well perforating her small intestine.

Fast forward 5 days, Mabel is recovering from successful surgery, removing the cork and removing the damage portion of her small intestine. Unfortunately her recovery is taking a bit longer than everyone would like, she's still not out of the woods and although there are small wins every day, there are even more backward steps and she is still at the vets.

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Now to the f*ck up...

Last October when going through our mortgage application, so cancelled/let lapse any policies/subscriptions in order to secure the best deal. Subsequently we forgot to renew Mabel's insurance, which although only covering £2,000 would’ve at least put a small dent in the cost.

One of the options before agreeing to head over to the specialists (who've been fantastic in their support and communication throughout), was to do nothing and simply put Mabel to sleep. But we decided with age (6y/o), health on her side and the classic stubbornness associated with an EBT, the financial implications would be the cross we'd bear for our mistake. In short we wouldn't make a decision on Mabel's life based on finances.

So far our bill sits at £12,500. And with more treatments, medication and procedures to come, this is set to increase. To get to this number so far we've had to max out credit cards and raid ours and our families savings - money we WILL replace by hook or by crook. But we need help. Help from anyone who's able to. Help from people we've never met. For the cost we've incurred already and for whatever else is likely to be thrown our way.

We know times are incredibly tough and this is a massive ask, but genuinely the smallest amount could make the biggest of differences. Being totally transparent, there is a chance Mabel might not make it through this but I couldn't sleep at night with knowing we didn't exhaust absolutely every single avenue.

Thank you,

Ben, Hannah, Mabel, Joey (pic centre and Mabel's bestie) & Maggie (pic right Mabel's sister)