For those who know me, I hope you can understand that asking for help with Jesse's medical expenses is not easy. If you do know me, then you know that I cherish my dogs and have been through hell with losing several due to disease and terrible vet care. Blake lived a long, good life, Mulligan was okay till a sudden illness cut his life short, and Tank was only 10 when genetic congestive heart failure took him. Jesse loved Tank and vice versa... Jesse followed his big bro everywhere. Since Tank's passing, Jesse rarely leaves my side.

This time, there is a great team of vets and support staff that are working to save Jesse. I want to back up to June of 2020, just a short two weeks after Mulligan passed, two things happened. Tank had a seizure which was incorrectly diagnosed, and Jesse was found wandering. I offered to foster Jesse while attempts were made to locate the owner - all involved were suspicious that a six-month-old puppy in good shape was likely dumped. When no one came forward, he became mine. Good thing as Tank and Jesse bonded immediately.

Another surprise was that early on, Jesse seemed to naturally sense when my blood sugar was off. As a diabetic with blood sugar swings that at times were rapid and violent (severe plunge or high) changes, his sensing the problem levels probably saved my life. Just yesterday, despite his own serious illness, he woke me just before 5 AM. I soon realized my sugar was way off. A quick blood check revealed a critically low 48... life-threatening. There is so much more to this boy, but I need to keep this short. To say he is special doesn't really give him his due.

So let me get to the situation. On December 17th, after two days of being off, Jesse woke in distress. I took him to a vet who incorrectly diagnosed pancreatitis. Jesse did briefly respond to medications, but after two weeks of slow improvements, it seemed to stop. For the next two weeks, it was more a holding pattern with a few days things were really encouraging and some off days. Three off days in a row, a call to the vet, she pretty much dismissed the questions. This led to Jesse seeing a specialist who quickly said that pancreatitis was almost certainly not the issue... frustrating... a month of treating Jesse with costly visits and meds for a condition he doesn't have.

New meds to see if things would improve, but just 3 days in, Jesse started sliding downhill. Yesterday led to the veterinarian team determining he likely has a partial intestinal blockage or an abscess. Jesse has been fighting this now for close to two months. His only hope is surgery; without it, he needs to be put to sleep before he goes into full-blown sepsis. I was terrified they were going to tell me he had to be put down, then the cost estimate. Only to be crushed when first told the cost of surgery.

As I type this, I am sitting in the waiting room as the team determined that he needed to be stabilized overnight and surgery today. He's young and they CARE... they understand I am disabled due to severe neuropathy and that Jesse is becoming a service dog by training to wear a harness so that when my mobility is challenged by that neuropathy, Jesse is there to offer stability and assist in other ways.

The vet team is going forward because without the surgery, Jesse probably won't last a day or two. They are doing so knowing I had already paid for unnecessary treatments with a different vet (she was certain it was pancreatitis). The new vet team is doing so with the understanding that I will raise as much as possible ASAP - tremendous compassion to give Jesse the care and me the time to fund his treatment. There are some grant possibilities, but so far, ones he might qualify for have not answered. Others just take more time than he has. Jesse will need post-surgical care as well, so raising funds is critical to his health and recovery.

Bottom line, after already spending approximately $2,000.00 treating a condition he doesn't have, the surgery and post-surgical care are estimated to run upwards of $7,500.00. I am embarrassed to say I don't have any additional funds at this time or the means to get care credit or a similar loan.

Someone asked me why not let him go and just get another dog. He's only five years old and already doing most of the service work that if I could get a "trained" diabetic service dog would cost north of $10K for this new dog based on research I did a while back.

I am asking for help because Jesse is my only family left and he deserves my love, support, and doing everything I can to help him. Another loss after the last 7 years will break me. I will fight for Jesse and only let him go if I can't prevent him from suffering. Please consider any donation you may feel comfortable making, and if you can't donate, sharing this GoFundMe can still help in big ways.

I am going to pay it forward in some way.

Thank you,

William Thomas