Help my pup get her surgery

Hi, I am Charlie and I’m fundraising for surgery for my beautiful sprightly elderly girl Lola.

Lola is a super loving 12-year-old Beagle who adores life. She has been super healthy up until moving to the United States, and over the last couple of years she started to grow some lumps. We have been monitoring them over time, but one of them has now gotten so large that it’s affecting her ability to move her right elbow. That lump is currently approximately 8 inches in diameter, or 20cm.

I paid to have the lump tested today and fortunately it seems to not be a scary tumour, however if I don’t get it removed soon the surgery will become quite complicated to remove the lump and could become much more expensive.

Normally I would be able to afford to pay for these veterinary bills, however circumstances have not been favouring me.

I spent all of my life savings to move to the US, and grossly underestimated how much money and energy it would take to settle. I

also broke my nose last month and then promptly got Covid, meaning I could not work for a month. I spent my savings keeping afloat with rent and I’m now trying to catch up.

In the past I was a smart pet owner and had pet insurance. I am also an emergency veterinarian and used to be able to benefit from the discount that my clinic gave me. I cannot practice in the US however for another couple of years because of my Visa type. On moving to the U.S. I discovered that pet insurance was no longer going to cost me $120aud or approximately $90usd a month, but rather $500usd per dog or approximately $1500aud per month. This is because of their age and differences between countries. Obviously, this is a huge cost and something that I just cannot bite off financially.

When I worked as a veterinarian and had more disposable income, I would always give money wherever I could to charities and discount my bills for owners that were financially struggling wherever I could manage to. It felt good to make a huge difference to those people. Now I find myself in a situation where I hope that other animal lovers will be able to help return the favour in a small way by contributing to me getting Lola her surgery.

The caveat is that she has to have the surgery within the next month, as the clinic refuses to do surgery unless blood tests have been completed within two months. Luckily, I paid for her to have blood tests a month ago when she had a limp.

I don’t intend to raise any more money than is needed, but if it’s somehow accidentally trickles over before I am able to close the fundraiser then I will likely use any remaining money towards the rescue group that I foster for, the Beagle freedom project. They rescue laboratory tested beagles amongst other dogs, and rehabilitate them into a pet life with a loving family.

I have had two Fosters with them and I’m expecting another one soon.