Whistler's Tongue Tumor

Lena Elbert is organizing this fundraiser.

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Whistler before the surgery
Kevin left, Whistler right

This is Whistler the 3-year old, happiest Great Pyrenees mix alive with a sad story.

At the beginning of January, my mother Sabine (pictured above in the banner) noticed a spot on his tongue while brushing him that she hadn't seen before, and I had noticed something strange before as well. After sending photos to other dog people she knew, she learned it could be anything from a hematoma to cancer and decided she needed to consult a vet.

My mom initially took Whistler to our local veterinarian on January 5th, and on January 7th, a biopsy was performed. After weeks of testing the sample, 3 separate pathologists could not come to a conclusive answer and the vet told us this was out of their expertise. This cost about ~$805.

Whistler's tongue the week before the surgery

By the time we were given that information, it had grown considerably in size and was causing him visible discomfort, he couldn't close his mouth completely and he would bleed from his mouth quite often. The vet we visited next for an oncology consultation, Blue Pearl in Atlanta, informed us that Whistler had Malignant spindle-cell fibrosarcoma (soft tissue cancer of the tongue). This consult cost ~$680. They then told us that Whistler's only real chance was to have a considerable portion of his tongue removed, and hopes and prayers that the cancer would not spread anywhere else.

Whistler's tongue a week after surgery (1/2 photos after surgery) on February 21st (today)

Of course, we wanted to do the best thing we could do for him, so we had to have a portion of his tongue surgically removed. Whistler had the surgery on February 15th, which cost ~$3,600. It went very well, however, he's still learning how to eat and drink again - it's no easy task, but he's doing well, even if he really has no idea why this happened to him, or probably even what happened at all.

Maurice watching Sabine hand-feed Whistler (2/2 photos after surgery)
Whistler left, Maurice right

The Whole Gang
Kevin, Ferguson, Koda, Maurice, Whistler, (Sabine the human), Baloo

Whistler (directly to the left of Sabine, the human) has a pretty big family, this is our rescue crew. Kevin (far left) his littermate from the Great Pyrenees Rescue of Atlanta (GPRA), has had 3 surgeries on 3 of his legs, (Total Hip Replacement, Ruptured ACL, and Osteochondritis Dissecans). Maurice (black), also from GPRA, is currently still recovering from his own Osteochondritis Dissecans surgery.

We are currently financing Whistler's surgery, after having paid for his biopsy and evaluation, just after Maurice's OCD surgery.

Whistler (left) Koda (right)

As you can see here just by his sweet face, Whistler is hands down the happiest dog we have ever had and it's so unfair that this had to happen to him, but we wouldn't trade him for the world.

Any donations made through this GoFundMe will go towards paying off the initial biopsy ($805), sequential evaluation ($680) and surgery ($3,600), a total of ~$5,085.

Anything contributed would be greatly appreciated, as well as any way you can share this to help get this around. Thank you so much for reading through this and considering helping so we can afford to pay off his surgery and help him get back to being a normal happy puppy!