Willow's Valvuloplasty

Dearest friends,

As many of you know, we decided to expand our silly little family back in June by adopting Willow (formerly Ocean). Willow is a pit/hound mix rescued under a utilities shed in Georgia. She was in a high-euthanasia shelter before we adopted her from Waldo's Rescue.

If you would have asked me if I was ready for a dog at 25 in NYC a year ago, I would have laughed at you - but saying no to someone who sends me daily videos of animals in shelters that need help is a tall task. Not everyone has seen this side of her, but Cheryl is an absolute softy for animals. Earnestly, I was reluctant about Willow at first. I attempted to prevail with logic about why we weren't quite ready yet, but Cheryl was persistent, and eventually I started to believe her that we needed to rescue a dog.

In a stroke of bad luck, however, we found out that our sweet girl was born with a congenital heart defect called pulmonic stenosis. The condition is dangerous and, left untreated, runs a high risk of Willow developing fatal arrhythmias or having sudden death. Willow needs a specialized procedure called balloon valvuloplasty in hopes of correcting the narrowing of her valve. While it's no guarantee, and there's an arduous road ahead for her, this surgery offers her the optimal chance at the full life full of love and joy that we know she deserves.

The surgery and all of its associated costs are steep - on the order of $10K assuming all goes well. While we are hopeful that insurance will cover some of this, we are preparing for the case where we take the full financial hit for the procedure. It's not an insurmountable amount, but certainly a setback for us, which is why we are swallowing our pride and asking for a little help from our friends. If you have some spare coffee money laying around, we humbly ask for a small donation in hope of offsetting some of the procedure costs. Even the smallest gesture would go a long way in helping ameliorate some of our stress surrounding the situation.

We greatly appreciate any help you can offer, and can assure you that Willow will have plenty of kisses for you on the other side of all this.

With deepest gratitude,

Dylan, Cheryl, Willow, and Carbs