Support Molly's Family after they lost Molly!

Nicole Parrish is organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Anna Murphy.

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Hi all, my name is Nicole, a neighbor and friend of The Murphy's. My family and I were new to the community and The Murphy's welcomed us with such kindness and hospitality we became friends fast. We also became fast friends with their sweet dogs Callie, Maggie, and especially Molly, their sweet brown-eyed, white Labrador Retriever.

Molly loved to go on walks; Anna always let me take her to the beach to be my companion on many beach walks. Molly and I bonded very quickly, and she means everything to the Murphy's and our family.

Molly suddenly became ill and thankfully, Ryan and Anna were so attentive they noticed signs quickly. She then stayed at the NC State Veterinary Hospital ICU for 13 long days. Below you will see Molly's story from the Murphy's and information on contributing to sweet Molly.

TODAY is Molly's 7th birthday; SHE MADE IT!!!!

Please consider contributing to Molly's fund and sharing this story with your friends and family. All donations will go towards Molly's hospital/Veterinarian bills and her extensive continued medications.

Molly's Story From The Murphy's:

It all started on the 21st of February when Molly became ill and we saw her belly was very yellow, jaundice-like. So we immediately took our sweet 6-year old, Molly, a white Labrador Retriever, to our local vet, Porters Neck Veterinary Hospital.

Dr. Matthew Resnick took Molly in right away and went to work. After running every test he could, he ordered an ultrasound. The ultrasound didn’t give us answers, but they didn’t see any bleeding. One thing that concerned Dr. Resnick was that her platelets were low. The first time he drew her blood work, Molly's platelets were in the 60,000 range, usually in the range of 175,000-500,000, so she was kept overnight for observation.

The next day we had my (Anna) grandmother's funeral when we received a call from Dr. Resnick that Molly's platelets were even lower. To develop the best treatment plan for Molly, they needed more time for research and resources. He said the best and fastest way was for Molly to see an Internal Medicine Veterinarian to run more tests and have better access. That was just the start of many procedures and lab work which were all in explaining her sickness.

After Ryan and I had time to think through everything, we called Dr. Resnick back and asked to transfer Molly to NC State Veterinary Hospital. He felt that was a valid request and made the referral. Molly arrived at NC State Veterinary Hospital on Feb 22, 2022. It was a frightening 2-hour drive to Raleigh for our family. Leaving Molly so far away without knowing if we would ever see her again or when she could come home. While trying not to upset the children with any details, we kept it light and knew we were doing the best for her.

Molly stayed at NC State Veterinary Hospital ICU Department for 13 days which felt like an eternity.

Here is the summary of the tests and procedures done to Molly, her first week in ICU:

1. PCR test to check for infections from all tick or flea born diseases

2. Started on two different anabiotic‘s

3. Ultrasound her Abdomen daily

4. Started a central line not to have to poke

5. Started fluids

6. Placed NG-tube.

With little to no progress in Molly's health, the Doctors decided to do a procedure on her liver to rule out cancer. We had no idea what to tell the kids as they kept asking to see her, but we didn't know day to day if she would make it and were in a constant state of worry about our sweet Molly girl!

At this point, the veterinarians thought she had chronic hepatitis or copper hepatopathy. However, the only way to check for those is to do a liver biopsy. We had tried everything else before that procedure as it is invasive with her possibly losing too much blood.

We decided to wait until Monday morning to ger her platelet count, which was at its lowest at 28,000. The hospital moved forward with the liver biopsy laparoscopically. Thankfully the surgery went well, and Molly did great. They retrieved what they needed without her bleeding too much. Molly was placed in an Esophageal feeding tube and sent to recovery. The hospital bills are piling up, and we have already paid over $10,000 before the surgery. But all we care about is Molly and figuring out her illness to get her home to her family!

Unfortunately, the next day they informed us that Molly had a very rough night; her abdomen filled up with fluid quickly and became tachycardia (very rapid beating of the heart). Based on her clinic exam from the ICU doctor that night, the next step was to transfuse her (a blood transfer).

Later that evening, we got a call that Molly was stable, but the amount of fluid on her abdomen was very concerning. The doctors felt like they needed to take her to surgery and open her up to stop the bleeding. All five biopsy sites were oozing pretty rapidly when they opened her up. We got the call about 3 hours later that Molly did great in surgery. However, the next 24 hours would be critical. I couldn't sleep that night; all I could do to rest was cuddle with Callie and Maggie; we were all feeling the absence of our Molly.

The following day, Wednesday, March 2nd, the Dr. called and said it would be best for our family to visit Molly as soon as possible. At this point, we had given her our all and didn't want her to suffer. Ryan, Mason, Claire and I took a sad drive to Raleigh but never lost hope. Molly wagged her tail so much when we walked in and gave both kids kisses on their hands. We visited with her for as long as possible, which wasn't long enough.

Our family had gone through so many emotions since February 21st. Our goal had always been to bring Molly home, but we didn’t want Molly to suffer. The 24 hour period of her emergency surgery on Tuesday night was not up yet.

The following day, the Dr. called to inform us she was still fighting. Knowing that seeing her family is helping in her recovery, I went up to be with my sweet Molly. She was quiet and not acting like she did yesterday. Then the doctors delivered the news; now she had a temperature. Here we go again, another complication for our dear Molly.

On Friday, March 4th, we received a call from the student on Molly's case, Dr. Monse delivered the news that Molly had a rough night and went into tachycardia (rapid heartbeat). They did an X-ray to check her lungs, which showed she had pneumonia in both lungs. Molly was put on antibiotics for pneumonia and was on oxygen as needed.

Meanwhile, we are still waiting on the pathologist to read the biopsy from February 28th. Ryan and I explained to the Dr. it had been nine days, and we still had no results while Molly was going back and forth health-wise. The doctors then put a plan together to get Molly home as long as she is stable and her pain is under control.

We were so glad to hear she could come home. However, we needed a treatment plan for Molly's illness and had to wait for the biopsy results. They finally came in and revealed she did have chronic hepatitis. The first step was to start her on a low dose of steroids to help with her pneumonia, then slowly begin the healing process on Molly’s liver disease. Chronic hepatitis is not a curable disease but can be treated with long-term medication.

Here are two of the doctors that were dedicated to her care and fell in love with Molly.

One of our many visits with Molly. Lou Lou, Claire, me and Molly

Once Molly’s pneumonia clears up they can start an aggressive treatment for her chronic hepatitis. She stayed until March 7th; we arrived at NCSU Veterinary Hospital at 5:30 pm to return Molly home!

We still have a long road ahead with follow-up appointments and getting her chronic hepatitis under control and are dedicated to her care and quality of life. We feel Molly still has many birthdays. She fought so hard to return home, where she belongs. With her home, our family is complete again!