Oma survived a life-threatening stomach twist. Then, in a bizarre turn of coincidence, I formed the exact same form of stomach twist. Now we’re struggling to pay for both our medical bills and to catch up.

Meet Oma (歐瑪瑪).

Some of you know Oma. Many of you have been met with a deluge of Oma pics.

A few months ago, Oma almost died.

She suffered a life-threatening stomach twist (gastric torsion), causing her stomach to swell by 400%. (That big white bulbous outline taking up almost her entire abdominal cavity? That’s her stomach...) The vet said if I had brought her in even an hour later, she’d be dead.

I rushed her to the nearest surgical animal hospital, where they wouldn’t begin operating until I could pay the $2,800 USD fee, cash. That's over my entire month's paycheck. With only hours to save her life, I scrambled and begged friends for loans until pay day. Thanks to them, we were able to get her into surgery in time.

She’s been recovering mostly well, but the swelling caused permanent damage to her kidneys. She now has chronic kidney disease, which means ongoing vet visits, regular blood tests, and a strict (expensive) prescription diet to keep her stable.

Then, as I was already struggling trying to find ways to cover Oma's costs when I found out that, by some bizarre twist of fate, I also had a gastric torsion.

Mine wasn't initially life threatening, until after we did the corrective surgery, when I went into septic shock and had to have another emergency high-risk full open-abdomen surgery. The kind where there's a very real chance I wouldn't make it.

Thankfully, Oma and I are both still here. She’s still fighting, still happy. I'm out of the ICU and off of the ventilator, but with a feeding tube going to my intestine, and still in the hospital with no clue when I'll get out.

We need help to get through this, right away. Like, NOW now.

I was already struggling to get above water with Oma's bills, and now I have my own, plus months of missed work, plus paying for someone to look after Oma while I'm in here.

Any amount helps, no matter how much. Thank you for caring about both of us, and for helping us keep her here.

(NOTE: The total I really need to raise is about $6k, but anything will help. The goal set is Gofundme's doing as a tiered goal thingamabob. I just want to be up front about that.)