Save “Lakeland”
The Backstory
Lakeland is our daughter Alaine and her husband Cameron’s beautiful, loving, comical golden retriever. He turned one on July 4th and was his usually happy self. Then the next day he became very sick and now he’s fighting for his life in an animal hospital. Let me try to explain.
When Lakeland was just a few months old he swallowed a whole treat and it got lodged in his intestines. Alaine and Cameron took him to the vet who performed surgery to remove it. Lakeland seemed to heal and was back to his normal self soon after.
Or so we thought.
On July 5th Lakeland seemed tired and wouldn’t eat or drink. When he started vomiting, Alaine and Cameron took him to the vet - the same vet who completed the original surgery. That “vet” told them Lakeland was fine and sent him home. Lakeland got worse, so they took him back a day later. Again, the vet said he was fine. It seemed surreal that this vet would neglect Lakeland’s worsening symptoms so when Lakeland continued to decline, they took him back a third time. At this point, the vet wanted to do an exploratory surgery. Feeling uncomfortable with this “treatment plan” and lack of care, Alaine and Cameron decided to take Lakeland to an Animal Hospital for an evaluation. That’s when they learned that Lakeland was not only extremely sick, he may not even make it through the week.
The Costs
The Animal Hospital team explained that Lakeland was suffering from a ruptured small intestine due to a botched procedure - yes the original surgery was done incorrectly and caused this entire thing! Ten (10) inches of Lakeland’s intestines have now been removed and the team is working around the clock to save him. He has septic abdomen and dozens of other conditions and complications. He has a long road ahead of him… if he makes it. Right now he has about a 50% chance. And on top of all that, the bill is skyrocketing… to the tune of $8k so far and it could be thousands more. As you can imagine Alaine and Cameron want to do everything they can to save Lakeland and yet, they are overwhelmed by mounting medical bills for his care.
How You Can Help
Donations will go to help pay for Lakeland to get well and specifically go to pay for the Animal Hospital team working on him around the clock. His care is costing about $500 per day and it’s going to be a week or more until they know whether he will make it. The funds are needed asap so we can do our part to get him the best care possible while he fights for his life. We can’t thank you enough for considering a donation. We are grateful for your prayers too!
April & Eric Thomas
"Lakeland's" grandparents
