Saving Sumo - Support for Sumo's Life Saving Surgery

Hi, I'm Dayna, a long time friend of our wonderful Jess Sanders.

Jess recently adopted a very special fur baby kitty, he is a very soft orange tabby cat and is 1 year and 2 months old. He is the biggest sweetie and has settled into his new life with Jess purrrfectly.

If you know Jess (whether you're close or you just met her), you know she is one of the most selfless and generous people/friends you could know. She's always doing THE MOST for her friends and people she loves and that includes her furry babies so let's help her out in her time of need!

Below is the full journey for anyone who wants to know the details of Sumo's life saving surgery directly from Jess herself.

"After a year of moving back to Atlanta to start my life over and deeply missing my pets who have moved over to the rainbow bridge in the past 1-3 years I decided to go meet with the lovely people at Bossy Paws and met the new love of my life - Sumo Chicken Fernandez. Unfortunately, a few months after adopting Sumo he was having trouble breathing that began to turn into consistent coughing fits.

I took him to the Goodvets in Toco Hills and after various blood work ups and testing they told me I needed to come back to do an X-ray a few weeks later. A few weeks later I made a new appointment with Remedy through the humane society because Sumo's situation turned critical and he wasn't going to make it another day. Shortly after Remedy called me to tell me I needed to bring him back in ASAP because his X-rays revealed that he would need to be admitted to Village vets emergency location to do another x-ray, ultrasound, and additional work ups. Initially, they thought that it might be air so they tried to use a needle to drain the air. This is when we found out that he had fluid filling around his lung which was collapsing his left lung causing his troubled breathing.

Shortly after this we had to return to his original vet over at Goodvets in Toco Hills and this is where we were finally given a solid diagnosis (after another x-ray and ultra sound) which was that’s he had a diaphragmatic hernia and the collapsed lung.

They couldn’t 100% tell what was growing into his chest cavity from his abdomen from the xrays and ultra sounds alone so they suggested that I admit him for surgery as soon as possible. Through the help of Goodvets and Bossy Paws I was referred to the UGA emergency vet. On August 20 he was admitted and kept stable over night. On the 21st, they performed the emergency surgery he needed to save his life.

They found that a lobe of his liver and fat had grown into his chest cavity which was contributing to his collapsed lung. They kept him for four days/nights for close monitoring & recovery before I could bring him home.

Since the surgery we have had to return to the ER vet once for sever inflammation that I noticed, but he seems to be doing ok. He is still in recovery for a total of two weeks with my at home where I am administering medications around the clock. I have had to take off several days to take care of him to watch that he isn't moving around or messing with his wound. My vet bills have exceeded over $7,500 between his surgery and all the vet visits. I have insurance for Sumo but all of my claims have been denied for any reimbursement because they are saying it is all pre-existing.

I hate to ask for help, but I am in a really hard position financially now. Anything helps. I love Sumo like my own child and I know anyone with pets would do the same. It’s hard to get a new pet hoping everything will be ok and then it turns into an emergency situation. I work a service industry based career and it's been a very slow season and I haven't been able to get many shifts at my second job because they have also been experiencing a slow period.

Thank you to all of my friends and family for helping me with this and the people who have been emotional support and come to help me watch Sumo so that I could pick up some shifts at work. Without you I wouldn’t have been able to work and I really need to be working as much as possible right now. I love and appreciate you all."

Please help Jess anyway you can, this money will help her recoup some of the costs from all the vet bills she has incurred.

Thank you!