Support Jax’s Medical Crisis

Hello Family, Friends and Supporters,

We are reaching out today with a heavy heart to share the story of our beloved French Bulldog, Jax.

On the late afternoon of Sunday, October 27th, Jax started showing signs of distress that slowly grew into signs of pain. While mobile and able to walk, we would eventually find him laying all by himself in the dark which is very abnormal for him. Throughout the night he continued to show more signs of pain and discomfort.

We rushed Jax to the local emergency vet, where he received pain medication and a sedative to help calm him down. He was ultimately diagnosed with a "possible" neck injury. Unfortunately, this emergency vet didn't have a neurologist who can give a complete scan including an MRI to determine how major the injury actually was. We were sent home with pain meds to give him to see if that helped his condition.

The following day, Jax was out of it and immobilized at this point. While unsure if it was due to the amount of pain meds and sedative he received the night prior, we took him to our local vet. Our vet monitored him for a few hours and advised to allow him some more time to rest to see if he improves. Later that same night, he became much more alert, but unfortunately continued laying on his side. We decided to rush him to the closest VCA Animal Hospital since he was not able to get up on his own.

On Monday night, the Neurologist at the VCA diagnosed Jax with a major herniated/ruptured disk and confirmed paralysis in all of his legs. This required emergency surgery on Tuesday morning which was successful. However, during his post-surgery recovery in ICU, Jax ended up regurgitating and aspirated into his lungs. This led to aspiration pneumonia which is extremely critical for animals. He was put in critical care where he was given antibiotics and oxygen to help fight the pneumonia. Luckily, he recovered from the aspiration pneumonia in which the doctor and vet techs have started calling him a "miracle baby." Currently, he is still in ICU while they continue to stabilize him and control the regurgitation since that is the next biggest hurdle. He has started to show some movement in his legs but he is still unable to walk on his own.

We are reaching out to seek financial support to cover Jax's medical bill and future bills to help him on his road to recovery. If you have any advice on resources or organizations that provide financial assistance for animal surgeries, we would be immensely grateful. Our bill has climbed to a staggering $22,000 and we still don't know when we can bring him home.

Thank you for your prayers, suggestions, and any support you can offer during this difficult time. As many of you know, Jax means the world to us, and we are committed to ensuring he has the best chance at recovery and the best quality of life possible.

With heartfelt gratitude,

Dustin and Mal.