Timmy is Healthy and Happy Again!

Timmy’s Story It is important to tell a little about Timmy’s family to understand his story. Timmy’s Dad has a blood disorder, at first the Doctors told him he had an early stage leukemia, recently they have told him that his blood work looks better, he may never develop that horrid disease. His Dad is still under the care of a cancer center and that will never change. Timmy’s Mom had a stroke 10 years ago, this makes it impossible for her to work.  In June of 2010, their beloved dog son Cain, succumbed to Osteosarcoma. Shortly after Cain died, Timmy’s Dad was hospitalized for what the doctors thought at the time was MDS. It was a very sad time for Timmy’s future family. Several months passed, the thought of how much happiness Cain had brought the family never left them. The family visited many shelters, feeling that there was a dog child waiting for them. Meeting Timmy One day as the Mom was at a shelter, a woman walked in. She had this tiny little dog that was flea ridden. This little dog boy had no hair on his back, was lethargic with no energy. When he saw the Mom he pepped up and kept trying to get to her. The women explained that her best friend had died and Timmy had been the friend’s dog. The Mom picked up Timmy and they both felt love. The new Mom asked to keep Timmy, she feared he was too near death for the shelter to keep him alive. Everyone agreed Timmy could leave with her. Timmy’s new Mom took him immediately to her Vet. The Vet warned the new Mom that Timmy was in grave condition. Timmy was very weak due to blood loss from the fleas. Timmy also had a corneal ulcer that may cause him blindness. He asked the Mom, “DO you really know what you are getting into?”. The new Mom did not care, she and Timmy felt love and that was all that mattered. The Vet gave Timmy some medicine which killed the fleas. The Vet’s wife and Timmy’s new Mom spent a very long time bathing & combing out hundreds of dead fleas. Timmy returned physically to good health. In about a month he was doing tricks & smiling. Timmy had the heart of everyone that met him.

Timmy’s Eye

Timmy’s new Mom was advised by her Vet that Timmy needed a Vet Ophthalmologist to attend to his eye. Timmy’s Mom took him to Blue Pearl Specialty clinic. The first 6 months the medications appeared to be keeping the eye ulceration stable. One morning Timmy’s Mom woke to find Timmy’s eye swollen shut. She took Timmy to the specialty clinic that morning. There were medications prescribed, some every 2 hours around the clock, Timmy’s Mom did not mind. Timmy was in pain, she just wanted to help him. After 10 days the Vet said that an infection had invaded the eye. The only option was to remove the eye, glaucoma had set in. Timmy’s parents had already spent over $2000 on his care. There were very few funds left for surgery.

Frankie’s Friends to the Rescue! The specialty clinic told the family that they could apply for help from Frankie’s friends. The three parties worked together. The Blue Pearl Specialty Clinic gave a discount, Frankie’s Friends gave a donation and the family had enough to pay the rest. The surgery was done. Timmy still has a regime of eye treatments for the eye he has left, however the family is coping beautifully. Timmy is healthy and happy again. Thank you for all the people involved that helped Timmy!

Grateful for Lucky Penny!

Dear Frankie’s Friends, We are so grateful and appreciative of all of your help and support for our baby girl, Penny. She now has a complete, full range of motion again, is enjoying her life to the fullest and is no longer in pain. She is so happy to be back to her normal, happy, hyper self and is back to keeping us on our toes!

We wouldn’t have been able to get Penny the surgery and help she needed without this financial assistance from Frankie’s Friends. It was just killing us to see her limp and wince with pain with every step she took. With Dr. Salas’ help, she was back to her normal self in no time, with a quicker recovery than anticipated. A program like this is absolutely wonderful and gives us the opportunity to spend more joyous time with those “furry” friends of our families.

In Honor of Jennifer Gonzalez-Funes

In honor of Jennifer Gonzalez-Funes. Merry Christmas Jennifer! Wishing you bigger and better things in the new year.

A Boy Named Sue...

Frankie's Friends saved the life of my guinea pig, Sue. We originally had two female guinea pigs, Bonnie and Clyde (Clyde was originally thought to be a female). Clyde died from an unfortunate accident, and we decided that we needed to get a new companion for Bonnie. So we drove 30 miles or so to a little town called Frostproof and got Sue (then named Susie) from a disabled lady who could no longer take care of him. We were told that he was a girl, and we didn't think to check until we got home. We had already fallen in love with Sue by time we got home, and didn't want to drive all the way back to give him back to his previous owner. So we let him stay in our small "hospital" cage for a while, and then built a divider in our main cage and let him see Bonnie for the first time.Both of them immediately were very excited, and would constantly play with each other through the bars, run around wheeking (the noise guinea pigs make) and at the end of the day would cuddle up with each other through the bars. It was simply adorable. We decided not to change his name, but rather to shorten it to "Sue" ala the song "A Boy Named Sue."

At that point, we realized that we couldn't keep them separated for forever. So we got Sue neutered. After the incision healed, he was the happiest pig on the planet, playing and prancing around with Bonnie. Then all of a sudden we noticed the surgical site growing larger and larger. He had formed an abscess, which was growing exponentially by the day. The abscess had grown to slightly smaller than a baseball. The surgery to remove it was expensive, and ended up taking a part of his inner abdominal wall.

So he healed, and he was allowed to play with Bonnie again. He again was happy....for a week or two. Then the site began to grow again, and on top of that he began to experience GI and GU symptoms. We knew that something was wrong again, but this was different.

We were referred to BluePearl in Tampa and the quote for surgery was way out of my budget. We initially only wanted pain meds and comfort measures for Sue, but Frankie's Friends was mentioned to us.  The site continued to grow, and after researching Frankie's Friends, I decided to have the surgery done.

Sue survived the surgery flawlessly and Sue was as good as new.

We took him home, and after his short healing period, he was reintroduced with Bonnie, and has never been happier. We eventually got a third guinea pig, a female named Clio, that Sue also adores. If it wasn't for Frankie's Friends, he would've most definitely died, or at least lived the rest of his life in excruciating pain. We're very happy that we were able to avoid that, and are very grateful to have been helped by such a wonderful organization.

Thank you again Frankie's Friends! Without you, our Sue wouldn't be the joy that he is today. Whenever I'm stable in my career and out of college, I most definitely will pay it forward!

Eleanor - She Made a Full Recovery!

Eleanor Roosevelt DeLaughter is the 2 year old, 4 legged daughter of Christopher and Susan DeLaughter and the 4 legged sister of Kylee Badia. She recently needed her tail amputated due to biting off the bandages. Little did we know that she swallowed the bandages and even the tip of her own tail and she began to fall seriously ill. We took her to BluePearl, and they told us she had a serious intestinal blockage that needed immediate surgery. But for Frankie's Friends, we would not have afforded the surgery. Eleanor made a full recovery and is her happy playful loving self!  We wanted to donate to Frankie's Friends as a thank you for letting us keep our little girl for the rest of her full and fun life!

Baby Bella - Loved Like a Daughter

I wanted to say "Thank You" to Frankie's Friends, well honestly I want to do more! This organization has saved my baby Bella's life! I had only had Bella for a couple of weeks when she had her reaction to her vaccines. Bella came from an abuse/neglect situation and didn't know how to play with toys or chew on yummy treats. Now Bella has been given health and happiness! Bella loves to chew and play for hours a day! We love her as a daughter! This would not have been possible if it wasn't for Frankie's Friends. This is a wonderful foundation! This is a charitable foundation that must be kept funded to help others, so I will be making donations soon as I am financially stable. I always believe in helping others and for the first time I was the one who needed the help. Thank you so much!

Joyously Happy and Thankful, Tammy

Grateful to Frankie's Friends for Saving Little Wolfe!

 

This is my baby boy at the vet. He had eaten foreign fabric off of one of his toys and it made a blockage in his intestines. I couldn't afford the surgery that could have saved his life. They took Wolfe to the back. I was crying so much I started convulsing. Fifteen minutes later the nurse came back and I was prepared for the worst. She told me about a charity that helps people like me save their pets. I was thrilled!!! Wolfe got the surgery that day and his life was saved.

I am so grateful to Frankie's Friends for helping my baby, his sisters Angel and Caramel are grateful too!

Little Lilly is Doing Fine!

Thank you very much for the donation. Now Little Lilly is doing fine and she's made a quick recovery. My husband and I are very appreciative of your generous help.

You Helped Save My Rumi

Your wonderful foundation helped me save my Rumi.  I didn’t have the funds for Rumi's surgery. Thanks to the help from your wonderful foundation, you have given me and my beloved Rumi more quality years. There are no words to express my gratitude for your gift.  I am a petsitter and I will be spreading the word to my clients about your program so they can donate. I am so very grateful to have your wonderful foundation to refer them to. Again, I can’t begin to thank you. What a wonderful Christmas blessing you have given me & my beloved Rumi. I hope that your day is one filled with love, joy & bliss!

I Can Continue to Care for Smokey

My name is Daniel Fuentes, and the pictures are of my 8 month old kitty, Smokey. I picked Smokey up as a stray when he was about 3-4 months old. He had something happen to his leg sometime before I brought him home. The vet told me that maybe he got his leg caught on something, or something tried to eat him. Roughly half of his left hind was gone, but he seemed to be adapting to it well, and it looked to be healing.  Recently, however, I noticed Smokey was meowing in pain and backing into things, then I noticed that the some of the bone in his leg was poking through the wound. I took him to my vet, who suggested the remainder should be amputated.

The size of the bill was breathtaking. I was so afraid that I would not be able to have the surgery done. Being substantially short of the required amount of money for the surgery, and not being approved for a credit line; I was faced with the fact that I would likely have to have Smokey euthanized. But I was so lucky, that one vet still had Hope Funds left, and enough to make it possible to for Smokey to have his surgery. I cannot begin to express the depth of emotions that I felt at that moment, when I knew I would be able to continue caring for this cat who had such a traumatic start in life. I am so grateful to the donors who made this possible, and to the founders of this great charity.

Our most sincere gratitude,

Daniel & Smokey

Koda and Her Amazing Gift!

Koda's owner was devastated when the 6-month-old puppy suddenly lost the use of her legs. A trip to BluePearl GVS revealed growth plate fractures in both of Koda's hind legs, an injury that would cause long-term walking problems and progressive arthritis if not corrected by surgery. Unfortunately, Koda's owners had just experienced a series of their own medical emergencies that left them financially drained. They sadly resigned to taking the puppy home without treatment. Frankie's Friends stepped in though to make the mobility-saving procedure possible, giving Koda a chance at the normal life she deserved. Today, she's recovering-and walking-well. "The whole ordeal reminded me of the generosity and compassion of others," says Koda's owner. "I wouldn't have made it through that day without this amazing gift from Frankie's Friends."

Nanook - We Hope He is in Our Arms Soon

Dear Frankies Friends, First off let me start off by saying you are all incredible people. The donors and everyone involved with your organization give so much love and hope for longer, healthier lives for our beloved furry companions. Our dog Nanook, a 3-year old Siberian husky has been really sick as of late. We have been very worried and took him to the vet where we unfortunately couldn't afford for his care. Thank God for your organization, you gave us hope that our big baby would be ok and in our arms soon. We love you all so much and are grateful; Nanook too : ). Thank you so much and God bless.

Sincerely,

The Santoni Family

Button thanks the Zeus Varis Fund!

To the Zeus Varis Fund: Thank you so much for your generous donation for my cat Button's cancer treatment. Around the end of October, I was petting Button and felt a round growth under the skin on her back. It felt suspicious and I brought her into my local vet. After an expensive suregery where two tumors, plus a lymph node under her chin were removed and sent out for biopsy, the diagnosis came back as lymphoma.

This was devastating to  me. I had just lost my cat Sid to lymphoma in August, and to think that I woud be losing Button also was hard to take. To complicate matters, my husband had recently lost his job, and because his hours had previously been cut back, he was receiving a lower amount of unemployment compensation. My hours were also cut at my job to three days a week. My husband needs to have surgery and will be hospitalized. I am employed as a contractor and do not have benefits where I work.

The local vet who did Button's surgery suggested that I take Button to Dr Brooke Britton at BluePearl Veterinary Practice to see if anything could be done for Button. I took Button to the Brooklyn office. Dr Britton was very nice and caring, and thought that Button would benefit from a protocol of chemo-therapy. Because of our present financial situation, I would never have been able to afford the cost of the chemo-therapy.  I love Button and wanted so much to help her. Dr Britton suggested that I contact Frankie's Friends, to apply for a grant that Dr Britton would recommend Button for, and I did this.

I'm thrilled that Button was Ok'd for the grant and that I will be able to bring her in for treatment. She will have her first chemo visit next week. I can't thank you enough for making this possible.

Max is Full of Life Again!

Thank you so much for the amazing work that your foundation does! As a long story short, my cat Max was very sick for weeks and was constantly in and out of BluePearl Clearwater. He went through a few small procedures that were costly and painful for us all. After those unsuccessful attempts to get him better, BluePearl offered a major yet pricey surgery that would most likely guarantee a normal, healthy life for him. At that point, I couldn’t gather any more funds or extensions to pay for the surgery but I wasn’t ready to give up on him. I asked that they keep him overnight to relieve some pain and keep him hydrated while I tried to figure out the best thing for him. That was a very hard and long night. The next morning, BluePearl called to let me know about Frankie’s Friends and that Dr. Kate Elliot had donated her funds from the Hope Fund to help save my Max. I was overwhelmed with emotion and cried nearly all day. That was the nicest thing anybody has ever done for me and I am forever grateful for her and your generous foundation. Due to your excellent support, Dr. Elliot’s kind heart, and the staff of BluePearl’s hard work, my Max is back to his old self and full of life again! The vet says he’s now fully recovered and expected to live a much healthier life!

Thank you so much for your donation!!!! I will forever be a huge supporter and advocate for Frankie’s Friends and the people who make it possible.