Help fix Bella’s heart

It is very hard to write this to ask for help. Our family believes very strongly in being able to provide for its own, but sometimes you just have to swallow your pride and let people know you are not invincible and need some help. It is not for me, it is for our 5 month old little Boston Terrier, Bella.

A few months ago we adopted a sweet little special needs Boston Terrier puppy from rescue. We knew she had a heart murmur. When it was discovered, she had a grade 1-2 heart murmur.

We knew she had a heart murmur and one of two things would happen. Either the heart murmur would be an innocent heart murmur and resolve, or it would worsen. A few weeks later the rescue's vet graded it as a grade 2-3. We were referred to a cardiologist to investigate her heart situation.

We fully expected to just be patted on the back and told that nothing could be done. But that is not what happened. We were told that she has pulmonic stenosis and that it could be treated with surgery!!! This was a shock and wonderful news! Our little girl might have a chance to live an almost normal life! The local cardiologist told us he'd need to refer us to Tufts for the surgery since the local vet hospitals did not have the equipment for the balloon valvuloplasty. So off we went to Tufts.

We saw the cardiologist at Tufts and she had good news and bad news. The bad news first - Bella's murmur was a grade 5 heart murmur and her heart situation was severe. In addition to having the issue with her pulmonic valve, she also had a thickened right ventricle.

The good news - The vet put her on a beta-blocker for the right ventricle and recommended the surgery (balloon valvuloplasty) in 4 weeks. She feels Bella is a good candidate for the surgery and the tests so far do not show any complicating factors.

The bad news again - the cost for this procedure is estimated to be around $4500.
When we discovered that Bella's heart murmur was not resolving and in fact it was worsening, we realized she was with us for hospice care. We set aside funding for her hospice care. But that account has been depleted by the specialists, testing and consultations in the short 3 weeks since we first met the cardiologist.

The surgeon at Tufts would like to do the surgery in January. That is not enough time to find the money we need. We have applied to foundations and non-profits for help with this unexpected expense. But so far the requests for help have been more than the organizations can meet, so we have not received help.

If you would consider helping out Bella, we'd be very grateful.