Our
Story
Get to Know Us
My name is Chelsea and this is my sweet girl, Amy. I was given Amy as a gift from my mom when I was fourteen and we have been inseparable ever since. I have had pretty bad anxiety most of my life and Amy was given to me to help provide support as I began high school. She has done that and so much more. Amy has been a constant source of support over the years as I became a teenager, graduated high school and became an adult, started college and moved out on my own as just some examples. She goes with me everywhere I go.
Amy is now a seven year old cavalier spaniel. She has been healthy all of her life until just a few months ago, April 2024. We didn't know about Mitral Valve Disease until more recently, but when she began to cough, we realized we needed to act quickly. Her primary veterinarian found that her heart was enlarged and she is in the beginning stages of congestive heart failure. We got a referral to a cardiologist who confirmed with an echocardiogram that Amy has a defective Mitral Valve in her heart causing her heart to not work properly. With medicine, the average length of time for dogs with this disease is 18-24 months. With surgery to repair the valve, Amy will have little to no evidence of the disease and can live out the rest of her lifespan (another 8-10 years) with no medication and an excellent quality of life, as every dog should be able to.
Our Plan
We realize the surgery is expensive and we realize we may not get enough money in time to make it happen but, for Amy, we are going to give it all we have. We've been told that Amy is a good candidate for surgery as she is young, in the beginning stages, at a healthy weight, and has no other complicating health issues. The surgery is a big surgery, but it is not new or experimental, and it has a good success rate. So essentially, the only reason not to do the surgery is because of the money and we refuse to not even try to find the money to do this for her. We refuse to let a lack of money be the only reason that she doesn't make it to ten years old.
I am exploring loan and credit options but because I am young and just starting out with no credit history or assets, we are not super optimistic that I can receive a loan big enough to cover the surgery.
So we are also fundraising to pay for this surgery! We will be having events, selling handmade items, and accepting donations. I have a crochet side business and am a vendor at events so 100% of my sales will go toward her surgery. I am a vendor at the farmer's market in Clarksville, TN currently but you can also reach out to me to buy anything you like.
