This is Winnie. She's our golden retriever who turns two on September 13th, and she is our entire world.
This weekend, our lives changed. Winnie was diagnosed with megaesophagus and myasthenia gravis - two serious conditions that affect her ability to eat, swallow, and move food safely to her stomach. She was hospitalized to receive a feeding tube and IV fluids just to get her rehydrated and nourished enough to come home.
She's not out of the woods, and honestly, neither are we.
When Winnie comes home, everything about her care changes. She'll need daily medication for the rest of her life. She may need a Bailey chair — a specialized upright chair that helps dogs with megaesophagus eat safely and reduces the risk of aspiration pneumonia, which is one of the biggest dangers with this condition. She'll need ongoing vet visits, monitoring, and likely additional treatment as we learn more about how her body responds.
We are already doing everything we can. Trent is a wildland firefighter, working 12 to 21 day stretches on the fire line. He can't pick up more hours than he's already doing, and when he's out on assignment, he's often not reachable and can't help manage what's happening at home. I already work five jobs just to keep us afloat, and there genuinely isn't a sixth one to add or an extra shift to squeeze in. We're not asking for help because we haven't tried. We're asking because we're already at full capacity, this diagnosis came fast, and the gap between what we can earn and what Winnie needs right now is more than we can close on our own.
This isn't about not working hard enough. It's about needing a boost to get through a crisis that hit faster than our paychecks can stretch to cover.
Any amount helps, whether it goes toward her vet bills, medication, a Bailey chair, or the follow-up care ahead of us. And if you can't give, a share means just as much.
If we raise more than our goal, everything over that amount will be donated to the Morris Animal Foundation, to help fund the research, diagnostics, and care that other dogs facing conditions like Winnie's will need.
Winnie has given us and everyone around her so much joy in her not-quite-two years. Now we're asking for a little help giving it back to her.
Thank you for loving her with us.
