u/Lazzaru1s

*Quick Note: the first paragraph I've written doesn't actually have that much to do with my campaign and, besides the first sentence I wrote, you could ignore that entire paragraph if you'd like. I am just a bit distraught over what happened to my precious little man, and I felt like I needed to get a few things off my chest, so to speak. I am in no way whatsoever trying to offend or upset anyone with the statements I make. I am just really upset over what happened and I guess I am just trying to process things in my own weird way, so please, just bear with me a little longer.*

Dear reader, let me start by thanking each and every one of you for taking time out of your day to look over my GoFundMe Campaign. Before I go over my kitten’s accident, injuries, and his very expensive treatments, I would like to make a few statements to help anyone reading this understand why I can't help being way too overly detailed in my writing. First off, I find it very difficult to communicate my needs to other people, which makes it pretty hard to get the help I need when I need it. I always end up going way overboard when it comes to explaining things because I'm an extremely anxious person. Unfortunately, that causes me to think and believe I am not being clear enough, detailed enough, or thorough enough no matter what it's about. Recently, I posted about the situation I'll be discussing shortly in another subreddit, and I thought I was doing the right thing by going into great detail so that my situation would be clear to anyone kind enough to read it. However, I clearly did something wrong because people began downvoting it for reasons I don't understand (this is not an excuse, but I think it's worth mentioning that I'm neurodivergent, and I have difficulties understanding people and their meanings through text style conversations VS speaking face-to-face). All I want to do is explain the terrible situation that occurred to my 7-month-old kitten recently and do everything I can to save him by sharing our story with as many people as I possibly can. Currently, reddit is the only means I have to possibly connect with a large audience to ask for help, but when people downvote my post when I am seeking assistance from any willing person to help pay for my kitten's emergency medical bills, medications, scans, and surgeries, it causes the post to be seen by fewer and fewer people, and so it's much more difficult to get my message out and get the help I need... I know I should probably just delete this entire paragraph because the likelihood of someone downvoting this post has just skyrocketed simply because I am talking about it, and someone out there will find humor in making my struggles a bit more difficult to deal with.

Anyway, I would like to apologize to anyone that read all that and I hope you aren't put off by me now, and, for the sake of my kitten, I hope that nothing I have said keeps you from wanting to help me in whatever way you can, either by making a small donation or simply just sharing my post with your friends, family, and loved ones. This whole ordeal has been traumatic for me - I feel hopeless right now and all I can do to help him is to ramble on and on about his situation to anyone willing to listen, which is obviously becoming a problem as I don't know when to stfu...

Campaign Summary:

Hello again, reader. I am reaching out to as many people as I possibly can to tell everyone about the tragic accident Orion recently endured so that we can try to get donations from kindhearted individuals to help us pay for his substantial medical bills in our time of need. On Friday, May 1^(st), Orion got out of the house at some point in the afternoon because, for some reason, the front doorknob has started having an issue where it looks as if the door has latched even if it didn't actually latch. Around 2:30 or so in the afternoon, I noticed that the front door was slightly ajar, and after checking on all our fur babies to ensure they were still inside, Orion was nowhere to be found. After quickly scouring local neighborhoods, I located him lying in grass, right next to the road a few blocks from our house. Straight away I could see that something was off with him; he noticed me approaching him, but he didn't even try to move. Once I approached him, I could hear that he was breathing quite heavily and he had a small amount of blood on his lip and chin. Besides the obvious issues he was having with his lungs, when I picked him up, his lower half was completely limp. It was clear that he needed immediate emergency medical attention, and so we took him to the nearest emergency vet clinic. Orion was given an x-ray which revealed that he had a lung contusion with fluid in his lungs, his right femur was also broken, and his right leg was broken in the place where his leg connects to his spine. For several days, Orion had to be in an oxygen chamber because he couldn't breathe well enough on his own. Orion has now been at the emergency clinic for 11 days and during this time he has not been able to use either of his hind legs. It's believed that he has a significant spinal injury, and they believe he may be paralyzed as he is unable to feel his tail being squeezed/pinched, as well as him being unable to feel anything in his left leg. This morning, we took him to another clinic so he could have a CT scan and an MRI. We will not know the full extent of his injuries or how his injuries are going to impact his quality of life until we've received the results from the scans. Once the results are in, we will also be able to figure out what surgery he is going to need - it's most likely going to be a complete amputation of the right leg if he has paralysis. However, if the spinal injury is treatable and gives him back the feeling in his limbs, then they should be able to save the leg by doing a Fusion.

*ALL UPDATES REGARDING HIS WELLBEING OR HIS TREATMENT PLANS WILL BE ADDED HERE, DIRECTLY BELOW THE "CAMPAIGN SUMMARY" PARAGRAPH*

What it's costing:

For his first 3 days in the ICU, the charge was $4,177.14 to cover everything needed at the time.

After those 3 days in the ICU, he spent 3 more days in the ICU, and the daily rate for his kennel was $500 per day for a total of $1,500.

On May 7^(th), Orion was able to be moved out of the ICU and into a boarding room. The rate for the boarding room was $120 per day. He is currently still being held at the emergency clinic, and for the time being, he is still in the boarding room so I do not yet know what the total cost for boarding him will be.

For his MRI, we are being billed $2,500 for the scan. For the CT scan, the clinic graciously gave us a 50% discount, and so we are being billed $750 for that scan. I believe that having the MRI evaluated by a radiologist is included in the $2,500 charge, however, to have his CT scans evaluated by a radiologist, we will be billed around $450, but the nurse said that it could end up being cheaper.

Once we figure out which surgery he is going to need we will be able to figure out what that cost will be as well. They did give us a possible range of what it may cost, again this will be dependent upon the type of surgery, but the range they told us was between $1,000 to $2,000.

*If any more charges are accrued, I will provide an update with any relevant documentation right here.*

Veterinarian Information:

Animal Emergency and Surgical Center: 931 SW 74th St, Oklahoma City, Ok 73139, (405) 631-7828

Scissortail Veterinary Specialists: 912 Market Dr, Oklahoma City, Ok, 73114 (405) 594-4999

PLEASE, IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, SUGGESTIONS, WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT, OR ANYTHING ELSE, SUCH AS ADVICE FROM ANYONE ELSE WHO MAY HAVE GONE THROUGH SOMETHING SIMILAR WITH ONE OF THEIR CATS.

EVERYONE THAT READS OR COMES ONTO THIS POST HAS THE POWER TO MAKE A MAJOR DIFFERENCE IN ORION'S LIFE. EVEN IF YOU'RE UNABLE TO DONATE, YOU STILL HAVE THE POWER TO HELP US DURING THIS VERY DIFFICULT TIME WE ARE FACING BY HITTING THAT SHARE BUTTON AND BY ENCOURAGING OTHERS TO SHARE IT AS WELL!

FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART, THANK YOU ALL FOR ANYTHING YOU MAY DO!

LINK TO THE GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/59372ba60

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Updates posted after TLDR and above the attached images

Let me reiterate something: yes, I know my post is a bit long and I'm sorry for that, but I truly believe that I only wrote what I thought was necessary to fully convey my current situation and how it's negatively impacting my life, and of course, why I am asking for your help. However, I understand that your time is very valuable, and so I have gone ahead - against my own judgment, no less - and written a TLDR that you can find just above the images I have shared with you all. I still hope that a good number of people that come here will actually read my post in its entirety as it is all connected.

Hello, everyone. I have never had to write anything like this before, so please bear with me as I do my best to explain the situation and provide you all with important background information that directly relates to the emergency situation I currently find myself in. Before I get to the heart of the matter, I first want to start by thanking everyone that takes time out of their day to read my post – whether you decide to donate to my fund or not – and hopefully share it with friends, family, and other loved ones so that my baby can get the help he so desperately needs! As a quick warning, my post is probably longer than typical posts in this subreddit as it seems most people just give a brief overview and introduction since the link to their GoFundMe page likely contains most of their information, and so I want to go ahead and apologize if that’s the case because I know that your time is valuable. Now, the reason I ended up writing so much is because it is the only way I can make others understand how deeply I love Orion and to show how much he means to me and the positive impact he’s having on my life. I truly do not have any idea how I am going to make it through this if I can’t save him, and right now, the only thing I can do to help save him is to plead for help from strangers to save his life and by relying on the kindness of individuals – the kindness of you. So, when I say that every dollar counts, I truly mean every dollar counts.

First off, I’d like to start by providing information about myself and my situation. I am a 35-year-old disabled war veteran and a father to two amazing children. I have not had an easy life by any means. I suffered through many types of traumatic events during childhood – at the hands of people who were meant to protect and love me – until I could no longer take the horrific abuse and I decided I’d had enough and left home at 15. While serving in the Army, I experienced more traumatic events while serving in Afghanistan, and I even received a devastating injury that eventually led me to being medically retired after 5 years. Due to the trauma I’ve been through, and the injury I incurred while in the Army, I unfortunately have lingering mental health issues and chronic pain; debilitating anxiety, treatment resistant depression, PTSD, significant nerve damage, and many other things not relevant to this post.

Due to my physical injuries, I had to stop most of the hobbies I enjoyed; hobbies that kept my mental health mostly under control. Besides the issues I have already mentioned, I have trouble dealing with people and keeping friends (it’s been my experience that people do not actually want to be friends with someone who deals with mental health problems, no matter how loyal or helpful I’ve been to them; also considering the things that were done to me as a child, I have justifiable trust issues). So, I have no friends and no one to really talk to besides my wife. As a disabled veteran that’s almost completely isolated at home, can’t work, and doesn’t have any friends to confide in, things can get lonely at times. So, near the end of last year, I began looking into finding a companion animal that I could truly bond with on a deep level as I raised them up from a baby. Eventually, I found the perfect companion to meet my needs, and in February of this year, my wife and children got me a male Maine Coon kitten for my birthday!

I knew immediately that I had found my companion and that I would always love and care for him to the best of my ability, and he was absolutely everything I needed in a companion. I named him after Orion the hunter from Greek mythology, and Orion took to me quite quickly, and within just a few short weeks, he had “chosen” me as his one and only person and we bonded just as I had so dearly hoped for! I love everything about Orion; his cute little quirks, his personality, his long, soft, and beautiful fur that you just want to bury your face in, and the unconditional love he provides me with. At that point, he became my constant companion and shadow. As I would do chores and move about the house, he would always be right there with me, observing me or moving over to me for love and attention when he noticed me looking at him. And, every time I go to the bathroom, there he is, lying in wait for me right outside the door. He even has special purrs, trills, and chirps that he does just for me... and the way he gets excited, and walks circles through my legs – rubbing me as he passes through – as I prepare his food always brings joy to my heart and a smile to my face.

My little man even knew when it was time for bed, and every night, he would sprint to our bedroom door where he’d sit and wait for me, and he wouldn’t go into the room until I went in with him, even if my wife walked past him to go into the room first, he still waited on me. He even has several special spots on me where he absolutely loves to sleep! If he isn’t sleeping on top of my head, he pushes his way under my face to the point where my head is literally laying on top of him, or he would lay on my arm so that I would wrap my arms around him in a hug where he’d then purr himself to sleep for hours without moving an inch. For the last spot, he will stand on my pillow while he noses the blanket to tell me to lift the covers for him to crawl under so he can lay down on my belly to sleep. He came into my life at the exact right time I needed him to, and he is by far the most affectionate animal I have ever had the pleasure of letting into our family.

Unfortunately, on Friday May 1^(st), Orion got out of the house for an unknown period of time. Lately, our door has been messing up and sometimes it does not latch even if it looks like it did. Sometime in the late afternoon that day, I noticed that the front door was slightly ajar. I immediately began checking the house to ensure all the animals were still in the house, but Orion was nowhere to be found… After walking around nearby neighborhoods, I ended up finding Orion a few blocks away, laying in the grass. I knew immediately something was seriously wrong because he had noticed me, but he wasn’t trying to move and the look in his eyes was terrifying, and it was as if he wasn’t all there. As I approached, I could hear him breathing heavily; it sounded as if he was drowning and I saw a small amount of blood on his lip and chin… I quickly got him back home and immediately called my wife to come home to help me get him to the nearest emergency veterinarian clinic as I couldn’t drive due to how distraught and emotional I was.

Upon reaching the emergency clinic, he was immediately taken to the back where they conducted an x-ray. The x-ray showed his femur had been broken, and his right leg was broken where his leg connects to his spine. It was also discovered that he had a lung contusion, which is why his breathing was so ragged. It was also the reason his breathing sounded so terrible as he had somehow got fluid in his lungs. Because of his lung contusion and difficulty breathing, he was placed into an oxygen chamber for several days while his lungs healed enough for him to maintain proper oxygen levels on his own. For the first 3 days he spent in the ICU, he wouldn’t eat anything offered to him, and he couldn’t poop even though the x-ray showed he was completely full. Fortunately, he was still capable of urinating, but because he couldn’t move his hind legs, he was urinating on himself, and so they had to put a catheter in, and it has remained in ever since. Orion was in the ICU from Friday the 1^(st) until Wednesday the 6^(th). Thankfully, they have been able to move him to a boarding room while he awaits a CT scan and an MRI. Once he has his scan results, the veterinarians will finally have everything they need to come up with a care plan and determine what type of surgery he needs… if he is eligible to have surgery.

Orion has now been at the emergency clinic for 11 days, and sadly, he has yet to use his good hind leg. Because he isn’t using either of his hind legs, the veterinarians are very concerned that he has a spinal injury… if the scans come back showing a spinal injury, they may not be able to do surgery at all, and at that point, our only option would be to euthanize my baby boy. However, if we get lucky and he’s able to have surgery, then we’ll have two options: the first, and absolute best, surgical option would be to fuse his leg back together using rods and screws, the second heart breaking option would be to have his leg completely amputated. We obviously want to save his leg if it is even remotely possible, but at this point, no matter what happens, Orion’s quality of life is going to be significantly hindered for the remainder of his life if he survives this; he’ll never jump again, never climb his cat tower or up into our bed unassisted, and he’ll never be able to play the way he loves to play…

Now, as many of you know, emergency medical bills can be substantial, and the costs of care and treatment can quickly add up and spiral out of control. For his first 3 days in the ICU, we were billed $4,177.17 – both the finalized bill, and the itemized bill with the cost estimates can be found within the attached images. For the remaining time he spent in the ICU – on the 4^(th), 5^(th), and 6^(th) – we were charged a rate of $500 per day. After being removed from the ICU and placed into a boarding room, the rate went down to $120 per day. As of now, I do not have quotes for either of those charges that will continue to accrue until he is discharged, but I should get copies of them tomorrow when we take Orion to get his CT scan and MRI (well, I have been writing for so long at this point that tomorrow is now today ((to be fair, I spent several hours writing my post and when I submitted it on Reddit everything but the images were deleted for no apparent reason, so I had to write an entirely new post that took many more hours to write)), so in about an hour, we will be leaving to go take him to get his scans). For those two scans, the quote they gave was $4,900. I do not have a copy of that quote yet either, but I should be able to obtain a copy of that today since we will have to pay it at the time of the visit. If he ends up being eligible for surgery, they said that could cost anywhere between $1,000 to $2,000, possibly more. I will provide a copy of that quote/charge once we’ve gotten to that point. Any additional costs will be determined by the type of surgery he needs – he’ll almost certainly require some sort of medical mobility device to get around, he may need long-term or permanent medications to help with bowel movements if there is any paralysis, he’ll probably even need a special type of litter box just to get in and out of, and honestly, I dare not attempt listing anything else he may need so he can have some sort of semblance at a “normal” life as, depending upon how this tragedy unfolds, the list of things he may end up needing could become outrageously long.

To those that have read through everything, donated, or shared my post, I can never repay your kindness, all I can do is thank you from the bottom of my heart and wish you all the best.

TLDR:

My 7 month old kitten became severely injured somehow. His femur is broken. His right leg is broken where the joint connects to the spine. He also had a lung contusion and fluid in his lungs requiring him to be placed in an oxygen chamber for several days before he could breathe well enough on his own to no longer need supplemented oxygen. He has been in the ICU and now in a boarding room since Friday May 1st. It's all extremely expensive. All of the veterinarians that have seen him think that he may also have a spinal injury, because after 11 days he still has not used his "good" leg. However, he can feel deep pain in his left hind foot, so he is not paralyzed at this time. He is currently getting a CT scan and an MRI done as I sit here and type this to you. The results of those scans should be back within 24 hours of them being submitted and that will tell us what our options are concerning surgery: so long as the imaging comes back and shows he is eligible for surgery, we have been given two surgical options as of this time; one is to have his leg completely amputated, and the other option, the option we are most hopeful for, would be to have his leg fused back together using rods and screws so that the leg can be saved. As of right now, however, there is no guarantee that he will be a good candidate for surgery, and if he can't have surgery, I would be forced to have him euthanized, which would be absolutely devastating to me. As this is an ongoing issue, I do not yet have all the receipts for the care and treatments he has received. However, I have uploaded the initial bill we had to pay in the amount of $4,177.17. Also, just before I replied to you, I uploaded the "estimate" for his MRI and CT scan - the price shown for the MRI is guaranteed to remain at $2,500, and hopefully the CT scan remains at $750 as it is usually a $1,500 scan, they gave us a 50% discount on the CT scan for some unknown reason. Once we find out if he can even have surgery, we should be able to get a quote for that uploaded as well.

Update: the surgeon says things aren't good. He is NOT reacting to deep pain in his left hind leg like the other veterinarian told us, nor can he feel his tail being squeezed. He is giving Orion a 10% chance of being able to ever walk again. I'm at a complete loss right now 😔... will provide updates as we get them

Veterinarian Information: Animal Emergency and Surgical Center, 931 SW 74^(th) St, Oklahoma City, Ok 73139, (405) 631-7828

GoFundMe Link: https://gofund.me/59372ba60

 

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Itemized Bill

Orion At Hospital 1

Orion At Hospital 2

Orion Sleeping With Daddy

First Bill

Orion X-ray

Myself