Penny is a sweet, happy-go-lucky, beautiful black lab mix that was adopted into a loving home. The family was complete, and life was good. But at just one year old, Penny suddenly became paralyzed.
Penny’s family was referred to Southeast Veterinary Neurology (SEVN) for evaluation, where it was discovered that not only could she not use her legs, but she could not feel them anymore either. This is considered an emergency situation, requiring timely action for there to be any chance of walking again. As you can imagine, this is a scary, uncertain, and stressful position for any family to be in.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) at SEVN revealed a well defined mass in the middle of her back, causing compression of her spinal cord. Nephroblastomas are extremely rare juvenile tumors in dogs, originating from embryological abnormalities. Although these tumors carry a poor long-term prognosis, surgery would offer the most hope for giving Penny the chance to walk again and keeping their family together as long as possible. And Penny’s family would do anything for her.
Penny’s family pulled together everything they could, but could not afford the full cost of treatment. Luckily, Southeast Veterinary Neurology has a charitable fund with the Veterinary Care Foundation and works diligently to raise donations for it. SEVN was able to subsidize the cost of surgery to debulk the tumor. Today, Penny is not only living happily at home with her loving family, but she is walking again. Perhaps even more importantly, Penny is WAGGING again!
We are so grateful for the Veterinary Care Foundation and to our generous donors for helping us keep families together!
