FAYETTEVILLE, NC.......Tinkerbell is a 6 year old smooth Fox Terrier that was picked up by Animal Control in Cumberland County.  The owner of this incredibly sweet dog was told they had to get medical care for her or they would be charged with animal abuse.  After a period of time the dog was checked on and it was discovered she had never been taken to a vet and the tumor had become massive.  It was now wrapped around her leg and was hindering her ability to walk comfortably.  Tinkerbell is a very small little dog that was being consumed by this horrible tumor.  Animal Control made the owner sign her over to them or they were going to press animal cruelty charges.  Now that they had her, they had to find some way to get her taken care of or she would have to be put down.  They had decided she had suffered enough with this but wanted to save her life also.  We were contacted and immediately decided to take her into our medical program.  The first thing we noticed was that Tinkerbell was having a difficult time breathing.  We did  a test for heartworms and also did an x-ray of her lungs.  She had lot of inflammation in her lungs and was heartworm positive.  She has been at the hospital for two weeks being treated for the inflammation and to get her stable before we did the surgery on her leg.  She has been great during this entire time other than being uncomfortable with her leg at times.  Yesterday, the surgeons decided she was well enough to do the surgery.  We opted to do whatever we could to save her leg so she could have a pretty normal life after this.  They were not able to get all of the tumor because it had taken over so much of the leg but they took as much as they could.  All went well and they brought her out of the anesthesia.  They soon realized that she would not stop bleeding so they had to put her under again and do everything possible to keep her from bleeding to death.  Our sweet little girl was bleeding to death right in front of their eyes.  They finally got the bleeding under control but she had lost so much blood she was not stable at all and was barely holding on.  She was rushed to the Emergency Veterinary Clinic in Columbia, SC where she was given a transfusion and fluids to keep her alive.  It has been touch and go for this little girl since yesterday afternoon.  After talking to all of the doctors and the surgeons, we have now come to the conclusion that the only way for her to have a chance is for us to amputate her leg and rid her body of all  of the tumor.  It had been on her body for so long that it had grown hundreds of tiny blood vessels that were causing her to bleed to death.  No matter how much blood we gave her, she would bleed it out.  They are now preparing her for surgery to remove her leg and hopefully save her life.  Right now, she needs every prayer we can send her way.  She has a 50% chance of making it but has no chance if we do not do this for her.  When an animal is in distress like this, we do not have the luxury of time.  It is either do whatever you can to save their lives or you have to let them go.  We are not going to let her go without exhausting every possibility to save her life.  We need everyone to give something for this sweet girl.  Her bills are unbelievably high and are going to double and possibly triple before we are done.  We will post an update later once she is out of surgery.  Please, forward to everyone you know.

"Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight".

Albert Schweitzer