This is Barley’s story:
[donation-can Barley show_progress=false show_description=false show_title=false show_donations=false]
My name is Judy and I’m Barley’s foster mom. Barley is my first foster and I haven’t regretted this challenge for one minute. Some time in June I got a call from Barbara, asking me if I’d foster 4 year old Barley, with special needs. Barbara drove to Thornton to pick up Barley and have surrender papers signed. Later in the day, we met in Milton and Barley continued his destination just outside London.
My first impression of this curly, furry bear was ‘oh my gosh, he’s so cute’. Actually he was dirty and smelly and his hair was falling out everywhere. He needed a bath and grooming right away. Under all that hair was this sweet Aireboy, but he was the saddest dog I’d ever seen. He never looked up, his head was always hanging down and he never wagged his tail. Does that sound like any Airedale you’ve ever met? Well he was off to the vet PDQ and we started right away to adjust his insulin. This was a real learning experience for both Barley and myself…..I was convinced I was going to overdose and kill this dog. I was a wreck for about a week but Barley took it all in stride, like it was no big deal. He has been so easy to give insulin to. I have to do a 24hr. glucose chart every time we adjust his insulin and this means getting blood from him every two hours. Even then he comes and lays in my lap and lets me prick him.
It’s early October and Barley is a different dog, that’s because his diabetes is under control. Now he looks at you with those big puppy dog eyes and his tail is wagging as fast as it will go. He loves to play and go in the car and certainly reminds you when it’s time for his walk. He is a totally different dog from the one Barbara delivered to me. Because it’s been such a transformation it’s hard to accept that Barley is going BLIND! My vet told me from day one that this would happen, but I was hoping it wouldn’t be so fast. It is progressing quickly, far too fast for me to accept. Probably within weeks his sight will be gone. Somethings in life are just not fair and to me this is one of those. But we do have an option, he can have cataract surgery to correct the blindness but it needs to be done as soon as possible, before an inflammatory process call uveitis sets in.
This is a really long blog but it is also a very important one. We need donations to pay for this surgery…$3000.00 for one eye and over $4000.00 for both. I can hear you all saying ‘WOW’ that’s a lot of money’ but Barley is ONLY 4 and he has a lot of living to do yet and I’d like him to be able to see and adopted to the right family.
AireCanada Airedale Rescue has been supportive, financially and emotionally but they can’t deplete their resources for one dog and that’s what this story and appeal is all about.
Barley is a sweet boy and he needs help from all of us. Even the smallest amount that you can spare will go towards Barley’s operation. You can donate through PayPal via the donade button on this article. We would be pleased and excited about every donation whether large or small.
[donation-can Barley show_progress=false show_description=false show_title=false show_donations=false]
Thanks from both Barley and his foster Mom Judy
