Thank you for helping us “Share the Love” with other sanctuaries!
/February has been a month full of love and generosity. With your incredible support, we raised over $25,000 in our “Share the Love” campaign to top up our Esther Shares Medical Fund. You all rock!
Esther Shares!
The Esther Shares Medical Fund was inspired by a medical challenge faced by Esther the Wonder Pig in 2018. It was during this time of medical emergency that we realized there wasn’t a CT scanner available in Canada that was big enough to scan Esther and help diagnose what was wrong. Knowing that this must be a problem for all large animals across the country, HEEFS sprang into action. Within a very short time, our incredible HEEFS community came to together and raised the funds needed to purchase The Pegaso CT scanner for large animals - the first of its kind in Canada!
In fact, you helped us raise more money than we needed! The extra money was used to create the Esther Shares Medical Fund, a resource for times when unexpected, and often costly, medical emergencies arise for sanctuaries across Canada and the U.S.
How Esther Shares helps
We have now been running Esther Shares for 18 months, and this experience has allowed us to update and streamline our process.
We strongly recommend that sanctuaries pre-register with the Esther Shares Medical Fund program well in advance of an emergency. Registering allows us to ensure that a sanctuary meets the requirements of the Esther Shares Medical Fund before a medical emergency occurs.
Sanctuaries can register here: https://www.happilyeveresther.ca/esther-shares
And now for a real-life Esther Shares Success Story!
Many sanctuaries find themselves in a situation in which a sudden medical expense can mean life or death for a dear resident – like Knuckles the goat from Sweet Olive Farm Animal Rescue in Georgia.
Meet Knuckles
Meet Knuckles the goat from Sweet Olive Farm Animal Rescue in Georgia.Knuckles was rescued by Sweet Olive after she sustained an injury and was left partially paralyzed. The farm where she was living felt that they could no longer care for her in her current condition. After being surrendered to the Sweet Olive, Knuckles received lots of physical therapy, and even more TLC, and she was making some progress…but it was not enough. Her mobility was declining despite all of the treatments that were tried. It wasn’t until a CT/MRI identified a mass on her spinal cord that the source of her problem was identified.
To give Knuckles a chance for the best outcome possible, surgery was performed immediately. It was costly, but they knew that it was the only hope for Knuckles. The surgery was a success and the abscess that was compressing her spine was removed. She is now up and walking, but is still in need of ongoing physical therapy. We were so happy to help Sweet Olive and Knuckles with financial assistance for a portion of her medical bills, and we cannot be happier for the positive results and the progress she has made. You can follow Knuckles on her road to recovery!
You can help!
Do you have a local sanctuary that you support? You can help by encouraging them to register and get pre-approved for the Esther Shares Medical Fund. Medical emergencies often happen in a flash, and the care needed can be time sensitive. Knowing that they are pre-approved to receive funds should a medical emergency occur can provide your local sanctuary with much needed peace-of-mind. Sanctuaries can register online.
