Do you remember last year we had little Lila, the mini donk who was rescued from slaughter with her Mom and Sister? Lila was immediately brought to a vet due to a sarcoid above her eye – and the vet did a botched surgery which made the sarcoid spread ferociously all around her eye.
Here is her photo from before. And, here is the blog post so you can look back at all of the (graphic) photos.
Lila before her multiple surgeries. A happy 4 year-old mini donk – with a huge problem.
Ugh. Her huge sarcoid obscured her vision and it was suggested that she be put down. But, her owner wouldn’t hear of it and she took Lila to UC Davis for unprecedented Cisplatin Treatments over a year.
THE HORSE AND MAN COMPASSIONATE CARE FUND with UC DAVIS was set up for Lila, Remember?
Do you remember that we had a fund set up for Lila at UC Davis because her expenses were going to be high.
Well, Lila had cisplatin surgery many, many, many times over the past year.
I went to one of these surgeries and wrote about it here.
- I attended one of her surgeries performed at UC DAVIS.
LOOK AT HER NOW! FINALLY REUNITED WITH HER MOM AND SIS AFTER A YEAR OF TREATMENTS!
Well, last week, Lila was cleared to go home! She will still need a surgery or two in her future, but for now, she can live with her Mom and sibling and be a normal mini donk!
Here are some reunion photos!
Look at that eye! She can see! Wow!
Lila with her owner, meeting her Mom and Sis for the first time in a year!
A fine mini donk family reunited!
LETTER FROM LILA’S VET
Here is a letter regarding Lila’s treatment from her UC Davis Vet:
Lila, a 5 year old rescued donkey, initially presented to the UC Davis Equine Medicine and Oncology Services in September of 2013 for evaluation of a sarcoid around her eye. The sarcoid completely surrounded her eye, compromised her vision, and was large, ulcerated, and bleeding. Sarcoids are a type of locally aggressive skin cancer that can grow very quickly. Surgery and local injections of chemotherapy often cure sarcoids if they are caught early. Unfortunately for Lila, the sarcoid surrounding her eye was too large for surgery alone. Lila was started on a course of injectable chemotherapy (cisplatin) directly into the sarcoid to kill the cancer cells. Cisplatin is typically given once every 2 weeks for a total of 4 injections, but due to the size of the sarcoid, Lila needed to receive many more injections to try to eliminate all of the cancer cells. After a total of 19 cisplatin injections were administered, Lila was treated with immunotherapy to attempt to activate her own immune system to fight any remaining sarcoid cells.
Lila’s sarcoid has improved significantly, though there is likely still some microscopic sarcoid left that will need to be treated in the future. Throughout her many treatments, her eye has remained healthy, and she has remained bright and happy while stabled at the UC Davis Center for Equine Health.
Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions regarding Lila’s case.
Sincerely,
Krista Estell DVM, DACVIM
Equine Internal Medicine
UC Davis VMTH
530-752-0290
krista.estell@gmail.com
LILA WILL BE A DECEMBER DONOR CERTIFICATE DONK AND A BUCKET FUND PARTICIPANT
Although UC Davis has donated much of their time and facilities, Lila still has a large outstanding medical bill.
So, Lila will be one of the December Bucket Fund Recipients. And, Donor Certificates will be available to give as gifts. “A donation was made in your honor for Lila…”
If you’d like to donate early to Lila and/or organize a certificate, click this link! If you’d like a certificate, just add that in the Pay Pal ‘comment’ section. Or, if you donate to Lila, I will email you back and ask if you’d like a donor gift certificate.
YOUR DONATION IS TOTALLY TAX DEDUCTIBLE!
If you receive this by email, you can donate to Lila here.
Our 3 – Strikes 11 Burros – our November Bucket Funders – taking their incredibly frightening but very lucky trailer ride to Sanctuary at TMR. They were headed for Guatemala. Read their story here!
