Hi all:
 
BIG I hope this post is permitted....
 
Many of you have read Laurie Murchie (Slinky the Moondancer)'s posts about
Nala, the darling little one that has been diagnosed with Lymphoma.  Nala is
a young, energetic, beautiful chocolate ferret that came to my shelter.  At
the time I also had a ferret in the shelter named Spaghetti, who was very
depressed.  He'd come to the shelter nearly a year earlier, the week that
his cagemate Noodle died.  The stress of losing Noodle, his home, and his
owner really hit him hard, and despite all that I tried to do for him, he
never really came out of his depression.  That is, until Nala entered his
life.
 
I'd tried to introduce him to many ferrets, never with any luck.  He didn't
get along with any other ferrets.  But the day that Nala came into the
shelter, his life changed.  He fell in love with her, played with her, slept
with her.  His spirit was revived, I'd never seen this side of him before.
Spaghetti was already set to be adopted out to Laurie, and when I told her
about Nala bonding with Spaghetti, she said she'd just have to take both,
then.
 
Laurie is a wonderful ferret owner.  These little critters (Spaggy, Nala,
and her Slinky) are the light of her life.  The news of Nala's Lympho is
really hitting her hard.  Worse, it is hitting her financially even harder.
She's already racked up some $600 in vet bills and medicines, from what I
understand.  She's trying to do everything to make sure Nala gets the proper
treatment (and diagnosis--it's hard to believe this is Lympho due to her
age).  Laurie is not wealthy, and while she doesn't know where the money
will come from, she isn't about to stop trying to save little Nala.
 
Let me tell you another story about Laurie.  My shelter, the Pennsylvania
Ferret Rescue Association, has very little money coming in from donations,
not for lack of trying.  However our vet bills are up there--just because we
don't get much financial support doesn't prevent the little ones from
getting sick.  Recently one of our shelter ferrets, Josephine, became VERY
ill and needed medical treatment right away.  I won't go into the details,
but she was on death's doorstep.  Our vet will not provide a shelter
discount if we do not pay up front in cash, and there was literally $25 in
our Medical Fund.  When Laurie found out about this, she sent a $200
donation to the shelter to get Josie to the vet.  Josephine is at this
moment dancing around my feet, happy, healthy, back to herself--all thanks
to Laurie.
 
But as I mentioned, she is not wealthy, and of course when she made this
donation to the shelter she had no idea that just two weeks later she would
incur this kind of crisis with Nala.  I don't want to make it a habit to
solicit money from anyone, but in this case I just thought that after such a
humanitarian act that Laurie made to our shelter, I wanted to tell this
story.
 
Many of you out there donate to special causes in the ferret community.  If
you are looking for a very worthwhile person to help out in her time of
need, please consider sending a little to Laurie and Nala.  I don't have
permission yet to print Laurie's address, so if you would like to help out,
send a donation to the shelter and I will forward every cent to her.  Checks
can be made out to the Pennsylvania Ferret Rescue Association, and in the
"note" section of the check please mark "For Nala." The address to send
donations to is:
 
PFRA
P.O. Box 45
Gilbertsville, PA 19525.
 
Even if you can't send a donation, Prayers for Nala are also being accepted.
Laurie can be e-mailed at [log in to unmask]
 
Thank you for taking the time to read this story.
 
Kymberlie Becker Barone
Director, Pennsylvania Ferret Rescue Association
"Forget Puppy Love...There's nothing Greater than Ferret Love!" TM
http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/ferretlady
[Posted in FML issue 2128]