Hey, loves. <3 Important stuff below.
If you've been considering commissioning a fic, now would be a great time to help out your friendly neighborhood writer.
Those of you who have been around a while have probably seen some pictures of my doggo Kuma and may remember that he is the inspiration for Bear in my series Dead of Winter. You may also remember that my beloved black lab Aldo (inspiration for Strider in the same series) passed away a few years ago unexpectedly at age 7. We are coming up on the 3rd anniversary of his passing, and my heart is still healing from that loss.
Unfortunately, last week, Kuma was diagnosed with lymphoma. I caught it about as early as you can in pets. He wasn't (and isn't) acting sick but I had noticed that his lymph nodes were all swollen. I am devastated by this diagnosis. Untreated, the prognosis is about 2-3 months. With treatment, we hope to keep him comfortable, energetic, and give us more time together, six months or hopefully much more. Luckily, he is in very good health otherwise and has responded and tolerated his first week of treatment really well. Here he is only 48 hrs after his first chemo infusion appreciating a nice jaunt through the woods and back to his usual energy level.
Obviously, veterinary treatment is expensive. We are pursuing a multi-drug protocol called COP that tends to have very good outcomes. I am starting a new job in August which will ease my financial concerns a bit, but for the next two months things will be tight and stressful. To make matters worse, my dumbass old vehicle JUST required two back to back repairs of about $1300 each, so the small amount of savings I had are pretty much gonnnnne.
If you've ever considered being a patron of mine and commissioning a fic, now would be a great time.
I know there are so many good causes out there—Relief for Gaza, ACLU, The Trevor Project, your local shelters for unhoused people and centers for LGBTQ+—so I understand if you can't sponsor a fic. A share and comment and like would be SO appreciated if you can't donate or commission something.
I also am an artist and have been trying to get some shops up and running to sell some of the things I like to make to help pay for Kuma-bear's treatment. Mostly I have cute bird stickers, blank card sets with my bird art, and a couple prints available right now, but I am working on adding A LOT more goodies. I also do pet portrait commissions and single-strand hand embroidery. So, if you don't mind taking a peek at my page (mandyroseart.com) and buying a cute sticker for your laptop, Kuma and I would be forever grateful.
You can also Venmo me @/mandyart if you want to drop a dollar or two. Or use my Kofi link. I'll have an Etsy shop coming soon, which I will share as soon as it's up.
Thanks for reading if you made it this far. Kuma has been with me for a lot of my life, and I want to do everything I can to keep him happy and with good quality of life for as long as possible. This is hard to take after losing Aldo so young and feels like opening a barely closed wound. Kuma really is my "first-born" and right hand pup. So, thank you for even reading this far. And extra thanks if you help by commissioning or buying a little bird art. Sending kisses and hugs, babies.
Much love <3
Mandy
