Excitement! How much on person can do

[anniemac]

So I wrote this whole post on my phone in excitement and it froze up so here goes. It is like a blog and maybe I need to figure that out but I was really excited to hear from Sandy Smith. She wrote "For the Love of Ollie" and I contacted her way back when because of how much this story meant to me. I saw the cute face of Ollie when I was trying to learn more on health issues (completely unrelated to anything Ella was doing) and saw her book. Of course I bought it and learned more about SM. So this is how there was something wrong with Ella and made her vet recommend a neurologist. So Ollie has a special place in my heart because who knows what damage could have been done if not. (especially after discovering she is a fast progresser.

We had talked and she talked about how much Tania and Karlin are doing for Rupert's Fund and how amazing they are. I started to think of how happy I was when Tania found my blog and told me about this forum. She has been so supportive and this forum has been great support. There are so many people who care. Whenever I get a response from Karlin or see something, I want to know. I got an email from Dr. Clare Rusbridge that was sent to a bunch of people and my mouth dropped. I could not believe it. (Of course it is just her email and nothing to me but still )

So to the people that have done such wonderful things thank you. Not even that for everyone that takes the time to reach out to someone, I will tell you that it means more than anything else.

Side note- She told me Maggie had another surgery and this is the first person that told me that. I tried to PM Wooten but could not locate her. Anyway. Thanks to all who bring me joy and I hope that we can bring that to others who probably had a hard morning.

[Karlin]

Sandy's book has brought comfort and as importantly, knowledge and information to many people who need it when discovering they have an SM dog. It is wonderful that she put hours and hours of time into creating this book in the first place, and then, that it continues to keep helping Cavaliers by raising funds towards critical research, much of it going to directly support breeders in the genome project (Sandy gave many thousands of dollars in donations for scans on older Canadian dogs belonging to Canadian club breeders).

People help in many ways– by keeping their vets informed about SM, by telling other cavalier owners about SM, by making donations or raising funds, by making sure they only ever select a breeder who is doing the health testing this breed needs to survive, by creating websites or blogs or handouts about this condition–every single person can do something meaningful that is within their means and that will help research and benefit this breed.

[anniemac]

Thanks Karlin,

I actually just wrote a post about this but that is the best point. I discovered her book before I knew and it was truly touching and passed the information on to others. I think about if I did not know this and pressure the vet, what would have happened. You can not change the world but I think this helped Ella. That is important. I am going to put helpful tips of little things people can do, (like you said) give informationt to vets, etc. the more people who know if only to recognize things to help their own dog, the better. I am going to work on the leaflet idea. I got the CM/SM made simple and tried to give it out. Knowledge about anything is the most important tool.

[anniemac]

Sandy's book has brought comfort and as importantly, knowledge and information to many people who need it when discovering they have an SM dog. It is wonderful that she put hours and hours of time into creating this book in the first place, and then, that it continues to keep helping Cavaliers by raising funds towards critical research, much of it going to directly support breeders in the genome project (Sandy gave many thousands of dollars in donations for scans on older Canadian dogs belonging to Canadian club breeders).

People help in many ways– by keeping their vets informed about SM, by telling other cavalier owners about SM, by making donations or raising funds, by making sure they only ever select a breeder who is doing the health testing this breed needs to survive, by creating websites or blogs or handouts about this condition–every single person can do something meaningful that is within their means and that will help research and benefit this breed.

Can I quote this for my blog?