He came so close last week. We figure he needs at least 500 votes to win. He really needs this surgery as he ran full tilt into the shed head first yesterday and if he continues to run into things and trip he is going to hurt himself seriously and I do not have money to fix him.

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[The whole story]

My name is Stef Strosky and I am a 22 year old full time college student who works part time at T.J. Maxx. The dog in question is my now 9 year old Keeshond Leo who was recently diagnosed with diabetes and now has completely lost his vision due to cataracts brought on by his unregulated blood sugar levels. Leo is my dog, companion and friend. But he is also much more than that. I have had Leo since he was a 6 week old puppy and we have a very strong bond. He has helped me through many tough times. Our family has suffered through a lot of bad luck and Leo is the main reason why I keep on trying.

My wish is for Leo to regain his vision and from what the vet specialist told us today, Leo is a great candidate for the surgery to remove the cataracts and implant new lenses in his eyes. With this procedure he would gain his vision back and with the lenses he wouldn’t have to worry about the cataracts ever coming back. The problem is that I do not have the money to have this procedure done. As I said I only can work part time with my course load at college and that only brings in about $600 a month. Some of which I give to my disabled mother to help with food and household bills. The rest goes towards paying off Leo’s vet bills and treatments costs which have already exceeded the $2,100.00 credit line on my Care Credit card. Another $1000.00 is charged on my other credit card for his medications and his every 2-3 week testing of his blood sugar levels.

This is a very bad time for me and my family. My father is forcing my mom to sell the house because he wants his name off the mortgage for our house. We have until September 1st, 2009 to put it up for sale. Leo being blind in our house is bad enough and this is the house he grew up in. Moving to a new house with a blind dog will be very hard, especially with having to teach him the layout of a new environment. I am also called on to help out more around the house and with more bills because my 21 year old brother broke his collar bone in a motorcycle accident and will be out of work for 6 months. My mom only receives $600/month in Social Security Disability. You can see that I need to help pay bills and with only making $7.40/hr, 20 hours/week my paycheck is basically gone. Leaving no extra money to help Leo regain his vision. I have tried to raise money by myself on fundable.com and by selling my artwork and books on eBay and etsy.com but that only helped pay for one bottle of Leo’s insulin.