Prayers As Charlie, Dog That Stole Hearts, Faces Health Crisis

NORTH FORK, NY — A little dog who has brought the North Fork community together in an outpouring of caring and love is facing a serious health scare.

A post on the Charlie Duran Facebook page Thursday said that, while at East End Veterinary Emergency and Specialty Center for rehab Charlie suffered a respiratory emergency.

"She, like many brachycephalic, or "smush faced", breeds, has an elongated soft palate and narrow nasal openings called stenotic nares. This causes her cute breathing sounds and snoring. While cute, these anatomical abnormalities can have consequences. The elongated soft palate can get stuck in her airway and cause an obstruction. If bad enough, it causes her laryngeal saccules to pop out into her airway. This is unfortunately her case," the post read.

Charlie's nasal openings are narrowed also, allowing no relief and adding to the problem, the post said.

"If allowed to progress her airways can completely collapse. All these things lead ultimately to the complete shutting off of her airway and asphyxiation," the post said.

"We have elected to try surgery to shorten her palate, remove the everted laryngeal saccules, and open her nares. Hopefully, this will give her relief. She is currently undergoing surgery at the East End Veterinary Emergency and Specialty Center and will hopefully be in recovery later this afternoon," the post explained.

In March, the community cheered for Charlie, a little dog facing a huge health challenge, who was continuing to make progress and as she began radiation.

Charlie is an American Bully who wows everyones she meets with her affectionate and exuberant spirit. Despite the fact that her back two legs are paralyzed, that doesn't deter Charlie, who hops about with boundless energy, eager to meet new friends and bestow kisses on her sea of fans.

Sean Zurawski, 7, was so taken by the story of the puppy in need that he told him mom he wanted to give all of his saved up money — $160 that he's collected in a jar since he was just four years old — to save Charlie.
Giving Charlie hugs Saturday, he said, "She's so cute."

His mom Patti Zurawski of Mattituck brought Sean recently to meet Charlie at the Mattituck Laurel Veterinary Hospital, where Dr. Beth Dunbar, along with vet tech Diana Stulsky have been caring for Charlie.

Once he saw Charlie, little Sean knew he had to help; he was smitten. Even Zurawski's daughter Nikki, who attends Sacred Heart University, came home and found herself drawn in by Charlie, donating $50 to help.

The family went to the MLVH to drop off their donations in person.

Charlie's demeanor captures hearts. "She's got such a great personality and big heart," Zurawski said.

With Charlie's treatment ongoing, Stulsky said she wants the community to know how much their infinite generosity is appreciated. "Charlie can't speak, but on behalf of Charlie, we'd like to say 'thank you,'" she said.

With the recent increase in donations from a GoFundMe page, the staff was able to afford a pre-radiation MRI, Dr. Beth Dunbar said, to allow more accurate treatment of the tumor without risking the treatment of unaffected tissue and any unnecessary side effects. She will receive high intensity radiation treatment in order to attack the tumor as aggressively and safely as possible.

"We can't thank everyone enough for all of Charlie's donations," Stulsky said. The outpouring of love and support, she said, has touched her heart. "It's humbling."

Charlie has an amazing will, Stulsky said. "She's an amazing little girl. She's a fighter."

The pup is so popular that she now has her own Facebook page "Charlie Duran," where regular updates on Charlie's progress will be posted for the legions of angels who want to support her.

"It amazes me that you have a young puppy who must be in pain, aside from her mobility issues, but she's the happiest, loving thing you could ever imagine," Zurawski said. "She just wants to meet everyone and be with them; she loves the other animals."

Dr. Dunbar said Charlie is an American Bully, a mix of French and English bulldog and pit bull.

When she was just four months old, the pup had sudden onset paresis, or partial paralysis of her back legs.

While that's normally caused by some sort of disc rupture, it's not common in such a young dog, she said. When, after cage rest and steroids, Charlie didn't improve, the situation was dire.

Her owners couldn't afford to pay for further diagnostics and were going to put her to sleep. "Everyone here at the hospital said, 'We can't let this dog be put to sleep.' It was like a coup. So we talked to the owners, told them no one wants her to be put to sleep, and they graciously agreed" to give her up, Dr. Dunbar said.

Charlie, Dr. Dunbar said, "has just got one of those personalities that wins your heart. I don't know anyone who's not fallen in love with this dog. I've never seen a dog with so much happiness. It's contagious," she said.

Next, Dr. Dunbar said, mobile vet Dr. Jeffrey Seaman did a myelogram, using a special dye to outline her spinal cord and found a mass, a nephroblastoma, usually related to kidneys and sometimes found in children.

Cells that were supposed to form Charlie's kidneys got stuck in her spinal cord, an extremely rare condition, she explained.

After consulting with both the Veterinary Medical Center of Long Island and the Animal Medical Center — who agreed the case was extremely rare — AMC said they'd had one case years before where, with radiation, the dog is still alive two years later.

The hope is that Charlie can be treated with radiation and mobility possibly restored, Dr. Dunbar said.

The outpouring of love from the North Fork and veterinary communities has been overwhelming, Dr. Dunbar said.

"It's so heartwarming how much a dog can bring a community together," she said. "It brings me to tears, that people are so caring. It restores your faith in humanity."

Today Charlie is five months old, Stulsky said. "She wants desperately to be a normal puppy. She tries to play with other dogs and they run from her because she can't use her hind legs and looks funny," she said.

Mattituck-Laurel Veterinary Hospital funded the costs for a dye study of her spinal canal, which revealed a mass; Charlie had spinal surgery by a board certified veterinary surgeon specialized in that type of surgery, she wrote.

The goal was to try and remove the mass and hopefully relieve some of the pressure on her spinal cord, Stulsksy said.

"The hope is that she will then recover some use of her hind legs and be able to one day walk again and be a normal puppy. After the surgery she will require intensive physical therapy to help regain function in her hind legs. She will also need a doggie wheelchair to help her get around," Stulsky said.

Dr. Jeffrey Seaman, DVM, MS, DAVS offered to donate his services and perform the surgery.

And with both Dr. Dunbar and the Zurawski family potential adopters — and the entire staff at the Mattituck Laurel-Veterinary Hospital Charlie's family — no matter where she ultimately lives, Stulsky said, "She's going to have an amazing forever home."

And, said Dr. Dunbar, the generosity of community that rallied to save a little dog facing big challenges overwhelms. "It moves me to tears."

On Charlie's collar is a guardian angel pin that a caring individual gave the pup. "Charlie's got a lot of guardian angels," Dr. Dunbar said.