New "Leash" on Life:First Dog in Philadelphia Suburbs to have Ground-Breaking Life-Saving Heart Surgery!

What would you do if you were told your child had 12 months or less to live, unless they received a ground-breaking surgery over 3,500 miles away from home?

This is exactly the news Kimberly and Rich Valentine of Exton, PA received. And like most parents would, they are preparing to make the journey from Exton, PA to Versailles France for their canine son’s life-saving open heart mitral valve surgery.

This is a story about the lengths one couple would go to save their dog. With no biological children of their own, the Valentines consider Sparky Pluggs equal to a human child. “Sparky Pluggs is not a dog, he’s our son,” Kimberly said. "It's no different than any parent with a human child, but even better. Look at our geriatric neighbors who are in nursing homes or live alone, and their children visit them very little, if ever at all. In this life your husband, wife, significant other, friends, family…people will leave you, but a dog is forever loyal.”

Now it’s a race against time for the couple to get Sparky Pluggs life-saving mitral valve heart surgery, and raise the money to fund it. The couple walks on pins and needles hoping that Sparky Pluggs’ precious apricot-sized heart keeps beating, and he’s strong enough to endure the seven plus hours travel to France for the July 2, 2016 scheduled surgery. Without the mitral valve heart surgery, Sparky Pluggs’ heart will assuredly fail. But getting to the point of having the surgery requires tens of thousands of dollars.

Including travel expenses, the Valentines need to raise $35,200.00, by mid-June for full payment prior to the surgery. Kimberly and Rich have set up a GoFundMe at https://www.gofundme.com/234sxd2k under the name "Help Save Sparky Pluggs".

They area also accepting donations addressed to “Kimberly Valentine” at P.O. Box 2131 West Chester, PA 19380.

On March 8, 2016, Sparky Pluggs had what appeared to be a seizure. After many medical tests and diagnostic procedures, it was discovered the chord that holds Sparky Pluggs’ mitral heart valve into place tore. This caused his seizure-like symptoms of collapsing, treading water (that wasn't there), making noises, followed by severe weakness to the point he could not walk.

Kimberly and Rich received the devastating news that Sparky Pluggs would die within 12 months. The Cardiologist and Veterinarian told the couple there was no cure. After the Valentines spoke with other pet owners whose dogs needed mitral valve heart surgery, they had the same experience with their Veterinarian and Cardiologist; they were told there was no cure or surgery for mitral valve repair and the best they could do was keep their dogs on a cocktail of heart medications to prolong their lives as long as possible.

Sparky Pluggs went from an active, energetic dog, who loved walks -to a weak dog that constantly slept, and resisted his leash when offered to go outside. Kimberly and Rich’s life went from parents of a playful pup, to caregivers providing round-the-clock care which include dosing Sparky Pluggs every eight hours with heart medication to control his congestive heart failure symptoms. The Valentine's spends day after day journaling Sparky Pluggs respiratory and heart rate to identify any alerts that Sparky Pluggs tender heart is failing.

Kimberly says, “Through all of the sorrow and devastation, we replayed one phrase in our mind that his Veterinarian repeated” which is “Sparky Pluggs is a Miracle, he's atypical". You see if it doesn't cause sudden death, most dogs that experience a mitral valve chord tear need to have oxygen, fluids and medication for up to one week. However, Sparky Pluggs didn't need any treatment. As a matter of fact, after about 15 minutes of having severe weakness and being unable to walk, Sparky Pluggs was sitting in his hospital bed looking around at all of the action! It was this glimmer of light that gave the Valentines hope, and a feeling that Sparky Pluggs was not ready to throw in the towel. So the Valentines got to work to find a way to give Sparky Pluggs a new “leash” on life!

After searching the internet, the Valentines found that there in fact was help and hope for Sparky Pluggs. World-renown dog cardiac surgeon Dr. Masami Uechi of Jasmine Veterinary Cardiac Surgery Center in Japan conducts the surgery Spark Pluggs needs. Dr. Uechi performs the surgery in three different platforms in the world: Japan, Singapore and Versailles, France. Up until May 2015 Dr. Uechi was performing the surgery as nearby as Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. However, the Valentines were informed the US Department of State has not granted Dr. Uechi a visa since May 2015.

This is when the Valentine’s decided time was too precious to wait, and there was no guarantee that Sparky Pluggs would survive until if and when Dr. Uechi was allowed entry into the USA. The Valentines then contacted Dr. Sabine Bozon of the Veterinary Clinic Bozon, Versailles France where Dr.Uechi performs the surgery. After a review of Sparky Pluggs medical records and images, it was confirmed Sparky Pluggs was a candidate for the surgery.

On Saturday, July 2, 2016, Dr. Uechi along with a medical team of 10-12 led by him will perform Sparky Pluggs' surgery at the Veterinary Clinic Bozon in Versailles, France. The Valentines are tracking Sparky Pluggs journey and story on Facebook and Instagram. Ultimately once they get Sparky Pluggs better they want to work on expanding the access to this ground-breaking surgery in the USA for the 60-70% of dogs that get chronic heart disease with 80% of it being mitral valve insufficiency.

The Valentines are the first in the area to travel with their dog to Versailles, France for this ground-breaking procedure that is not performed in the USA.

Numbers

•6,040 miles one-way from Nihon University, in Tokyo, Japan, to Versailles, France

• Sparky Pluggs Heart Surgery Team: 10-12 person medical team of surgeons, anesthesiologist, perfusionist for cardiopulmonary bypass, veterinarians and non-sterile nurse, veterinarians for emergency and intensive care, sonographer/cardiologist, and technicians

• $28,300 surgery, post-operative intensive care hospitalization minimum of seven days, Japanese team to fly to Versailles, France for the operation

•$6,900 Travel Expenses.