2/14/21 – Last month I received the following e mail requesting help:”My name is Stephanie and I am a new volunteer with PAAW rescue, I have only started recently this year. Unforeseen circumstances have led me to write you this email. Please bear with me and read the whole way through. It is a long story, and I apologize. A Detroit police officer was called to a scene of me trapping cats earlier this year. This police officer then contacted me to help out on Pasadena street because some neighbor was killing the caretaker’s cats who she feeds. He would cut off their heads and leave them in her yard. We weren’t going to leave all these cats defenseless and didn’t want him to hurt any more babies. So, with PAAWs help, I have been solely trapping and gathering kittens and cats as fast as I could. We couldn’t catch the man on camera, that is still awaiting investigation. Every TNR was given synergy. We raised money for the extensive amount of TNRs; we are over 30 TNRS, which is amazing! We are also over 30 cats/kittens rescued from the streets and brought in to foster homes to find loving forever homes. These are the happy details; unfortunately, misfortune has befallen this colony. Every cat/kitten rescued has had coccidia. We rescued a kitten — Domino who had a prolapsed rectum, she had surgery and is doing well. We have lost a few cats due to severe flea anemia, FIP, and we are here to beg for help with Flame. Flame is a small orange kitten, approximately 5-6 weeks old. He has a prolapsed rectum and a diaphragmatic hernia. His siblings and himself tested positive for coccidia. We have called every vet in the area, every possible vet has said surgery is 4,000-5,000 just for the surgery itself, not including the hospital stay. I had a dream to save every life here, but this is a lot for the rescue, and me. Please help me save his life. I beg of you. I’ll volunteer and do whatever I need to save his life, please. Any leads you can give me or any help, please. I don’t know what else to do. Please reach out, with any advice and help. – Steph”After suggesting some other sources for help, I committed to assisting but advised that we could not afford to cover the entire bill in that we had many other outstanding commitments. A few days later I received the following update:”OVRS has diagnosed him with an Peritoneopericardial diaphragmatic hernia (PPDH), which was explained to me as his intestines are inside his heart pocket and he has a hole in his diaphragm. They are suggesting that the reason he is unable to defecate on his own is that he is constipated, and completely separate from his PPDH. They want us to bring him back in 6 months to evaluate the PPDH because he is too little to undergo the surgery. They are keeping him to see if they can find out why he is unable to defecate on his own, they stuck a cotton swab up his little prolapsed rectum, and there was no constricting. The estimate is still 1,500. The rescue still needs help. Anything will help! Thank you so much for all you guys do. Saving babies lives. You are all wonderful people!!! – Steph”We were thankful to pay almost half of Flame’s bill and to help a caring rescue like PAAW and rescuer, Stephanie. I don’t know of too many situations where it didn’t take a village to make a difference. We wish a better life for this baby and we also pray for karma on the evil person who could be so cruel as to cut the heads of cats and leave their bodies to haunt the caring person who was just trying to help God’s innocents.A huge thank you to all of our supporters who give us the opportunity to make a difference. – diana.4paws1heart.org/donations/