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Not on My Watch: A Broken Leg, but Not a Broken Spirit

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©2010 Henry Co. Care & Control. Little Maria last week after we rescued her off death row.

Imagine you're a little kitten. Life has not been easy for you. Yet, somehow your good nature and willingness to love unlocks good favor-the kind most creatures in your condition never get to know.

Imagine you broke your leg, near the hip socket. How painful that must have been. It would have been nice if someone had helped you, but they did not. Did you become aggressive and angry, when you were forced to limp, every step filled with pain? No. You did not. You purred. You wanted to be held and stroked and told it was going to be all right very soon.

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©2010 Maria Sandoval. Little Maria in foster care.

But no one did that for you for a long time. No one helped you for a month, so being a kitten your leg began to mend itself, but not correctly. Part of your femur overlapped another part by an inch. The leg began to fuse, but you are still growing. How would you get along like this? You didn't know. You could walk okay, but not great. Mostly, you sat a lot. For awhile you sat in a cage and waited until some nice people helped you out. You thanked them by purring, your special purr and asking for some love.

They took you to many doctors and x-rayed your leg. They asked many questions-how could a 2.82 pound kitten be in such trouble? Then, one Doctor realized you were not a tiny kitten, but just very very very thin. They saw your teeth. It told them another story about you. That you are four months old, not 9 weeks. That no one fed you on top of ignoring your broken leg. Did you get mad? No. You just purred your purr and asked for more love, even if you didn't get any food to eat. That was okay by you, because you just want to be loved.

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©2010 Maria Sandoval. Little Maria smiles even though she must be in pain.

Because you're a very nice kitten, underweight and overflowing with love, because some people got together to care for you, they found a way to fix your leg, instead of cutting it off as many would do just to save a dollar. They found a way to fix your leg and they paid for some of it themselves because they care so much. They have $500.00 left to raise for your surgery, that's it. Not very much to help a nice kitten who deserves every nice thing we can do for her.

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©2010 Maria Sandoval. Little Maria sits awkwardly but is ready for some petting and snuggling.

So today we ask you, to ask your friends, to look in your pocket, to find a few dollars to give to Maria's Surgery Fund. Maria is a magnet for good fortune in that our dear friends, Mr. & Mrs. Warren & Terri Royal, who are VERY VERY GOOD FRIENDS to cats, have offered to MATCH any donation, up to $150.00, so for every dollar you donate, another will be added to the pot. The sooner we can raise the money, the sooner the surgery can be paid for.

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©2010 Maria Sandoval. She's still far too thin for her age, but now that she's safe in foster care (and her foster mama, Maria LOVES HER very much!), she will begin to finally put on some weight. She will always be a small kitty, though..

Mr. Royal has also offered to donated 15% of the proceeds of any orders placed by readers of Covered in Cat Hair on either of his two web sites: Bobbleheads.com or CustomBobbleheads.com websites. When you make your purchase, in the COMMENTS AREA write "COVERED IN CAT HAIR" so they'll know your purchase is for Little Maria.

Thank you to Bobby, Maria, Connie, Carole and all the Vets who have shared the expertise with us and helped us to find a way to help Maria walk without pain and have a wonderful future-filled with purrs and love.

P.S. YOUR DONATION Via CHIPIN IS GOING TO ANIMALS IN DISTRESS, who will be taking Little Maria into their NEVER-KILL, NO-CAGE shelter here in Connecticut once Maria is well enough to travel. A.I.D IS A registered NON-PROFIT, 501(c)3 charitable organization.

Comments

Robin, I can't afford to contribute right now, but I am going to pray for this kitty. I am asking for prayers in return from everyone out there for me. Long story short, I was put off of my job 16 yrs ago--with the state of MI--for disability and almost 5 yrs ago now unjustly had one of my pensions stopped by a dr with a violent criminal and prison record and another who hurt my neck so badly during the course of his "exam" that I've had 2 neck surgeries and face 2 hand surgeries. This was at the hands of an insurance contractor who is being paid bonus $$$ by the state and I've lost a lot of legal battles but won a big one a few yrs back. I have a good lawyer but they are now refusing to settle so I will have to go back to MI to trial. (which is why I'm broke) I stand to lose my home in MI which is pd for but I owe back taxes and without my knowledge or permission, my father had someone start tearing it down. It needs it but almost everything I own is still in it, including legal records and historical research I've done. I live with a cancer patient and if anything happens to her, I don't know what I'll do so I need to win at this trial. MI is a very pro-insurance state and I have no criminal or civil rights to any sort of litigation. (and I was technically assaulted by the dr who hurt my neck) So I have to prevail. I have a dog and between Carol and I, a number of all rescue cats who will be homeless with me if anything happens to Carol. So please pray for us, we need justice! I'm scared and stressed but nothing bad is going to happen yet. I wrecked my health putting my job first and have called their bluff by saying they are hiring for my old job state wide and I'll come back. (I'm really pretty sick right now with chronic bronchitis, another gift from the job--black mold filled buildings) We're surviving right now but it's been a tough weekend. I found this out on Friday and have been counting on a settlement, which they had been promising. I have been advised to find a reporter as there was fraud and bad acts but so far, no luck. Can you imagine, a dr getting a license to practice medicine AFTER serving 5 yrs in prison for trying to kill his ex with a claw hammer to the head 9 times? His word meant more than the top neuro doc in the world who I saw for years. Thanks.

What terrible news!!!!! Just shocking!!!!! I'm trying to think of what I can do to help you!! If you need to a quick web site where you can blog about your problems-and maybe get some news crews or publicity, we can help you with that. It's just not fair that someone should have to suffer so very much!!! I'm just sick about your news.

Make sure you DO contact every reporter in town, but also make sure you write a very CLEAR, compelling story. Remember, they don't know you, so you have to make them want to care about what you're doing and what has happened to you. Their viewers/readers need things quick and to the point. If you do the work, you will get a much better response-and you're already a published author so you should be able to send them compelling information.

Please let us know how you're doing!!!!
Robin

Good luck, Marian. Just a word of advice from an old time insurance adjuster here. My expertise is more in the property/casualty field, and in Canada, but some things are the same in most countries. I agree a little publicity would be good, and the press can certainly be worked on to provide this. However, tempting as it may be to say anything and everything under the sun about the doctor, you may wish to be a little bit careful here, and not say anything that you can't back up with proof. About the last thing you need would be a slander suit from the doctor on top of everything else you may be going through with the courts.

To change the subject - how is Cali-Mama doing? Can't remember what you named her.

I have tried to get reporters interested back in MI. I had a couple of stations in Detroit interested. One wanted to cover the dr with the criminal record. Another one had a guy named Ray Sayah and he was going to run with it. The next thing I knew he was at CNN and you know him as Reza Sayah who reports from Pakistan. Can't say I blame him for taking a job at CNN but I'm not so sure I'd hop into a powderkeg. I've tried 60 Minutes, etc, and of course, CNN. I'm thinking Keith Olberman, he seems to get all jacked up about health issues. My right hand is in bad shape and I'm going to have the carpal tunnel thing done soon. I just have to know when I have a trial date. My lawyer has not pursued my lung problems much but the pulmonary doc down here is quite good and I have seen him in the past. He's pretty supportive. I have been sick with this for 30 years off and on, every winter. It goes on for months and I was in the hospital the first year I worked for the state with pneumonia in both lungs and on the brink of kidney failure from working sick. There is a long paper trail of lung issues and I did work in a building that was disgusting with black mold.

I've also spoken to the campaign office of a guy running for governor and they were aghast as well. Michigan is one of the top 4 states for insurers and therefore the worst for the insured. They were also aghast at what the insurance contractor spent in the first few months of this. I also got another woman's medical report instead of mine, a huge HIPPAA (or whatever it is) violation. I have friends who are contacting reporters so perhaps if it's not coming from me, they'll look into it.

Cali-Mom is Tansy for a lake we stayed at during a family reunion a few years ago. She seemed to like it. She is ok with the other cats and my dog. She lays on my lap and rolls over and purrs. She is a bit rude about food, LOL, gets right in my face and runs over the over the other cats to beg. She hangs out on a cat tree in Carol's room a lot. I wonder if she was outside a lot before because she's made a run for the front door a few times but isn't doing that now.

I think I'd like to do the blog thing. We have a busy few days coming up. We want to clean out some of the kitty litter area in the garage. Just spiff it up and move some things around. We have a couple of cats only spots, LOL. Carol put in a screened in porch just for the cats when she moved down here. It's been closed up all summer because of the heat and I think there are spider webs out there that ate Cleveland. I am pretty run down with the bronchitis thing and even considered going into the ER tonight. Typing is hard with my right hand. (and I'm so looking forward to a couple of weeks of not being able to tie my shoes, had this with my first neck surgery as my right hand and arm were paralyzed before the surgery, so much fun) The thing with blogs is to get them read by a lot of people right? Wonder how my lawyer would feel about that?

You DO have to be careful about how you write about other people-which is why I often use code names for folks. You don't want to get sued for slander, is it? Or defamation of character. That said, I would get blogging. Tell everyone you know, and they will tell everyone. Keep your story compelling and clear and you will get folks reading you every day.

There's a group called BlogHer. I wonder if you should look into what they're doing and see if anyone there can help you? There are many woman bloggers with health issues that are part of BlogHer that could give you some advice.

We all wish that happy times will come your way very soon...and maybe you have to make it happen with your words. There are lot of free web sites that give you a blog space like www.typepad.com and Blogger.com so you might want to start there.

All the best,
Robin

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