Jac Williams only took Louie to the vet for a dental cleaning.
It was in 2020, in Dorset, England. Jac was 54 years old, a retired nurse, and Louie, her Chihuahua, had already been by her side for a decade. What was supposed to be a routine checkup ended with the worst diagnosis possible: mitral valve disease that, without surgery, left Louie with only a few months to live.
The surgery was available, but cost close to 18.000 dollars, and was only performed in three countries worldwide. Jac did not have pet insurance or that money saved up. So she sold her Nissan Qashqai, a car that was barely two years old, and added part of an inheritance she had received to complete the payment.
Professor Daniel Brockman operated on Louie for four hours in London, with the little dog connected to a blood-pumping machine for an hour and a half. She was left without a car and with almost no savings, but three months later, Louie was walking around the house as if nothing had happened. Jac sums it up simply: if a Chihuahua can live to be 17, she wanted to give Louie that chance.
