Emma… the face and name behind our ongoing rescue mission to "help heal the homeless". ♥
Sweet little Emma came to us when she was just hours old. She was born with facial deformities (cleft of the soft and hard palate - cleft lip - nasal / facial deformities - skull malformations) and her previous owners just didn't know how to care for her.
She was unable to nurse from her mama due to her deformities - so she needed 24 hour 'round the clock care in order to survive. She was fed with a tube that went in her mouth and down into her tummy (bypassing the cleft) for her first 8 months of life.... this let us give her all the nutrients that she needed to thrive and grow into a strong healthy girl!
The birth defects kept Emma from being able to drink and breathe properly... so without the tube feeding, she would not have been able to live.
She had been in surgery 6 times for cleft palate repair attempts - - The first four, within her first 7 days of life! Unfortunately our early efforts were in vain - and the surgical repairs were not enough to fully repair the defects.
Emma learned to eat and drink on her own, in a manner that was not a hindrance to the cleft... she grew into a healthy, beautiful girl - and was the absolute joy of our lives! ♥
Additionally, Emma had several abnormalities of the bone structure in her skull, making the everyday world around her, a very dangerous one... much of her tiny skull remained open - with nothing but a thin layer of skin between the world and her brain - so she grew up essentially "in a bubble" - out of sheer cautious necessity.
She truly was a miracle girl.... a fighter like I've never seen... and the happiest little Chi I've known! She brought hope, love, warm hearts and tender smiles to us - and to the thousands who followed her journey - and her life!
Sadly we lost Emma in late 2018 - just shy of her 11th birthday, due to complications during a routine dental procedure - but we are forever impacted by her insatiable drive, unfaltering will and silly sweet spirit!!! ♥
Our work within the rescue community began some 28 years ago - long before baby Emma dropped into our lives - but it is in her memory, that we continue today…