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#sashcancerhero: Anna: Demmi

Published on November 10, 2022.

Story from #sashcancerhero: Anna: Demmi

I just couldn’t see her deteriorate in front of me.

My beautiful, happy and playful cat, (who is originally from QLD) was rescued and adopted by me at the age of 6. She is a precious one. I named her Demmi, and I promised her to love her and take care of her. She is sassy yet friendly and loves to be with humans. We came to Sydney in 2017. Everything was great and she got used to Sydney’s weather quick.

In 2019, Demmi’s nose pad started to have tiny brown spots. At first, I wasn’t too sure what they were. They kept coming and going. Every time the intervals got shorter, the life of the spots got longer, and every time little bit bigger. This was a slow process. Our local Vet performed cryotherapy couple of times which helped greatly however few months later the process once again began.

In 2020 the spots became one big spot, and I knew cryotherapy wasn’t enough. Biopsy was done at my local vet and cancer (Squamous cell carcinoma- locally invasive skin cancer) was the outcome. I had no idea what to do and what was going to happen to her. I was referred to SASH oncology for a consultation. I was hesitant, scared, lost and hopeless. I met Dr Johanna Todd. She was kind, calm and warm, and she took Demmi for assessment. I had never been to SASH before that day.

Dr Johanna told me that there is a way to help Demmi and the best way is to perform rhinectomy (removing her beautiful nose pad). She explained what I should expect, and that Demmi still will have her sense of smell. She assured me this will save her. She liaised with Dr Andrew Marchevsky and on that same day Demmi was admitted for surgery for the following day! The care during and after surgery was outstanding and during her stay, I received updates of Demmi. Every single person at SASH provided outstanding care.

Since then, Demmi has been back to SASH for another skin surgery on her eyelid with Dr Mark Billson and the care provided has been unbelievably amazing. Dr Billson performed lip to lid surgery using skin graft from Demmi’s lip to create an eyelid. And once again from consultation to surgery and post-surgery after care, I was left speechless with everything. The expertise, care and overall service have contributed to Demmi’s successful recovery. At no point in time Demmi was uncomfortable or showed any sign of pain.

Thank you so much to all of you.

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SASH is home to some of Australia’s leading specialists and veterinary experts. If you have any concerns about your pet, please get in touch with us.

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