Max Boselli

Max is an 8 year old chihuahua/yorkie (chorkie) mix from Palm Beach Gardens, FL.  Max was first adopted in October 2009 from a shelter and was so tiny his new owners had to fatten him up.  It's a good thing he loves chicken!  He loves playing with his Samoyed brother Kodi and loves his morning walks.  He was first diagnosed with MVD Stage B1 in October 2015 and then Stage B2/C in January 2017.  We look forward to Max's surgery at the Bozon Clinic in France on July 5th and stable prognosis until then.

Breed: Chihuahua/Yorkie
Age: 8 years old
Diagnosis: Stage B2/C
Hometown: Palm Beach Garden, FL
Owner: Michele Boselli
Cardiologist: Dr. Maggie Machen, Veterinary Cardiopulmunary Care Center
Primary Vet: Dr. Michael Gillen, PGA Animal Clinic
Surgical Team: France, Drs. Masami Uechi, Sabine & Jean Hugues Bozon

Daisy Hawkins

Daisy is an 8 year old CKC from New York AND Florida!  Daisy was diagnosed with a heart murmur level 3 out of 6 in January 2016.  She was not placed on meds until July of that year and was started on Vetmedin (Pimo).  By June 2017 her mitral valve disease had progressed and was on Vetmedin, Enalapril, Hydrocodone, Spironolactone Digoxin & Furosemide and needing diapers.  Daisy was hospitalized in June 2017 due to vomiting & dehydration, taken off Digoxin.  Her BNP was elevated to 4500 and lost 4 lbs prior to surgery.  Daisy was fit in as an emergency patient at Clinic Veterinaire Bozon on July 5, 2017.  She is a fighter and wonderful success story.  Currently, her murmur is reduced to a 3 out of 6, is stable back in Stage B, and remains only on sildenaphil to help with the pressure that remains on her heart.  No more diapers for Daisy!

Breed: Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
Age: 8 years old
Diagnosis: Stage D
Hometown: New York/Florida
Owner: Sharon & Roger Hawkins
Cardiologist : Dr. George Kramer, Atlantic Coast Veterinary Specialists
Surgical Team: France, Drs. Masami Uechi, Sabine & Jean Hugues Bozon

Harper Thornton

Above: Harper is alerting at a nose work trial

Harper Thornton (aka Rambler Love And Scandal) is a 9-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. She lives in Lake Forest, California (Orange County), with Kim and Jerry Thornton, whom she owns body and soul, another Cavalier named Keeper and a Chihuameranian named Gemma--the one who really rules the roost. She likes to do nose work--she competes at the NW3 level--but her main focus is trying to knock on the neighbors' doors to see if they have any treats for her. She was diagnosed with a murmur when she was 5 years old but did not become symptomatic until January of this year. She's scheduled for surgery on May 26, after a few days in Paris first with mom and dad.

Breed: Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
Age: 9 years old
Diagnosis: Stage C2
Hometown: Lake Forest, CA
Owners: Kim & Jerry Thornton
Cardiologist: Dr. Sarah Miller, Southern CA Veterinary Specialty Hospital
Surgical Team: France, Drs. Masami Uechi, Sabine & Jean Hugues Bozon

Chuck Modafferi

Chuck is a 10 year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel from Woburn, MA, right outside of Boston. Chuck was diagnosed when he was 6 years old with a heart murmur but did not require medication to control symptoms until the fall of 2016 when he began coughing frequently.  His X-Ray shows a very enlarged heart and is currently holding steady on medication at Stage C until his surgery date of May 23, 2017.  We wish Chuck good health until his surgery date and a fast recovery!  Updates on Chuck will be posted here.

Breed: Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
Age: 10 years old
Diagnosis: Stage C
Hometown: Woburn, MA
Owners: Holly and Mike Modafferi
Instagram: @Cav_King_Chuck
Cardiologist: Dr. Ivan Sosa, InTown Veterinary Group
Surgical Team: France, Drs. Masami Uechi, Sabine & Jean Hugues Bozon

Zeus Camardello

Zeus is an 8 year old Japanese Chin from Ft. Lauderdale, FL.  Zeus was diagnosed at Stage B2 and has been noticeably slowing down and coughing more as the disease progresses.  He had a very successful mitral valve repair surgery on March 24, 2017 at Clinique Veterinaire Bozon.  After surgery, Zeus had some additional coughing from being intubated, but is currently recovering comfortably at home.

Breed: Japanese Chin
Age: 8 years old
Diagnosis: Stage B2
Hometown: Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Owner: Mike Camardello
Cardiologist: Dr. Tacy Rupp
Primary Vet: Dr. Jose Barboza
Surgical Team: France, Drs. Masami Uechi, Sabine & Jean Hugues Bozon

Bentley McAlpine

Bentley is a 7 1/2 year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel from Maple Valley, WA. In 2015, Bentley’s vet mentioned that he had a slight heart murmur.  In November 2016, his heart murmur had elevated to a Grade 4.  He was taken to a cardiologist and diagnosed with Mitral Valve Disease, Stage B2+.  He had an enlarged heart with severe regurgitation.  Bentley was stabilized with drug therapies. 

One week prior to traveling to France for Mitral Valve Repair surgery, Bentley went into early stage Congested Heart Failure, Stage C.  With an additional drug added, he was stabilized once again.  Bentley received his surgery in Versailles, France on March 23, 2017.  Bentley’s cardiologist, Dr. Mikaela Mueller, also flew to France to observe this miraculous surgery.  

Bentley had his 1-month post-op checkup on April 5, and is doing great!  His heart is back to normal size, he is off of all drug therapies, and his regurgitation was reduced to a normal range.  Bentley recently attended his first conference in Seattle, WA in front of 75-100 vets, as a guest star representing the MVR surgery.  Bentley is more active, full of energy, and spunky.  We are looking forward to his 3-month post-op checkup.

Breed: Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
Age: 7-1/2 years old
Diagnosis: Stage B2+
Hometown: Maple Valley, WA
Owner: Marla McAlpine
Instagram: @marvelousbymarla
Cardiologist: Dr. Mikaela Mueller, Seattle Veterinary Specialists
Surgical Team: France, Drs. Masami Uechi, Sabine & Jean Hugues Bozon

Bellissima Kučera

We have had Bellissima (Belisa) from the very first day she was born because we also were parents to her mummy.  She has three siblings which were all given to our friends so that they would be in good hands.  We also had new parents for Belisa, but we felt that we belonged to each other so we kept her.

She is typical terrier, excited about everything, angry at everybody, and so much energy - crazy like a puppy.  We had to have her spayed because she was suffering from false pregnancy (or pseudopregnancy).  She was mothering her toys and having problems with her mammary glands.  Our doctor told us that after being spayed, Belisa would be calmer and not so interested in sex with her toys… but that was not true at all.  She wanted to have sex with everything and was even crazier than before.

After that she started to limp on her left back leg and was diagnosed with a luxating patella.  We found a specialist from Croatia, Dr. Dokič, who gave her a titan implant in her leg.  Unfortunately she had to have an additional operation because the titan implants are made of two pieces and they split up.  She also had a groin hernia which was the first time we saw her crying in pain.  She had never cried in pain before that.

In 2014, she had her first epileptic seizure.  We were shocked because at that time we didn’t know about epilepsy in dogs.  We read a lot of information about epilepsy and learned that there is no true cure.  We finally decided not to visit doctors who would only give her drugs and scare her more.  Every time a seizure was coming she came to us and let us know that something was happening to her, so that we could hold her, talk to her, and try to distract her from what was happening, which worked quite well.

Also in 2014, our doctor told us that she had a heart murmur but it was nothing to worry about. We didn’t know any better and believed our doctor.  In October 2015, Belisa was put on Vetmedin (Pimobendan) and Furosemide.  Again, our doctor told us there was nothing to worry about.  In August 2016, we were visiting our doctor and he told us everything was still fine.

In December 2016, our doctor told us that Belisa was getting worse.  Of course, we thought, because she had started to cough during the night and we didn’t understand why.  We asked him how much time she has left and his answer killed us.  6 – 12 months.  He told us that there was one person in the world that might be able to help us, Dr. Uechi, but it's too expensive.  Nothing is too expensive if our love has just a few months of life left.  We didn’t know the price, but we knew that we could sell our flat, our cars, our company, even my kidney, anything, just to save her life.

We googled Belisa's condition and Dr. Uechi, and thanks to Kaori and her story of Ralph, we found this amazing group of selfless people.  Of course we didn’t believe or understand why there is only one person in the world who could help us.  It seemed so strange to us.  So in January, we flew to France to meet Dr. Sabin Bozon to discuss the surgery and assess whether we were doing the right thing.  We have never ever met a doctor this kind.  She is an angel.  She explained everything to us and spent a lot of time emailing us answers to all of our questions. This was the most helpful thing during this time, when you are losing all hope.

We did all the tests in our country, including magnetic resonance because of Belisa's epilepsy, to ensure that her brain was fine, and then we had to decide whether to do her surgery in March or May.  We knew the risk of the surgery (every surgery is a risk, of course, however, this is not like her leg, it's her heart!), and preferred May.  However, we decided to take Belisa to visit Dr. Sabine so that she could see Belisa and give us better advice about when to do the surgery.  We selfishly wanted May, but this was not about what we wanted, it was about what Belisa needed.

Dr. Sabine gave us advice to go in March because she was not sure if Belisa would stay stable until May.  She told us during that visit that there was another problem called Myocardial thinning, which is another risk with Degenerative Mitral Valve Disease.  She gave us another type of medication for Belisa.  From that visit until the surgery we were giving her multiple medications at specific times of the day.  We were very tired because some of them were very late in the evening, some of them very early in the morning, and most of the time during the night we were not sleeping because we were checking on her to see if she was fine and still breathing.

On March 17, Belisa had her last recheck with Dr. Sabine and she told us that all the numbers of the tests were much better.  On March 21, the day of surgery, I told Belisa in the morning that we belong to each other; we will stay together forever no matter what.  We will be waiting for you in the front of clinic, be strong girl, we know you will come back to us.  I am certain she understood us.

If Marla, Michael, and Dominique were not also at the clinic in the days after Belisa's surgery, we would have just sat quietly for the whole time of post-care (which is seven days normally, and we paid for one extra day to be sure) in the car in front of the clinic.  Car?  Yes, the journey to France by plane takes about 1.5 hours, but we went by car so that Belisa could go to the bathroom anytime she needed to and she wouldn't be as scared of all the people.

After waking from anesthesia post-surgery, Belisa had some problems with breathing because she also has a collapsing trachea.  Even today her breathing is not 100% better, but I am sure it will get better.  Dr. Sabine explained to us that an enlarged right ventricle is not as life threatening as the left side.  The left side is already smaller after the surgery.  The right side will get slightly bigger and it will take some time, but it will get smaller again.

Our journey back home was also not easy.  We left France at 1:30 am because we knew Belisa would be calmer at night.  When we were about 400km from France, and 600km from our home, Belisa started to cry and kept her right back leg (the healthy one) up.  We turned the car around and drove back to Dr. Sabine.  She gave Belisa some drugs for pain and we started our journey again.

When we arrived home, she was not able to walk normally.  Even the front leg was bad.  Today, we don’t know exactly what happened to her (all the doctors we spoke to about it have different ideas – orthopedic, spinal, neurologist etc.), but she is now walking almost like normal and we are sure it will just take some time to be 100% good.

This is our big story of one small cute girl and the big love between us forever.

Breed: Yorkshire Terrier
Age: 11 years old
Diagnosis: Stage C
Hometown: Prague, Czech Republic
Owner: Tomáš Kučera
Primary Veterinarian: Dr. Vojtěch Novák Read Belisa's surgery story here
Surgical Team: France, Drs. Masami Uechi, Sabine & Jean Hugues Bozon

Duke Hagoul

Duke is a 12 year old Chihuahua Mix from New York.  Duke has had a known murmur since he was adopted and vets said from the beginning it would develop into heart failure. In November 2015, Duke was taken to the vet with labored breathing and was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure and had fluid on his lungs. For a year after, Duke was treated with holistic supplements and acupuncture as well as a substantial cocktail of medications prescribed by Dr. Kramer. In October 2016, he went into Stage D and was not responding well to any of his treatments. Duke had an emergency surgery at the Bozon Clinic on December 8, 2016 and was on the verge of complete heart rupture. Today, Duke is doing well. His heart, ventricle, and atrium have all reduced in size. He has no sign of infection, clots, or fluid in his lungs. He breathes, sleeps, and eats very well (all areas he was struggling with when sick with the disease). He is becoming more active and wants to run when he is taken out for walks.

Breed: Chihuahua Mix
Age: 12 years old
Diagnosis: Stage D+
Hometown: New York
Owner: Nicole Hagoul
Cardiologist: Dr. George Kramer, Atlantic Coast Veterinary Hospital
Surgical Team: France, Drs. Masami Uechi, Sabine & Jean Hugues Bozon

Bodhi

Bodhi is a 10 year old Yorkipoo from San Marcos, CA.  Bodhi was diagnosed in the summer of 2015 in Phoenix, AZ with mitral valve disease and told nothing could be done except to medicate and given 1-2 years to live.  Prior to surgery, Dr. Sabine Bozon diagnosed an advanced stage of mitral valve disease and saw that Bodhi's heart was close to rupture.  Intervention was performed on December 7, 2016 at the Bozon Clinic in Versailles, France.  Currently, Bodhi has some tracheal collapse which leaves him coughing at times but other than that he will be ready to run on the beach again once he is cleared for normal activity.  Dr. Hodge evaluated Bodhi at his one month post-surgery check up and said his heart was back to a normal size and that his regurgitation level was at about 28% compared to over 80% at the time of surgery.

Breed: Yorkipoo
Age: 10 years old
Diagnosis: Stage C
Hometown: San Marcos, CA
Owners: Liz Margin & Andrew Berke
Cardiologist: Dr. Timothy Hodge, UC Veterinary Medical Center, San Diego
Surgical Team: France, Drs. Masami Uechi, Sabine & Jean Hugues Bozon

Tiffany Frederico

Tiffany is a 9 year old Maltipoo from New York, NY. Tiffany was diagnosed on October 4, 2016 with stage C MVD. It was also suspected that she had numerous ruptured chordae tendineae. Her prognosis was poor. Her disease had a rapid onset and quick progression. At her prior check-up no murmur was even detected. 

Tiffany had surgery with Dr. Uechi at the BOZON Clinic on December 6, 2016. As suspected, Tiffany had 5 ruptured chordae tendineae that were successfully replaced. Prior to surgery, Tiffany’s heart was extremely enlarged. It is now almost within the margins of normalcy, and her mitral valve regurgitation is minimal. She is also off all medication.

Breed: Maltipoo
Age: 9 years old
Diagnosis: Stage C
Hometown: New York, NY
Owner: Margaret Frederico
Cardiologist : Dr. Keith Blass
Surgical Team: France, Drs. Masami Uechi, Sabine & Jean Hugues Bozon

Levi Schoenauer

Levi is a 9 year old Coton de Tulear from Vienna, VA. Levi was diagnosed in July during a routine checkup with a heart murmur that was not present a few months earlier. Cardiologists confirmed that the murmur was a result of Mitral Valve Disease and chord rupture with an enlarged heart, stage B1. Prior to surgery, Levi was assessed at stage B2, his heart condition somewhat stabilized with drug therapy between July and December. Levi had Mitral Valve Repair at the Bozon Clinic in Versailles, France on December 6, 2016. Levi had a great 3 month post-op checkup at CVCA and has been cleared for normal activity. His heart size has reduced to normal, is off of all drug therapies, and the regurgitation is reduced significantly. 

You can read more about Levi's surgery story here.

Breed: Coton de Tulear
Age: 9 years old
Diagnosis: Stage B2
Hometown: Vienna, VA
Owners: Kimberly & Virginia Schoenauer
Cardiologist: Dr. Peckens CVCA Cardiac Care
Instagram: @levischoenauer Levi's Surgery Story
Primary Vet: Dr. Richards and Vanderhoof Caring Hands Animal Hospital
Surgical Team: France, Drs. Masami Uechi, Sabine & Jean Hugues Bozon

Zoey Marie Estes

Zoey is a 5 year old Maltese from Los Angeles, CA.  Zoey was diagnosed in July of 2016 with mitral valve disease after a routine checkup and it was determined her heart was very enlarged. Zoey had a murmur of a grade 3/4. It was determined she was at stage B2 of this disease.   Zoey was placed on Enalapril and Pimobendan until her surgery date which was October 26, 2016 at the Bozon Clinic in Versailles, France with Drs. Sabine, JH Bozon and Dr. Masami Uechi.

Read Zoey's full surgery story here

Breed: Maltese
Age: 5 years old
Diagnosis: Stage B2
Surgery Date: October 26, 2016
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Owner: Nathan Estes
Instagram: @ZoeyMarieEstes
Cardiologist: Dr. Timothy Hodge, UC Veterinary Medical Center, San Diego
Surgical Team: France, Drs. Masami Uechi, Sabine & Jean Hugues Bozon

Prudence

Prudence is an 8 year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel from Carlsbad, CA.  Prudence was diagnosed with a heart murmur for the first time in June 2016.  We immediately had a cardiologist perform an echocardiogram which revealed stage B2 mitral valve disease.  Unfortunately, Prudence's MVD progressed rapidly and within 6 weeks was in congestive heart failure.  At the time of her surgery on October 24, 2016 she was in refractory stage D (hospitalized).  Prudence's MVD is now reduced to stage B1 (murmur: no enlargement).  Her echocardiogram shows the mitral valve regurgitation is significantly reduced and her murmur is a grade 2.

Breed: Cavalier King Charles
Age: 8 years old
Diagnosis: Stage D
Hometown: Carlsbad, CA
Owner: Kari Puzzullo
Instagram: @dear._prudence
Cardiologist: Dr. Timothy Hodge, UC Veterinary Medical Center, San Diego
Surgical Team: France, Drs. Masami Uechi, Sabine & Jean Hugues Bozon

Ralph Tomaru

Cardiologist: Dr. Sabine Bozon

Owner: Kaori Tomaru

See Ralph's adventures here