Author: Dot & Ken Karcher

My precious Cheyenne has a long story but I am going to try to condence it here but with the knowledge of what happened to my baby.
One beautiful sunny day I found my little girl 6 weeks old baby at a flea market. I fell madly in love with her the first time I laid eyes on her.

I took her home and she was a happy healthy beautiful little girl. Full of life and love and puppy curiosity.

A person I know needed a job done so she asked my husband to do the job for her but instead of paying him she gave him a cocatiel as she had 82 birds and was getting rid of them. Unbeknownst to us the birds were sick. We had the bird for 2 weeks when it mysteriously died.

My little girl was only 17 months old when she developed a lump under her neck. I took her to the vet but it took a month to diagnose what she had. They had thought it was lymphoma. I was crushed. When the biopsy came back she was diagnosed with cryptococcus. A fungal infection transmitted by BIRDS. This woman betrayed me and never told me that her birds were sick and that was why she was getting rid of them. She used to be a friend.

After many prayers, thousands of dollars and much medication, the Christmas of 2005 we were visiting our daughter and my vet called to tell me Cheyenne’s tests came back negative and she was cured of the mostly fatal cryptococcus.

We were thrilled. No one could have ever gotten such a wonderful Christmas present. My baby was cured. I praised the Lord over and over that night.
In January of 2006 she started to have seizures. We took her back to the vet and he said her blood sugar was low and that was causing the seizures. The following week I noticed a lump in her stomach and I took her back to the vet. He did an exray as saw a large mass in her stomach. She was schedueled for surgery at a well known veternary hospital in Raleigh NC. More x rays revealed she had a tumor on her Vena Cava. Caused by 4 years of Ampeterecin B, Fluconizole and Itroclnizole to kill the fungus. My baby had surgery and they were cautiously potomistic but said she had lost a lot of blood. 5 o clock the next morning Saturday, February 4th 2006 they called me to tell me her BP was dropping and she had to be euthanized. I screamed and cried to take her back in the OR but they refused to. They ended my baby’s life that morning and a big part of my life went with her. I still grieve terribly today. I will love her forever and hope that some day I can hold her in my arms again, never to be parted. Cheyenne, Mommy loves you baby so very very much. You will always be in my heart as you were and still are a huge part of my heart and soul.
Please Note, Cryptococcus called Valley Fever out west, is transmitted by bird droppings.