Shiro is a 5-year-old Great Pyrenees in Durham who needs $2,000 for Unilateral Sinus Trephination.

Shiro came to our house as a foster dog. The shelter we were helping wasn't sure if he was just blind, or deaf and blind. He was only a few weeks old when we brought him home. He ended up just being blind and we felt we would be able to give him a good life having many experiences with blind people ourselves. He ended up being a foster failure when we adopted him not long later.

Shiro is an odd one in many ways. He would rather sleep in the bathroom shower than in his soft bed. When he is at camp with us he is at his happiest times. He will follow the noises of the campers and regularly go down to the pond to take a dip with them. He regularly walks without a leash because he follows his commands very well, especially on trails when hiking!

Shiro used to pounce on things as a puppy. The kids used to say he was a cat stuck in a dog costume. He loves barking at any of our foster dogs that run around the house in circles--it looks like he is trying to round them up. He won't play with just any dog, but when he finds a friend, he will always remember them even if we don't see them for months.

We think Shiro's immune system was low enough (perhaps from always having eye problems) that he was able to get a rare fungal disease. He has a fungus growing in his sinuses and it is eating away at his bones there. We recently got a CT exam to find out what was happening and our veterinarian says he has an 85% chance of recovery after a major surgery to get all the fungus out

The CT exam cost us $4500. The next surgery will be $3000-4000, with a 3-6 month treatment following. The meds for that will be anywhere from $300 to $1000 a month during that time. This is a huge expense we were not expecting.