Helping Families of Pets with Life Threatening Illnesses: Meet Frankie’s Friends

The beautiful Frankie

Your beloved best friend is very sick and requires an operation or intensive medical care. It’s very expensive; you don’t have the money. What do you do?

This is a situation faced by many people around the world, and it’s heartbreaking to think some may have to say a premature goodbye to their babies for lack of funds. There’s a wonderful organization called Frankie’s Friends, that may be able to help. I discovered Frankie’s Friends at Blue Pearl Veterinary, where we take our kitty Isabel for her cancer treatments. One of the waiting room walls features a large plaque dedicated to Frankie, with messages from loved ones about their pets Frankie’s Friends has helped. When I met the Executive Director, Bonita Voiland, and learned more about it, I knew this was an organization that needed to be shared with you. We never know when we might need them.

What is Frankie’s Friends?

They’re a 501(c)3 nonprofit foundation dedicated to finding cures and saving pets with life threatening illnesses like cancer and other devastating diseases. They provide access to top notch care, services and support for very ill pets and their families. Think a kind of Ronald McDonald House for animals. With their current level of fundraising, they help save the lives of about 250 pets a year. Here’s bullet points of what they do:

We promote

• Better treatment of pet cancers and other diseases
• Better access to veterinary care for pets
• Better support for the families who love them

We fund

• Grants for emergency and specialty care from our Hope Funds to treat pets with promising outcomes whose families cannot afford the full cost of care. Shared contributions are also made by the treating hospital and treating veterinarian to give the family the most financial help possible. We do not fund diagnostic workups, primary care or preventative care. 
• Special programs such as the K-9 Heroes Fund that funds pet health insurance for the entire lives of police dogs serving in the Detroit area.
• Efforts to find cures for pets with catastrophic diseases through groundbreaking research and treatment.
• Other programs (the Eddie Croman Fund, and the Zeus Varis Fund) described under the “Programs” tab in our web page header.

Who is Frankie?

Frankie was part of a duo with Johnnie, named for the famous song about an ill-fated couple. She was a beautiful Greyhound, and Johnnie was a scruffy Beagle mix. Their dad was Edward DeBartolo, Jr., a very well-to-do developer in Tampa, Florida. Eddie was a sports enthusiast, who owned the San Francisco 49’ers back in the day, when they were winning league championships and the Superbowl, and the Pittsburgh Penguins when they won the Stanley Cup. He would come to Florida Veterinary Specialists, the owner of which, Dr. Neil Shaw,  founded Frankie’s Friends. Eddie would sit in the lobby and see people who couldn’t afford the cost of care for their pets and he felt for them. DeBartolo would walk up to the desk and discreetly offer anonymous support. How beautiful is that! So, back in 2008, to honor Frankie and all that Eddie had generously given, they changed the name of the organization to Frankie’s Friends. Frankie, who had heart disease and cancer, but was fortunate to have the best of the best in care, had her life tremendously extended. She eventually succumbed to the disease at 11 years old in 2007, and Johnnie passed away just a couple of years ago.

Bonni & Kayla, a puppy who lost her family in Katrina, was adopted by a man who needed help to fix her broken knee. Kayla was treated because of FF.

Frankie’s Friends’ Bonita Voiland (we call her Bonni) :-), is an amazing person, who has an impressive working background. She came to Frankie’s Friends from The Animal Medical Center in New York City, one of the world’s largest non-profit veterinary hospitals, where she served as chief operating officer. Prior to that, she was assistant dean for hospital operations at Cornell University Hospital for Animals and assistant dean for development at Cornell’s College of Veterinary Medicine in Ithaca NY. She actually started her career as a photographer for the American Red Cross, then advanced to senior administrative positions in communications, marketing and development work for nonprofit organizations. Frankie’s Friends and Bonni Voiland are fortunate to have found each other, and I was fortunate to be able to interview Bonni to talk about all of the wonderful things Frankie’s Friends is doing.

Abbey & Vinny, also being helped through FF

What are the Frankie’s Friends programs?

The Hope Fund

Few alternatives exist for the large number of pets from otherwise loving and responsible families, who simply are unable to pay for an unexpected, life-threatening illness. Those pets and families are helped by The Hope Fund. Possible candidates don’t only have to come from Blue Pearl hospital cases. However, in order for Frankie’s Friends to donate via an outside facility, that hospital must do what Blue Pearl does; discount services for that patient by at least 25%. In addition, every family must contribute something towards the cost of care for their pets, even the most nominal amount. Frankie’s Friends wants its families to feel invested and to participate in the treatment process with the doctors and hospital. Everyone needs to give.

“In New York City, we had a street person come into the hospital with his dog,” Bonni relays. “He had no money, whatsoever. He emptied the change he’d accumulated throughout the day onto the counter; it was maybe ten dollars worth. The manager asked if he could afford five dollars  of it, and he said yes. So, he gave us the five dollars in nickels, dimes and whatever he had, and Frankie’s Friends and the hospital picked up the rest. It’s each person according to his situation.”  That street person? His dog had something very treatable and not inordinately expensive, but without Frankie’s Friends, his pup might have died.

There are more stories where Frankie’s Friends have offered a happy ending for pets and their families; too many to go into here. But one, in particular, really touched me that I want to share. Take a look at Tori and Charlie’s story, below.

The K9 Heroes Fund

Another great program they offer is the K9 Heroes Fund. A Michigan foundation was raising money for K9 heroes, and decided to donate that money to Frankie’s Friends, prior to closing their organization. One of the  programs they continued to provide, which now falls under the Frankie’s Friends K9 Heroes Fund,  is to raise money for insurance policies for police dogs in the Detroit, Michigan area. “For police dogs, there’s so much money that goes into training them, and then the officers are only provided $500-600 a year for that animal’s food, veterinary care – everything,” Voiland explains. “So, if the dog gets sick, thats not enough.  Frankie’s Friends raises enough money to buy them pet health insurance and we guarantee it for the life of the dog, even after they retire.” The cost of a lifetime insurance policy for each dog can be prohibitive, so it’s a limited program at present;  six police dogs are currently involved. What a wonderful gift to give a dog who has worked so hard and put itself in the way of danger everyday for the people in their community! I was happy when Bonni shared with me what pet health insurance they chose, because I’m a fan. It’s Trupanion, the same one we use for all of our animals and who were so helpful with covering most of the costs of my cat Isabel’s cancer diagnosis. According to Voiland, Trupanion pays for specialty care if and when these dogs get very sick. “These are highly trained, wonderful dogs, and if one of them were to have a broken leg in the line of duty and needed surgery, let’s say, that’s the kind of thing Trupanion helps with,” she emphasized. “It’s not for routine check ups or vaccines.”

The Eddie Croman Fund

The Eddie Croman Fund was created by the Croman family in memory of their special pup, Eddie, a Jack Russell terrier, who lived past his 17th birthday! He was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat, for which he received a pacemaker and medication that helped normalize it. Eddie was little, but mighty, and won everyone’s heart. The Eddie Croman Fund assists pets with heart and/or kidney disease, whose families cannot afford the cost of treatment.

Eddie

The Zeus Varis Fund

Frankie’s Friends received a donation from Dr. Varis in memory of Zeus and in honor of Dr. Timothy Rocha and the oncology team at BluePearl Veterinary Partners in Manhattan. Dr. Rocha is my Isabel’s oncologist, as well, and he is awesome! The Zeus Varis Fund established by Dr. Varis helps cats and dogs that are diagnosed with cancer receive treatment to help them remain comfortable and at home. Zeus, a domestic long hair cat, and his sister, Kallee, a calico, were adopted in 1995 as kittens from Bideawee by Dr. Varis and her husband. Zeus was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2009, but was able to enjoy a high-quality of life, post-diagnosis, under Dr. Rocha’s care.

Zeus

Currently, Frankie’s Friends is in New York, Florida, Georgia, Michigan and Tennessee, all locations with a Blue Pearl hospital.   They’ve also moved into Minnesota, Illinois and Washington state, and are presently raising money in Kansas, Missouri and Massachusetts. The cool thing is they allocate funds to the region where they are raised, so those who donate from a particular area or state will be directly helping pets in their own region or state. Primarily, the money donated to fund care is through the Blue Pearl hospital patients, but it is also possible to earmark a donation outside of that system. A cancer patient in Boston, not a patient of Blue Pearl, had its care funded through Frankie’s Friends very recently. In Florida, care for a pet who was not well enough to travel to the Blue Pearl hospital in Tampa, was funded by Frankie’s Friends at a specialty hospital near its home.

If you want apply to Frankie’s Friends for help, it must be done through your veterinarian. Here is the contact page for them to use.

The stars who’ve come out to support

Frankie’s Friends has caught the attention and heart of several high profile celebrities. Ellen DeGeneres got involved by donating a large quantity of Halo pet treats to the organization. Betty White is another fan who enthused, “I’m so grateful for the care and dedication that Frankie’s Friends and Bonaparte’s Retreat (Emmylou Harris’ rescue) exhibit by making life a little bit easier for animals whose lives have been difficult.  Efforts like theirs can and do make a difference.  Each of us can help in some small way for those animals who give us so much in return.”  Emmylou Harris and Steve Earle have performed to bring attention to the cause. “I applaud the great work that Frankie’s Friends is doing to help companion animals and their families and am so grateful that they now have a presence in Tennessee,” declared Harris. They are all animal lovers and activists, with Emmylou running her own shelter in her ample backyard called Bonaparte’s Rescue, named after one of her favorite dogs.

The Doggone Run!

Frankie’s Friends is about to launch its first national event that is also grass roots. The Doggone Run is a 5K virtual run we can all participate in around the country. It came about through the Minnesota Frankie’s Friends, which has had it’s own 5K  for the past couple of years. Bonni wanted to replicate that nationally but, when they crunched the numbers, it became very costly. So, they did it techie style! Each person who  participates creates their own team and fundraises around it. Frankie’s Friends provides the t-shirt and goodie bag. Participants  can run anytime they’d like over the course of the weekend of September 5 – 7.  “You run at your own pace, in your own neighborhood, with your own friends or on your own, and then more of the money will go to help save pets’ lives,” Bonni explained. “And, we can get more people engaged because you don’t have to show up at, say, Central Park, at 6am to do the run. If it’s raining on Saturday morning, you can say, ‘Hey, guys, we’re going to do the run Saturday afternoon or Sunday’.” They are doing this through Crowdrise, the site the New York and the Boston Marathons both use, and you can get info and donate all online. Those interested can get more information and register here. Let’s try and help them raise as much money as possible!

A final thought…

Goldie

I want to leave you with one more inspiring story shared, of a family helped by Frankie’s Friends. The letter reads: “My name is Maritza, a single mother of a 2 year old boy who has special needs. Due to my son’s condition, he requires attention and care 24/7, which does not allow me to work. My son, RJ, Goldie and I live alone in the apartment. We live on my son’s Social Security  Disability, food stamps and child support from his father, who does not live with us. We barely make our ends meet and, therefore, cannot afford treatment for our dog, Goldie. [Goldie is a 4 year old Golden who has lymphoma] Goldie, to my son, is like a big sister and babysitter. She keeps my son company, encourages him to be more active, which helps him with his physical therapy. She watches my son while I prepare his meals or clean. She will never leave his side. My son immediately looks for her as soon as he wakes up in the morning. My son and I cannot imagine life without Goldie. It gets sometimes lonely in our apartment with just the 3 of us. She entertains both of us and keeps us going. Goldie is a partner, friend, protector and a good listener to me. I often talk and complain to her about our life and situation. She looks at me and makes me feel that she really understands what I’m saying and makes me feel better. We truly need her in our lives.”

Goldie is currently being treated because of Frankie’s Friends. RJ has his friend, protector and motivator, and Maritza has her friend and confidant. This is one of many, many letters, showing the profound difference Frankie’s Friends is making in the lives of pets and their people.

Do you have a story to share of a pet who became ill and was help through the generosity of someone else? Tell me in the Comments.

(Disclosure: affiliate links)