Heer's former life in Mumbai, India began under a different name: Coco.  She was owned by a prominent public official but we don't know most of the details of her time there.  What we do know is that she was left with a family friend/relative who ended up dumping her on the busy streets of the city, as so many other dogs are.  She was alone, fending for herself for days until she was rescued by Project Meher.  Malnourished with a plague of skin issues, this may have been the first sign she had contracted Leishmaniasis but because the disease is not even recognized in India it went undetected for years as most cases do.

In March of 2017, Heer was set up to be adopted by a family in the Chicago, Illinois region.  Her flight buddy Natasha was already confirmed and her plane tickets/accommodations had been made.  About a week before she was to fly to her potential forever home, the family decided they no longer wanted to proceed with the adoption.   Project Meher was just getting its wheels off the ground as a rescue at that point and the timing was a devastating blow.  With days remaining, SOS posts on social media were spread far and wide.  This is how our founder, Ali Grzyb, first came into the picture.  She worked tirelessly through time zones to coordinate importation procedures and ultimately flew from Connecticut to Illinois to meet Heer at the gate.  A 13 hour drive brought them home to start their sweet life together.

Many months of toys, walks, comforts of a soft bed, and unconditional love ensued.  Heer was one of two known Mudhol Hounds in the US and therefore received a lot of attention in her daily life since so many people had never seen one of her kind before.  Although Heer was born with double luxating patellas, she was the picture of health and did not require surgical intervention for her joint issues.  However, she developed mysterious episodes of "jiggly leg" which baffled the vets who saw her for almost a year.  There was never any pain or change in behavior associated with these episodes but Ali continued to work towards a definitive diagnosis during this time.

It was in December of 2023 that everything began to hit the pair all at once.  It began with a luxation episode where Heer's left rear leg became lame but again, the vets simply believed it was just that.  A few days later, her entire leg swelled up significantly from hip to foot.  Three ulcers appeared but ruptured, luckily providing relief for the swelling.  Two strange black lesions appeared on Heer's right front leg and it appeared she had dislocated her humerus despite no trauma or injury of known record.  When the final black lesion ruptured, it unfortunately proceeded to rip open Heer's entire armpit.  Urgent care vets explained the wound could not be closed and wanted to admit her for wound management at that time but Ali knew a hospital stay would be absolutely detrimental to her recovery and took Heer home to provide wound care herself.  Bandage changes were now a daily ritual but Heer never cried out once during this time.  Ali continued to buy time in order to find a vet more qualified to handle all of these new developments.

A new vet found Heer to be anemic (with low albumin and platelet levels) upon a subsequent exam and urged an inpatient stay at a hospital branch of one of the best veterinary schools in the country in case she needed a transfusion.  Heer was stable her entire stay but the mysterious symptoms remained a battle of epic proportions.  The pathology report obtained suggested opposing interpretations and the hospital denied Leishmaniasis could be the culprit, refusing to test Heer through a simple blood panel.  Ali proceeded to have Heer discharged from the hospital and continued to reach out to international sighthound contacts for more information regarding Leishmaniasis.  It was absoluetely clear in Ali's mind that Leish was the reason all of this was happening to Heer.

At last, after over 70 days of symptoms, an internist finally tested Heer and confirmed the diagnosis.  While it was too late to address her dislocated humerus, treatment was started and completed for Leish that cleared up all of Heer's symptoms.  Heer even learned how to walk and eventually run on the dislocated leg, using it almost all the time.

On New Year's Eve of 2024, Heer's left rear patella luxated and so began a flare up.  This time however, Miltefosine treatment was started 7 days after the lameness but this time was very different than last year.  Heer's good front leg, her left leg, dislocated at the wrist after becoming incredibly swollen without the cysts that appeared last year to relieve the inflammation.  Again, the hospital where Heer was admitted did not follow through to educate their veterinary staff on the disease and the care provided left them no viable treatment options.  Their professional opinion of a double front leg amputation or left wrist arthrodesis was not possible as surgery could not be performed with active Leish.  Despite ordering a full support wheelchair and working towards ways to complete treatment until Heer was more stable in her mobility, a devastatingly large wound was opening up at her wrist.  There were just too many battles to fight at once, despite Heer's strength to fight them.

Having to say goodbye to her heart hound left Ali, along with everyone who knew Heer, with a universe-sized hole and she is why we began our nonprofit, determined to help others fighting the same battle in the US.