Sunshine Coast woman Charlie Hindle’s mission to save dog after surviving organ failure
After barely surviving organ failure from unexpected inflammation, a Sunshine Coast woman is on a mission to save her gravely ill canine companion who needs the same medication.
Sunshine Coast
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A Sunshine Coast woman living with a lifelong disease after her organs unexpectedly began shutting down is now desperately trying to save her beloved canine companion who became her ‘lifeline’ through it all.
Charlie Hindle, 36, was leading an independent, active and creative life until late last year, when her immune system suddenly attacked her own body, causing her to be placed in a coma as her heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, and gut began to shut down.
Ms Hindle was diagnosed with a rare auto-immune disease which can trigger widespread inflammation and organ damage.
She barely survived but must now live with an illness for the rest of her life, and is yet to be fit enough to work again.
Years prior, Ms Hindle also lost her father after he went missing in the mountains.
Throughout her struggles and pain, Ms Hindle’s love and passion for animals became her anchor and Rosa, her seven-year-old dog, became her emotional lifeline.
A few months ago, Rosa fell seriously ill.
“At first it seemed like a leg injury, but then she started collapsing and losing control of both back legs,” Ms Hindle said.
Her canine companion was diagnosed with foraminal stenosis, where her narrowing spine puts pressure on her nerves, and Rosa now struggles to walk or go to the bathroom.
“She often drags one or both of her back legs, collapses, and tires easily. She can’t run or play like she used to,” Ms Hindle said.
Rosa and Ms Hindle have been together since her canine companion was eight months old, and Ms Hindle’s time in hospital was the longest period they had spent apart.
“Since I’ve been home, she’s become even more attached. She cries if I leave the room,” Ms Hindle said.
“On days when I can’t get out of bed, it’s so hard because she can’t walk up the stairs to see me.
“I often need help carrying her now because I don’t have the strength I had before.”
By coincidence, Rosa is now on the same steroid medication as Ms Hindle in order to battle severe inflammation, with vets suspecting a neurological or auto-immune component in her condition.
Starting on a higher dose, they tapered Rosa’s medication down to now be on the same dosage as Ms Hindle.
She is now trying to gain support for Rosa’s healing journey through a GoFundMe, with hopes to regain her mobility and quality of life while focusing on improving her own strength to properly take care of her furry friend.
Ms Hindle herself is still recovering, and deals with extreme fatigue, joint pain, muscle weakness and brain fog frequently.
Being immunocompromised, she has had to limit herself on where she can go; she mostly recently suffered from a sickness for seven weeks after a day out.
After she was placed in an induced coma last year, doctors performed two surgeries with hopes to find the cause of her body’s inflammatory response, but to no avail.
A team of specialists gathered to find the cause but no answers were found, and Ms Hindle spent a month in hospital as her organs began to fail.
Before her release, she had to learn how to walk again through physiotherapy and she was ultimately treated for large vessel vasculitis, where the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues.
It is still unknown what caused the inflammation in her body, which had in turn caused her organs to shut down.
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