Help Bring Home Bean, Beloved Dog Of East Haven Marine Veteran

EAST HAVEN, CT — Chris Kowalczik is not giving up on Bean.

"As a Marine, I am not comfortable asking for help, let alone donations. I would much prefer to be helping others. With me being out of work for almost a year, the possibility of affording this is impossible, but Bean deserves the opportunity to have a life. We cannot lose him."

Around five years ago, Kowalczik and his family rescued two dogs, Seamus and Bean, the latter a white lab-husky mix. Inseparable, the two are and have been for years very much a part of the Kowalczik family.

But now Bean is very ill. And the Kowalczik family must raise money to afford his treatment.

"There is a good chance that Bean can recover with treatment and live a longer life," Kowalczik wrote on GoFundMe. "We certainly wouldn’t take such drastic measures if there wasn’t hope for his survival and quality of life."

The appeal for donations, "Help bring Bean home," on GoFundMe was created less than a week ago. Kowalczik wrote that around two weeks ago, Bean became extremely ill and had to be rushed to a veterinary emergency room. An infection had overtaken his body and the dog was listed in critical condition, Kowalczik wrote. It turned out that Bean has an illness "where the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the red blood cells." And from that, Bean developed other conditions that endangered his life. Now, it's a tense and worrisome waiting game where it's hoped the medications and blood transfusions will work. But the expense is so great, the family cannot afford it. And as Kowalczik noted on GoFundMe, if there was no hope, the family would not be pursuing the treatment.

As of Wednesday morning, the GoFundMe for Bean has around $3,500 in donations.

Patch was alerted to Bean's plight by Michael Roy, another US Marine veteran whose therapy dog Stella also became gravely ill and required treatment that Roy could not afford. Patch wrote about Stella and Roy and East Haven residents came together and raised the money needed for Stella to have the surgeries she needed. Roy said he hoped that a story might help a "fellow Marine brother."

Step Out For The Brave

Kowalczik and his wife Carol spent days last August walking to raise money for homeless veterans. The effort was called Step Out For The Brave.

"As a United States Marine, Semper Fidelis is not just a motto, it is a lifelong commitment to others who have stood on those yellow footprints," Kowalczik wrote on an appeal for donations for the program." When you serve, it is about the person standing next to you and this should not change just because we no longer wear the uniform. I think that one step for each of America’s homeless veterans is the very least I could do."

The fundraiser was to support Homes for the Brave, a nonprofit that provides housing and services for homeless veterans with three housing programs in Bridgeport: Homes for the Brave, a 42-bed transitional housing program for men; Female Soldiers: Forgotten Heroes, a 14-bed transitional housing program for women; and Waldorf House, a 9-bed permanent supportive housing program for formerly homeless individuals.

The cause to help homeless veterans is all in the Kowalczik family. Daughter Mackenzie, an East Haven High School junior, has made raising money for Homes for the Brave by creating and selling jewelry her Capstone project.

"It would mean a lot to me for everyone to view my shop and make a purchase if you can," she wrote on Facebook. Click here to visit her Etsy shop, MadeByMKShop.

And here's where to help bring Bean home.

GoFundMe is a Patch partner.