Run Free Now, My Brave Little Fighter

Tragedy has struck yet again. My precious little Frannie, who had been valiantly fighting her mysterious illness for more than a month, against all odds, has finally lost her exhausting battle and left us all totally devastated and completely shattered. The tears I shed now

are telling the story of deepest sorrow, overpowering grief, broken hope, a destroyed dream and everlasting love.

Frannie was one of Alethe’s daughters, one of five unwanted kittens born to a desperate Mom just inside of a pizzeria in

Belgrade. A heavily pregnant stray cat I've named Alethe rushed into the restaurant seeking a safe shelter to deliver her babies, as she didn’t have any other choice. All of them were in imminent danger from the beginning. Although the owner had promised not to kick them out immediately – he quickly changed his mind and decided to get rid of the burden. Alethe and her babies were picked up literally at the last possible moment and brought to me the next day. Alethe herself was in such a rough

state that she couldn't produce enough milk for her babies, so a special kitten formula had to be fed to them to keep them all alive.

After their incredibly hard start to life, I did my best to provide them with everything they needed to have a bright and happy

future. They were showered with love and care, they had everything that money could buy.

However, little Frannie was somewhat strange from the beginning; she’d always been too shy, too delicate. All of her siblings were active

and playful, even a bit mischievous but she usually kept to herself and seemed not to care too much about anything. Maybe she knew she wasn’t strong, maybe she was somehow aware of a serious problem she had. She was growing and gaining weight, she looked

healthy, but still just a bit fragile from the outside. I’d always had an ominous feeling that something was terribly wrong with her.

And then, only a couple of months later, the nightmare began. It all started with a high, prolonged

fever that simply couldn’t be lowered. She had stopped eating and I’d been force feeding her for weeks. She was under treatment from the beginning but the drugs didn’t do her any good. Blood tests showed only that she was severely anemic and the vet suspected

she had immune mediated hemolytic anemia with some underlying immunosuppressive disease. No one seemed to be able to give a definitive diagnosis and my little sweetie was getting weaker by the day.

Even with being so

horribly thin and weak, she wasn’t giving up. She bravely fought with all her might, surrounded by her loving friends that were by her side constantly, in a desperate attempt to comfort her and to show her she was not alone. With immense devotion

and persistence, Billy and Kami, nothing more than kittens themselves still, had been trying to heal her with love, but she was rapidly losing what little strength she had left. She put up an enormous effort, but her exhausted little body just couldn’t allow her

to carry on.

Frannie passed away peacefully and evidently without pain, surrounded by those who loved her and who will always remember a fragile little kitten with the cutest little face in the world. Even the kitty magic from her

friends couldn’t save her, but her personal heroes, Billy and Kami, taught us a lesson about true friendship and unspeakable love, a lesson worth remembering.

Run free now, my precious little darling, beautiful, strong and

healthy again. You left this world too soon, but your memory will live on in our hearts and minds until the end of time. May the angels protect you and Heaven accept you, may the eternal sun shine upon your path.

“Death is not

extinguishing the light, it’s only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.”