When Laurie Brewer first saw Roxy, a black Labrador dog with a chronic runny nose, it was love at first sight. A Maryland veterinarian, Brewer had her first contact with this sick dog when Roxy’s former owners brought her in to be seen for chronic nasal drainage and sneezing.

They tried an antibiotic for a couple of weeks, but when it didn’t work, “they were going to euthanize her strictly due to cost concerns,” Brewer said.

Euthanize this lovable dog? Not if Brewer could help it.

“I fell in love with her the first time I saw her,” she recalls.

She arranged with the owners to adopt Roxy and took her home.

And did this dog need care.

Roxy had been an “outdoor dog,” Brewer said, and she was thin and had Lyme disease and intestinal parasites. And she had never had any prior veterinary care.

“She had multiple stressors on her body,” Brewer said.

Roxy’s most serious health issue was the source of her sneezing and sinus drainage — a serious fungal infection called aspergillosis that was eating away at her sinuses and nasal cavity.

Brewer first made two trips with Roxy to Ohio State University, but treatment there wasn’t successful. Experts told Brewer Roxy’s infection was the worst they had ever seen, and they weren’t comfortable continuing treatment, she said.

Her next step was to locate a veterinary expert at the University of Illinois, Dr. Brendan McKiernan, and to make the 700-mile trip there with Roxy.

And that’s when this dog got her next big break in life.

Roxy underwent her first treatment in Urbana in early October, and returned for a follow-up procedure this past Monday. By the time she was heading for home later Tuesday, this dog was feeling pretty good, Brewer said.

“She’s great. We just stopped for a snack, and now she’s munching on her favorite chew bone in the back seat,” she said.