Hi, my name is Matt and I am an Army veteran living in central Illinois. Asking for help is very difficult for me, especially financially. Rona is my 9-year-old retired greyhound and means so much to me as my first dog. She has gotten me through many challenges over the last 7.5 years, from financial struggles to navigating a move across states to serve in the Army, to recovering from multiple hip surgeries after separation. I adopted her from REGAP of Illinois in August of 2017 at just shy of 2 years old, and she just had the sweetest soul and gentle personality. Rona and my other dog, Ruby, are all I have in my life besides my friends and family 2 hours from me.

Thursday 2/20, an incident occurred in which she had what I can only determine as a traumatic brain injury. I was unfortunately in the shower when it occurred, but I came out to her flailing in my kitchen, struggling to get up. Naturally, she hurt herself in the process but did not break or fracture any bones. The local vet recommended me to get her to University of Illinois IMMEDIATELY for critical care based on assessment of a TBI (eyes very dilated and looking different directions, unable to hold herself up). She is currently in wonderful care with the neurology team there and is showing small signs of improvement with antibiotics and steroids as of Sunday morning, but they still do not know if this is a tumor in the brain, a parasitic infection, or bacterial infection.

I really want to make the best decision for her, and if she shows signs of degradation, am prepared to have her euthanized, but while she is improving, I want to see this through. She's done that for me, so this is the least I can do for her. This care is not cheap, however, and I have spent $6400 just to get her from Thursday to Sunday, and it is $1000 a day to continue care. At this point, they are recommending a feed tube to provide some nutrition after improving her protein count, and taking it day by day with response to the meds. I am asking for your help for Rona to continue her treatment for at least a few more days. I don't know if I could live with myself if I prematurely made an irreversible decision based on financial need. Anything you can provide will be so appreciated.

Love,

Matt