my name is tristian, i have a husband, a 5 year old son, and a 3 year old son. our hearts hold an alaskan malamute, a 6 year old beautiful, silly, fun dog. 4 months ago on April 21st, we made the extremely difficult decision to put her down, as she had a seizure disorder that was progressing quickly, and was medicine intolerant. it was ruining her brain, and we knew it was the time.

our other dog bella, grew up with ava since 10 weeks old, they were only 1 day apart in age and were inseparable from the day we got them. bella took ava’s death extremely difficultly, she was down a lot, spending time alone mostly. unless we were playing frisbee, which she loved, or giving her a treat, or going for long walks. tuesday 8/19, my three year old, bella and i went for a walk. we stopped at a big chicken statue and went home. thursday, 8/21, my husband, my three year old, and bella went for the exact same walk, to the exact same spot. the spot where an older woman swerved off the road towards my husband, son, and dog. she was inches from hitting my family, but she hit bella and her body was thrown into the ditch. she didn’t stop. my son was scared, my husband traumatized for having to experience and watch that, and having to deal with taking care of the body and police report.

he sent me a text “i don’t know what to do with her body… do we cremate her or dig a hole for her?” while the thought of her going into an incinerator alone is absolutely heartbreaking, the thought of her rotting alone in the ground was even worse. she’ll be on a shelf with ava forever. we got her cremated and we had to dip into my husbands business savings account in able to afford it. the woman was found and it was basically dismissed for her being old and having bad vision. that there’s nothing we can do other than an insurance claim. if we can’t get her license revoked, we’re going to need to afford a lawyer.

my 5 year old is absolutely destroyed losing both of the dogs he’s had his entire life within months. my 3 year old is terrified and doesn’t want to leave the house. our house just feels so empty without them.

i know that times are tough right now, so if you can’t donate, please share so our story can be seen. we want to grieve without the financial burden this tragic accident came with.

im sorry, thank you for reading and thinking of us.