Please help Bruiser!!

Hello all squirrel lovers.. months ago I rescued Bruiser from the mouth of a stray kitty we feed, I was so lucky to have been there to stop the killing and rescue him. He was just a baby.

he wasn’t hurt badly and made a full recovery. One thing- he has a hind leg that is deformed. It seems to be a birth defect so he can’t use it (though he gets around well) and I guess the birth defect he’d been kicked out of the nest.

He is the sweetest boy (he brought me a hazelnut when I was down with pancreatitis, they are his favorite and I guess he wanted to help me) and he has been a joy, napping in my armpit to nap and “grooming” me all the time (looks and feels like tiny lkisses and is learning to kiss my lips when I make kiss sounds.

Today as I carefully exercised him I noticed that his hind leg seemed to be bulging outward differently (the wonky one) and when I finally could get him still and check it and there is a large lump beneath it that hadn’t been there a month ago. He needs to go to a vet ASAP but he will need initial treatment fee, then a biopsy, X-rays, medication (he will be sedated), overnight stay b/c of sedation, IV fluids, etc., and whatever else is needed. My husband is a teacher and I’m disabled, summers are tight because he’s on his stipend pay.

Any help would be a blessing. Bruiser is such a joy and so darling, he doesn’t act like he’s in pain at all. He’d had a small swelling there but with the deformity I thought it was part of it. I have pictures of the swelling a month ago and now it is so much bigger, I didn’t know it had grown because of where it is. He needs to have it checked and we are not financially able to do it alone.

Any help would be amazing, squirrel friends please, please help Bruiser! He is my heart…