Meet Rocket

THE FACTS

(Scroll to the end of Rocket's story for an explanation of why the beneficiaries are listed as they are, and what efforts are being taken to make things clearer.)

THE DETAILS

Rocket's Story

Five-month-old Rocket is a fourth-generation White Golden Retriever from a litter of nine puppies. With big litters sometimes come complications and heartbreak, and two of the puppies had life-threatening health issues. Sadly, one succumbed to her frailties while the second, Rocket, showed signs of having a liver shunt.

A portosystemic shunt (PSS), or liver shunt is a congenital condition (present from birth) in which veins that should carry blood to the liver bypass the liver through an abnormal vessel. This allows blood to enter the body without undergoing the liver's filtration process to remove toxins, medications, and wastes from the blood. It also prevents the absorption of critical nutrients that would normally occur in the liver. (Source: thesprucepets.com)

Meet Erin Barker, DVM

Dr. Erin Barker and the entire staff at North Yarmouth Veterinary Hospital embraced Rocket from the time he was just five weeks old as they guided his care from diagnosis through treatment so far. Dr. Barker and her team have donated a combined dozens of hours valuing thousands of dollars towards his treatment and continue to be champions of his health and well-being.

Meet Karen Ebersole, DVM, DAVBP

It was through Dr. Barker that Dr. Karen Ebersole from Scanvet Mobile Veterinary Ultrasound in Lewiston/Auburn, Maine heard about Rocket’s plight, and generously offered to conduct the necessary diagnostic sonogram which determined a CT scan was required for the next phase of diagnosis.

It was Rocket's good fortune that Dr. Ebersole is also SDEP® Certified Instructor for Abdominal and Cardiac ultrasound at the SonoPath Veterinary Education Center in Andover, New Jersey and offered to cover the costs of flying with Rocket from Maine to New Jersey where one of their doctors did Rocket's CT scan pro bono.

The CT scan confirmed that to live a happy seizure-free life Rocket must have liver surgery, at an additional cost of $15,000.

It cannot be overstated that our gratitude to these amazing medical professionals who have given so much already is overflowing.

Meet Mama Ivy

After five days away from his mother, siblings, and other family dogs, Rocket returned home no longer allowed to nurse by his mother. Instead, Rocket was placed on a special prescription diet as well as a series of medications and antibiotics as he awaits this necessary surgery.

Rocket with Mama wearing a "supersuit" so he won't nurse.

Rocket was left behind as one by one his siblings were leaving for their forever homes. The reality of finding a family willing or able to take on Rocket’s special needs including his prescriptive diet, expensive monthly medications, and providing the necessary surgery felt impossible leading Rocket's family's breeder, Joanne Minor to consider surrendering Rocket to a shelter in hopes they would have better luck locating a family able to financially support Rocket's growing medical needs.

Meet Retired U.S. Naval Commander Philip Voyer

Week after week passed until military veteran Commander Philip Voyer learned about Rocket’s dilemma and knew immediately he could provide the forever home Rocket deserved.

Philip is a well-decorated retired naval commander who served three combat tours as a trauma/ICU nurse. Not surprisingly, as a trauma nurse, Philip witnessed some of the worst horrors of war leading to his own struggle with PTSD.

Philip’s family recognized that as much as Philip would help Rocket, Rocket would be just as healing for Philip. Rocket came to live with Philip in August and already, in this short amount of time, there is no question that Philip and Rocket belong together.

Rocket at home with his forever family, Jill and Philip Voyer.

Meet…you.

Rocket is due to have his lifesaving surgery in May 2024 at Tufts Foster Hospital for Small Animals in Boston if we can raise enough funds.

To be blunt, Philip and his family do not have $15,000 to cover Rocket’s surgery.

So, this is where you come in.

Please help by giving whatever you can.

We only need 1,500 people to donate $10....

or 150 people to donate $100....

or 15 people to donate $1000!

You get the point.

Have a bake sale! Return some cans! Repost, repost, and repost again on your social media.

Please spread the word, and send this link to as many people as possible.

If you are still reading this, THANK YOU.

In the happy event that more funds are raised than needed, we have committed to donating any surplus to Maine Veterans Forward. A local nonprofit that provides financial assistance to veterans to prevent homelessness or other financial barriers that hinder their personal mental health and well-being.

Four Generations

Rocket (lying down) with sister Lily, Mom Ivy, Grandmother Violet, Great-grandmother Chloe

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11/10/23 I received an email this morning asking:

"Just want to know why the owners of Rocket are not the beneficiaries of the money raised?"

Thank you for asking! This fundraiser was initiated to be a gift for Philip and his wife, Jill by Rocket's breeder, Joanne Minor and my brother, Jeremy Kendall, (also a Maine combat vet from the Iraq War suffering with PTSD and who has two dogs from the same lineage as Rocket). I think Joanne and Jeremy thought it could look too self-serving if Philip did the asking for himself.

None of us have ever set up a GoFundMe before and didn't know how the logistics worked or how our information would be posted.

I became involved when Jeremy asked if I would write the copy and design the page. When the platform asked for banking info my brother said he had a bank account that was sitting empty and the funds could go into that.

As soon as we published the page and saw how it read like Jeremy was the beneficiary, I tried to go back and change it but once published the algorithm doesn't allow any changes of beneficiaries without GoFundMe's intervention. I immediately contacted GoFundMe about making the change and am still waiting to hear back from them.

So yes, we want very much to set things up to list Philip and Rocket as beneficiaries and have the money go directly into their account and will continue to try to reach the administrative side of GoFundMe to get this rectified.

I will post an update as soon as we are able to take action.

With love and gratitude to you all,

Rebecca Kendall

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