Hi, we are the Hopkins family -- Craig, Aimee, Maggie, Charley and Grandma DD. We live in Glendale, CA, and are teachers (Aimee Music, Craig Middle School). One year ago my daughter's boss offered her a stray kitten he had found in his yard and, upon deliberation, we adopted him on a provisional basis, discovering then, that I no longer had cat allergies. No sooner had we adopted Stevie that we decided to give him a sibling. Two weeks later, a dear friend had a litter and gave us another kitten so Stevie could have a brother. We named him Rocky. We watched Rocky and Stevie grow into cats together this last year and meanwhile, other neighborhood kitties must have heard about us because they also began to make their homes in our yard! Cats in all their antic serendipity have brought us so much joy!

Two days ago, Rocky stumbled into the house and seemed hurt and wouldn't eat. He was hobbling as if in pain, his back legs almost completely limp. We took him to the vet yesterday, and they said he was hit by a car and had a shattered pelvis. It wasn't the kind that would repair on its own, they said, and he would need surgery. The recovery was complex and we considered all the options including euthenization. We knew that on our teachers' salaries we could not afford the $10,000 surgury the vet offered. We found a low-cost animal clinic, Kinder4Rescue in North Hollywood, and brought him there this morning -- the doc said he was pretty strong if he could hobble in from the car accident and would most likely recover well. He offered to do the surgery for $3500! That plus the emergency hospital visit yesterday for $1000, plus any medications or additional fees, brings us to our goal of $5000 for this GoFundMe for our dear Rocky.

Throughout the day today, I got so many calls and texts from friends, family and animal lovers asking, "How's Rocky?" and saying "He is in our thoughts and so are you!" We decided to go for it and choose a chance at life for Rocky. As preposterous as cat surgury may have sounded to me a year ago, Rocky and the slew of neighborhood cats he seems to attract have reared a new kind of joy and love that was previously alien to me. Thank you for your donations. We know Rocky (and Stevie) appreciate it too! THANK YOU! With love, the Hopkins family