Hi! My name is Rachel. You may know me as your daughter, cousin, niece, friend, or even acquaintance. But my big fella you may or may not know is Sol. He is a Bernese Mountain Dog, he is my child, son, my life, and he is only two years old.

Unfortunately, I was not adept at the time of him being brought to life that his genetic health tests would be as important from his breeder. And sadly, his genetics did pay a price. On June 25th, I was finally able to bring Sol into the vet to get updated on vaccinations, wellness checks, and to finally get a particular problem leg some x-rays. As far as his vet knew from the previous appointment, Sol had a Patella Luxation in his hind left leg. But as of the 25th, we finally found out that it is confirmed what is called a Medial Patella Luxation; an orthopedic condition where a dog's kneecap (patella) pops out of its groove and shifts toward the inside of the knee. Sadly, the bad news didn't stop there either. He now has x-ray confirmation of an ACL Tear in that hind left knee, as well as an ACL Tear in his hind right knee which makes things so much worse.

Our beloved vet gave us two options. One was pain management, supplements, and physical therapy. The other was two separate surgeries, one for each leg. To me, there was no other option than for the separate surgeries. So we'll split it like this: Surgery 1 for his ACL Tear in his hind right leg for right now and then Surgery 2 for the ACL Tear as well as the Medial Patella Luxation months down the line.

The good news is that I was well prepared to save up for a good amount of money for this situation. The bad news is that I'm still left with some that I still need to require for this particular ACL tear before his surgery date, July 15th.

This guy is my everything. He was my Service Dog in Training. He helped me in more ways than any single human being could have done, and there was so much more that we wanted to learn together as a team.

Getting this money goal means that he not only gets his mobility and strength back, but it gives me faith that he can live a more pain-free life. And that is all that I want for him.