Thank you for taking a moment to read about our 4 legged son, Jack. On the morning of Tuesday Nov 8th, we put a contract on a new home in a quiet neighborhood just down the street from an elementary school. One of our criteria was a backyard we could fence so Jack could come and go outside as he pleased. Just a few hours later our world was shaken to the core.

At about 5pm, Jack tripped while running and landed head first into a metal fence post and has been courageously fighting for his life ever since – narrowly escaping death once and been recommended for euthanasia twice now. Before we get to his current state, I’d like to take a moment and tell you about our 3 daughters’ big brother.



For Christmas 2010, my wife surprised me with a puppy of my favorite breed of dog – Black Labs. She arranged everything and tricked me into a trip to Salina Ks to go pick out which little fur ball would join our family. Little did we know…we wouldn’t pick him, he’d pick us. We knelt down by the carpet where they were all nursing and playing and he was the first puppy curious enough to come check us out. His kind eyes melted our heart instantly.



A few weeks later he would be weaned from nursing and make the short trip to Newton and begin carving his spot in our hearts. At just 10 weeks old, he already out-weighed his big brother Chuy – our 7lb Chihuahua. Jack just wanted to play and wrestle and Chuy would remind him whose boss. It was awesome watching this big pawed, clumsy puppy get ordered around by such a tiny little big brother. As Jack would grow to full size, they would continue to play together but Jack would play laying down to give Chuy a fair fight.



While our two sons were playing and growing up together, we would come to be blessed with the first addition to our 2 legged family – Jacks first little sister was growing in mommies tummy. Jack was about a year old now and one morning after I had gone to work, my wife had him upstairs playing with his squeaky ball in the doorway to the bathroom while she was getting ready for the day. Suddenly the hair on his nape stood up and he started growling and took off down the stairs. She dropped her things and followed. She got to the top of the stairs just in time to hear the back door slam shut…Jack had chased off an intruder!! He saved his mommy and little sister from God only knows what! It was this moment that he earned a spot in our bed.



Years would pass and sisters would be born. Chuy would grow older and slower and Jack stayed the same ole crazy exciting self he always had been. Early one morning just 6 months ago, I came home very late and exhausted from the day. I walked in, and Jack was panicking near Chuy’s kennel – Chuy was clinging to his last thread of life. I swooped him up and headed upstairs to show Jasmin his condition. He would go limp in my arms on the way. I quickly knelt in the bathroom and proceeded to give my best shot at doggy CPR. He would last another 45 min before I felt his final heartbeat. Just 4 days before my birthday. Jacks playmate had passed.



Chuy never cared much for the babies…but Jack loved them. Every chance he got he’d lay with them while they were learning to crawl. This would continue all the way until the day of his accident when he laid down to watch a movie with 2 of his sisters. That afternoon while I was at work, mom loaded the kids up in the car for a quick trip back to the store to get the couple things she had forgotten. It was a beautiful day so she opted to leave him outside to enjoy for just 15 min while she was gone. When she returned, the neighborhood was gathered in our driveway and a police car out front. Luckily our next door neighbor was outside to witness what happened.



Jack was panicked, bleeding and confused. Jasmin called me from work and I raced to meet them at the vet. He had 1 seizure at home and another while we were weighing him. They were able to sedate him enough to take x-rays where they found the source of the bleeding – a sinus fracture had punctured his nasal passage. While in the waiting room, they hurried me back because he became unresponsive and his heart beat was fading. I closed the door and said goodbye. As I arose from our embrace, I noticed his nose flaring ever so slightly. I looked back and his chest rising slowly. I put my hand on his chest and felt one heartbeat and called the doctor back. He’s still in there.



Sedated and pumped with pain meds, we put him in the back of the truck and made the cold, 30mi journey to the emergency vet in Wichita. I bundled up and laid by his side to keep him warm. We arrived and they rushed him in. He was resting soundly in an oxygen chamber with anti-swelling meds to prevent further pressure on his brain. We were presented an estimate for care – having just given everything we had in the bank into the earnest account on the house, we had no means to pay. We rolled the dice on our house contract and opened a credit line to try and save the last brother our daughters have. 36 hours later, we find ourselves out of credit, narrowly keeping the contract on our new home, and a beloved dog who was recommended be euthanized. He was semi-conscious and I stood over him just before I called the doctors in. Not knowing what else we could do, I told him this was his last shot. I pulled out the squeaky ball he was playing with when he saved my wife. “You saved my wife, help me save you.” I squeaked it, and he perked his ears and lifted his head…He’s STILL in there! We called off the shot and gave him til the morning to see if he was still having seizures.



On the drive in, they said he hadn’t improved and we prepared for what we thought would be our final moments with him. Once there, we learned he hadn’t seized in over 12 hours and the only meds have been for pain and light sedation. Just before we transferred him back to our local vet, he was frightened and kicking, they had me call his name. He paused kicking, and turned toward me. He knows his name! He KNOWS we’re with him! We got him in the back of the SUV and made the quiet journey back to our local vet where he spent the rest of the day.

He is currently home to be monitored over night. They gave us enough sedation to help him sleep through the night and he'll have to go back in the morning to get his feeding tube and care for the day while we're at work.



We have exhausted all of our financial options. We are asking your help to provide the care Jack needs to heal, and return to his duty as big brother and guardian. He turned 6 years old just 3 days before this happened – less than half the age we expected him to be with us. He has more than half of his life left if we are able to just give him time with proper care. We've covered the first half of his bills to get him this far, we're asking the community to help us with the 2nd half.

From the bottom of our humble hearts, we thank each and every one of you for any contribution you're able to help with.