Hello, my name is Yisset and my fur child’s name is Aus. On Oct. 13, 2024, our lives were changed forever.

Aus is a 9-year-old husky mix, who has been an active, happy guy his whole life. I’ve had Aus since he was 2 months old, and we have been inseparable since. From going on hikes, road trips, beaches, and pretty much everything else we could do together, he was there with me through the good and bad.

On Sunday, Oct. 13, I had work this morning, so Aus's walk was on hold until I got off. Since I wasn't able to take him on his walk, to make it up to him, I decided to take him on a hike on one of our favorite trails in Marin. Everything was going great; the sun was out, the weather was perfect, and tails were wagging. We were about 2 miles in on our hike when Aus started to act strange/scared, which was very unusual for him since he has always been a very confident dog. I noticed a little too late, but there was a biker coming down the hike from around the corner who I didn't see until he was closer. Aus was never scared of bikers; in fact, he was the dog to move aside for them to keep going. So, when he was acting very scared with his tail tucked in, I was very thrown off, and in a matter of seconds, he took off running down the hill to get away from the biker, and I lost grip of his leash. I was very scared, to say the least. It took me about 10-15 minutes to finally catch up with him. When I was able to finally see him, he was with another hiker and his dog. I thanked the man for staying with him and could clearly tell he was shaken up and scared. The man that was with him had mentioned that he heard a yelp in the distance but didn't see what happened and let me know that he thought he was hurt because he was unable to get up. Sure enough, when I tried to get Aus walking, he couldn't; he could barely stand on his own. I could not believe it; not just one, but both of his front legs were severely injured. I did my best to stay calm, but I couldn't help it; the thing I love most in the world was hurt, and I felt like it was my fault. We were still about a mile out from my car as well and high up a mountain on this hike, and it was just the two of us. I did my best to try and carry him down, but of course, I didn't make it far with a 76 lb dog. With tears running down my face, I tried my best to get us down this hike, but fortunately, some very kind hikers saw me struggling and offered help to carry him down to my car. As we were making our way down, another kindhearted hiker saw us and also offered to help, taking turns carrying Aus down this hike. At last, we made it down the mountain and got him transported to the local pet emergency and specialty center of Marin.

As I waited outside the hospital, the team started to work on him, giving pain meds and getting x-rays of his legs. After everything was done, I got an update on his injuries: Bilateral traumatic carpometacarpal luxations. This means the ligaments in his front legs were torn. The only way to fix his injuries was surgery, to be exact, pancarpal arthrodesis, a surgical procedure used to salvage otherwise irreparable injuries of a canine carpus. It involves removal of articular cartilage, placement of an autologous cancellous bone graft, and fixation using a bone plate. The surgery immobilizes the carpus in a functional position through fusion of the entire carpus.

And of course, I decided to go through with the surgery because Aus still has so much life in him, and I wasn't going to give up on him. But with both legs injured, that meant double the cost, time, and recovery. Doing surgery also meant follow-ups, multiple bandage changes weekly for a while, more x-rays, and more pain management. With all of this, it meant a lot more money would be involved too, but I didn't care; I wanted to do everything I could to make him better. Now that we have gone through two surgeries for him, the bill has gotten quite large on top of the ones I have already. Aus means the world to me, and it's heartbreaking to see him in pain. I'm doing everything I can to get him the treatment he needs, but I can't do it alone.

I've set a GoFundMe page to help cover the cost of the medical bills. Any contribution, no matter how small, would mean so much to us. If you're unable to donate, sharing this with others would also be a huge help.

THANK YOU so much for taking the time to read this and for any support you can offer.

- Aus and Yisset