Hello! My name is McKenzie, Jim Klein has been a father figure to me for the past 13+ years. Jim has a long haired German Shepard service dog named Gunner. Jim is a former Marine, former Army Reservist and currently the President of the Silver Lake Volunteer Fire Company in PA. Gunner is not only Jim's service dog for PTSD but he is also the official Silver Lake VFC "mascot" who regularly attends/assists with emergency calls (including suicide prevition) and has even visited some of the local Binghamton, NY elementary school classrooms.

On Sunday October 8, 2023 Gunner's health declined rapidly within a few hours. Gunner's symptoms started around 2pm and around 545pm they got worse at which point Jim contacted his local vet & was transferred to Cornell Univeristy Vet Hosptial in Ithaca, NY about 1.5 hours from their house. The Cornell ER Vet diagnosed Gunner with Gastric Dilatation & Volvulus (GDV) otherwise known as bloat. This is a condition in which the stomach essentially twists around itself or other organs, is extremely painful and has a 100% fatality rate without surgery. Emergency surgery started at 1245am for Gunner, they removed his spleen as the stomach twisted around it making it no longer viable, rotated his stomach back into position and permanently secured it to the sides of his abdomen to prevent further issues (this is common with the condition). He was released on Tuesday October 10th however by Saturday October 14th he was again not doing well and Cornell advised Jim to bring him back. Cornell stated that Gunner had an infection and needed a second surgery to clean it out. They placed two drains in him. He stayed overnight and was released on Monday October 16th. The total cost of these two emergency visits, surgeries, pain medications and antibiotics has already exceeded $10,000 and continued care is of course required. We are very much looking forward to getting Gunner well and back in action!

Jim has given so much back to his country and continues to give back to the local community. We understand this is a lofty goal but any assistance that you all could provide would be so very much appreciated!!!

Many thank yous - McKenzie, Jim and of course Gunner!