Hi!

My name is Krystal and my husband's name is Michael.

In June 2022 I saw a listing on a local Facebook page. It was asking for urgent help for a dog who was at a shelter and needed a foster home. She had been through a pretty severe health scare but was able to be helped and needed a quiet place to heal.

At the time, we were just months removed from one of our own dogs passing. And I had sworn to myself that I wouldn't let myself get attached to another dog because of the pain I was in. But there was something about the face in that ad that drew me to send an email.

So I wrote the shelter and told them that we would be willing to help. They told me a bit more about the dog, Harley.

She was surrendered to the shelter with a very serious infection in her uterus. She had recovered from that but was now in the process of having TWO knee surgeries. She would need daily physiotherapy administered by the foster family and would need medication administered multiple times a day.

I was still in a dark place mentally but was so drawn to her story that I knew we needed to help.

For the next few months she became my whole world. I work from home we spent every single second with each other. She immediately became part of our family. She got along well with my nieces, my cousins, my aunts and uncles. Even my mom (who is afraid of big dogs) immediately loved Harley.

The months pressed on and she just filled us with so much joy. She is funny and sweet and knows exactly how to pull me out of a bad headspace.

Then we got an email that she has a potential adopter and our hearts sank. We were so happy for her...but sad for us. We told her every single day that she would find her forever family....but we also told her that we would be forever her family. And that our doors and our hearts would always be open to her. We also secretly had a promise that if she didn't like her new home, she should be super naughty and get sent back. And if that happened, we would adopt her.

Well, the initial adopter fell through but then before we could even catch our breath, a second person wanted to meet her. And just like that, she was gone.

It was around Christmas so we bought her a ton of Christmas gifts and sent them along with her. We also wrote a heartfelt note, basically begging them to give us an update on our girl if they felt comfortable with that....once she settled in of course. We gave our phone number but were warned that it wasn't likely we would ever hear from them.

Well, a week later my phone rang and a man was on the other line. He said he was Harley's dad. I wept like a baby! Not only was he calling to say she is settling in beautifully, but he was also calling to see if we wanted to have Harley over Christmas and New Years! I think I screamed "YES!" into the phone before he had a chance to finish his sentence!

We took her with us to our family Christmas cottage. The whole family got to give her snuggles. Then we headed home and brought in the New Year, just the three of us. My heart was full.

Her dad picked her up a day or two later and I felt so happy and confident that not only was she happy and healthy, but that our relationship with her would continue.

We got fairly frequent updates from her new daddy. Cute pictures, funny stories about her character. Every now and then he would ask a question about her habits.

Mid- January hit and the text messages started being not so pleasant. Harley vomited. Harley is sleeping a lot. Harley is putting her nose up to food. From our own experiences we knew that he should get her checked out. So we encouraged him to take her to the vet. She would have a good day though at just the right time where it pushed off that vet visit. Eventually, he took her in. And after a couple weeks of testing it turned out that she has Lymphoma. Her kidneys were in rough shape and she very quickly lost a ton of weight.

Her dad was heartbroken. We had tons of teary phone calls and late night texts to support him as best we could. We, too, were heartbroken. We didn't understand how the healthy, happy girl we had at Christmas could have gotten sick so fast.

Her dad has been getting her IVs and has her on a special diet. He has her taking meds to keep her comfortable but his resources are running out. He vocalized that to us a couple times. He said he thinks he will have to take her back to the shelter.

So we asked the shelter if he did surrender her back, if they would let us be with her in those final moments. They said they don't allow that.

So my husband and I made him an offer. We told him that we had always promised Harley that our doors and our hearts would always be open to her. And we meant it.

My husband and I are currently in the process of IVF and we have some savings for that. We told Harley's dad that we could use our nest egg to give Harley peace, love and dignity in a place that is familiar to her with people that love her with their whole hearts.

We went to visit her yesterday. It was the first time seeing her since Christmas. I was expecting her to be solemn. I was expecting her to be weak and sad. But Harley girl had a wagging tail and tons of kisses. She jumped around. She showed us all her toys. She even did all her tricks for us! Needless to say, she is still willing to fight and has a quality of life worth fighting for.

But regardless of that will to live, her daddy is out of resources. He will be giving her over to us, but our nest egg of IVF savings can only take us so far. What we thought would be "end of life care" is now going to be palliative care. To keep Harley girl happy and feeling comfortable until that time comes. That care is going to cost us more than we have set aside.

The money we are raising here is to pay for:

I know it may seem dumb to some people. Taking in a dog with a terminal illness. But that girl pulled me out of a dark place. I was drawn to her for a reason. She wasn't given a fair shake. She's been passed around and gone through pain and suffering. But if we are able to ease that for her in any way, that is what we will fight to do.

Harley is beautiful, sweet, loving, attentive, hilarious, sassy, jealous, chatty, playful and super smart. She has been put in a cruddy situation and if you have it in you to help her out...I will be sure to make sure she knows just how loved she is.