Recovery for Rexie

This is Rexie, a 10-week-old german shepherd puppy that my sister Sandy brought home as a companion and therapy dog for my 18-year-old nephew Joshua.  Joshua struggles with autism, Tourette’s syndrome, debilitating OCD, and seizures.  Because of Joshua’s disabilities, it is challenging for him to make friends.  Since Rexie has come into his life a couple of weeks ago, the positive changes in Joshua’s behavior have been stunning.  This little puppy has not only won over Joshua’s heart, but my sister’s and my parents’ hearts as well. 

Rexie was taken ill the last several days, with seizures, disorientation, and other serious medical symptoms.  He’s been in and out of the emergency vet hospital as they run tests and try to stabilize him.  They are concerned that he may have a congenital abnormality called a liver shunt or may have distemper or a brain anomaly.  The medical costs to help Rexie have been staggering as you can imagine and because the puppy is new, there is a 14-day waiting period for pet insurance to kick in and now because of the illness, he would need to be symptom free for six months in order for the insurance to cover the costs.  Between the puppy’s and Joshua’s own health issues, my sister is overwhelmed.  I know we are all struggling with the fallout from the pandemic but I was hoping you can make a small donation to defray the mounting medical costs to help Rexie, to relieve Sandy of some of the financial burden, and to bring Rexie back to health so that he and Joshua  can be best buddies for life.