Reggie, our beautiful 3-year-old rescue dog, completely tore his left cruciate knee ligament on Saturday. He was finally recovering from the the TPLO surgery he had on his right knee back in July for the same injury on the opposite leg. He was running with his dog sister at Pt Isabel, our favorite dog park here in the East Bay. Suddenly, Reggie tripped on what appeared to be a gopher hole, getting his leg caught. He yelped in pain and fell to the ground. I carried him on my shoulder for as far as I could, as I pushed my son in the stroller with my other hand. I don't know how I found the super human strength to do this. Moms can do some crazy sh*t sometimes, I guess. Finally, a park ranger came to help and he drove him back to our car. When we took him to the vet, I was praying it wouldn't be what I thought it was. But indeed, the X-rays revealed it was a complete tear.  Apparently, tearing the cruciate ligament in the knee is a common injury for dogs these days. However, the cost for the TPLO surgery to fix it is not such a common number. In July, to fix his right knee, it cost $5000 (including X-rays and medications). And now, he needs the same exact surgery on the left knee. As most of you know, Dwayne and I are special educators in the public schools. We are blessed in many ways but are not dripping in cash. In July, we had to open a new credit card to pay for his surgery. Since then, we've taken a few financial hits. And living in California is not cheap, as it is. As most of you know, our family is very passionate about dog rescue. Reggie, our sweet, goofy, blue brindle is so important to us. He was found in a dumpster in San Francisco when he was 8 weeks old with his littermate, Piglet. We think that he and Piglet were trashed because they were small. Reggie was very sick in the first year of his life, but with excellent vets and medication, we nursed him back to health. Over the last few years, Reggie has become an integral part of our family. He is Dwayne's shadow. He is Rosie's companion. He is a protector. He is apart of our pack. It is devastating to hear such a beautiful, young dog crying in pain at night. We just want to help him and the TPLO surgery can do that. I'm not setting the goal for the full amount of the $5000 surgery, just $2000, because honestly, I don't want to set an unreasonable expectation. If you know the Bartholomew's, you know that we don't like asking for help. But if you have even a little bit to give, please know that collectively, you would be helping us so much. Thanks for reading.