Hi! My name is Maverick and I am a 1 1/2-year-old Australian Kelpie. My owner, Cody Lowery, went all the way to Missouri to visit his grandparents, and while there, he was looking for a puppy to get trained as a service dog. Guess what... he found me. I was 9 weeks old. It was love at first sight. He named me Maverick because he loved Top Gun and his oldest brother was in the Navy. I am his Maverick to his Goose. LOL... I started learning to sit, stay, and give paws when told which one they want. Yes, I know I'm cute that way. I am practicing down stay on a leash, which I do most of the time but am still learning. I can tell when Cody needs help or is in pain, so I am right there with him. He holds me, and then I go get Grandma. Otherwise, I won't leave him. He's stuck with me. Now I have to have all training stopped because of an accident that happened to me. Let me tell you what happened.

I was at Grandpa's house about 3 weeks ago, standing in the front yard when his dog decided, while playing around, to run full blast into me and knocked me down. Boy, did it hurt, and I limped for a few and then was okay. After another week, I started losing feeling in my back legs and couldn't walk or would give out when trying to walk. My daddy and Grandma took me to my doctor, Joshua Huffines, at Umatilla Animal Hospital, which I don't like going to, but I like him. They did X-rays, and nothing was broken. Thank goodness, but now the bad news... Dr. Huffines stated that I need an MRI because most likely my L1 and L2 are the problems. It can be herniated discs or something else which is controlling the nerves to my legs, and that is why I can't walk much or at all. He sent me home with 4 different meds and rest. Grandma called UF, and to have the MRI will be between $3,200 to $5,300, and they can't afford that.

I want to tell you about my daddy Cody. He is wonderful and caring. He needs me as I do him. He is 21 years old and has high functional autism. He also has occupational delay and is intellectually delayed. He does have short-term memory impairment. Cody has medical conditions also, such as gastroenteritis, in which he has polyps that develop in his throat, intestines, and stomach. He has had to have procedures to remove some masses that form due to this. He sees a specialist every 3 months and is on medications daily for this. He needs to be told which ones to take when and at what times. He can't have fried foods, no caffeine, no sugar or products with sugar in them, and nothing with acid in it. He is in pain sometimes to the point where he is lightheaded and sick. He also has bradycardia, and because of all of this, he needs me to remind him of alarms to take meds and for safety reasons, especially if no other adult is around.

The reason that I am having Grandma write this is to see if there are any kind, loving people out there that would find it in their hearts to donate to help me get my MRI, meds, and possible help after the doctor finds out exactly what is going on. I want to get better so I can be the dog I was before all this happened.

Grandma has Zelle and cash app $JoniJalbrzykowski for me as she will be responsible to handle everything.