This is Desi. Our unofficial emotional support animal (ESA). Desi is 6 years and 6 months old beagle mix, we rescued her from a puppy mill where her belly was still big from just having a litter and scars from her tough life.

We adopted her in 2016 after the passing of my fathers (also unofficial) emotional support dog. Snowball was her name. Snowball was found in Afghanistan during my dads deployment in the Army. Once she was home, in 2011, she had to adjust to living in a safe environment. After my dads 30 year retirement of the Army, Snowball helped him with his PTSD as they had shared experiences. Finding comfort in each other, they were inseparable. Unfortunately, Snowball contracted distemper in Afghanistan and it laid dormant until around 2016 and was the cause of her passing.

When we went to the shelter to see if could find a dog, Desi was sitting in the corner quietly. She looked at me and I just knew she was the dog for us. I had diagnosed severe anxiety at that time and my father was struggling with his PTSD and the passing of not only Snowball, but also his mother, my grandmother. Desi helped both of us realize that we are safe. If Desi isn't connected to my fathers hip, she's on mine. Helping us through our traumas and fears and supporting us. While I had the opportunity to study abroad, my mom had back surgery. At the beginning Desi would just walk around her hospital bed checking on her. After a few weeks, Desi would put her paws on the hospital bed, and eventually she jumped up and sat with my mom to comfort her as I wasn't there to help.

Desi is more than just a pet. She is our family. Last week, Desi had an injury that made two of her lower back discs bulge and bruise her spinal cord. She slowly lost movement in her lower legs and the ability to go to the bathroom by herself. We went to 3 different hospitals until her bladder was so full she was critical. Since then we have payed thousands of dollars just for her to sleep at the hospital so we knew she wasn't in pain. This past weekend she had spinal surgery where they removed some the disc material and fixed her spinal cord. We love Desi and we want her to feel better. Her prognosis was a 90 to 95% success rate of getting back to her old self. While we went ahead with the surgery, it was caused a great financial burden on us. On top of the surgery cost, we paid thousands alone for her hospital stays, medicine, and now puppy pee pads because she cannot control when she pees.

We hope that you willing to not only help Desi, but to help a dog that has done so much for our service member and family through hard times. We hope that she can live a long and strong life now that her spine has been fixed. She'll be able to enjoy taking walks again and her favorite activity, basking in the sun. With your help we will be able to afford her future medicine, treatment, and whatever else she may need for her recovery. We thank you for taking time to read her and our story. If you can't donate, we understand, please share this story and pray for Desi. There are some pictures below of our sweet girl. As a slight warning, we'll put a photo of her back after surgery, so please do not scroll past the picture of snuggling in her dinosaur blanket if you don't want to see it.

Thank you so so much.

Thank you again.