Hello everyone,

I am raising money for my dog Murray's surgery. He has a mass inside his ear that needs to be removed and tested for cancer. Murray's vet is quite confident that it is not cancerous, but it needs to be removed regardless and be tested anyway just to make sure. The total procedure is going to cost $3,000 that I do not have, and the surgery needs to ideally be done within the next month as we do not want the mass to keep growing, etc.

For those of you who don't know mine and Murray's story, here is a little recap of how I met my best friend, how I saved his life, and how he in turn saved mine.

I adopted Murray from a shelter in Encino, CA, on March 14th, 2019. I wasn't supposed to be taking him home with me that day, but life had other plans. At the time, I was working 70 hours a week as a restaurant manager, still reeling from the loss of my dad who passed away 3 and a half years prior. I'll be honest, I was mentally really struggling and was in a dark headspace.

I was not doing good; I was not okay. I was very lonely and throwing myself into work to distract myself from my grief. I was shopping at Target one day and saw these black and white speckled dog bowls on sale. I really wanted a dog but didn't think I should get one because of my work schedule. I bought the dog bowls anyway just because. Little did I know I was actually manifesting adopting Murray. It wasn't until almost a year after buying those dog bowls that I decided I would volunteer at an animal shelter as a dog walker in hopes of it satisfying my craving to adopt a dog because I just didn't think I should get one.

My first day volunteering at the shelter, 3 hours later, I was driving home with Murray in the back seat of my Jeep. Total volunteer fail, haha. So I show up at the shelter in the morning. It was pretty sketchy looking; it wasn't so much of a shelter as it was someone's house. The volunteers weren't allowed inside; the dogs were brought out to us. We were told to walk them down past the freeway and back, and then they would give us another dog to walk, and we would repeat that for a few hours. When I was standing outside of the house waiting for the guy to bring me a dog to walk, I could hear inside the house what sounded like a bunch of dog cages stacked on top of each other with just so many dogs inside. They would all bark every time the man would walk in to swap out the dogs, and after he closed the door, I could hear him yelling at the top of his lungs to the dogs, "SHUT UP!" and then he would come back out with another dog.

So after walking several dogs for 3 hours, the man asked me if I had time to walk just one more dog. I said yes, of course. He brought out this big-eared, floppy black puppy that was so skinny. It was love at first sight. After walking him and just casually asking if he was available for adoption, I soon found myself sitting in their "office" or garage with the puppy pawing at a bag of food that was on the floor, while the guy told me it would be $349 and I could take him. I couldn't resist; this puppy was seriously the cutest. The man told me that Murray was 5 months old and that they rescued him and about 20 other dogs from a meat factory in Taiwan. That's what they do; they specialize in taking dogs out of meat trade factories and shipping them here to California, which I thought was really cool despite the poor state of their facility.

The shelter said they couldn't spare any collars or leashes, so I literally had to just pick Murray up and carry him to my Jeep. I put him in the back seat and immediately drove straight home. I put him in my apartment and then went across the street to a pet store and bought all of the things one could possibly need for a puppy. He was extremely shy and scared around not just me but all people, places, and things. I ended up naming him Murray after one of my favorite actors, Bill Murray. His movie Larger Than Life was one of my favorite movies as a kid that my dad introduced to me and my siblings.

Upon adopting Murray, I was so enamored with him that I completely forgot about my depression. All of a sudden, I had a fresh outlook on life. I was so utterly in love with him and had something to live for. Two and a half months later, I decided to move to Colorado, and Murray and I have been on adventures ever since. It was not all easy, though. He didn't bond with me right away; we had to build trust with one another. He was a very naughty puppy; he chewed up everything in sight while I was at work, including all four corners of my mattress until the springs were popping out. I eventually had to crate train him for his safety while I wasn't home. He used to jump on me and bite me. It actually wasn't until I let Murray sleep in my bed with me that he started to trust me. I also had to tell him that I am in charge a few times, which made him respect me. By the time he was 2 years old, he had morphed from this traumatized, scared puppy who didn't trust me or anyone else, to this incredibly sweet, playful best friend of mine. Even though Murray opened up to me, he definitely still to this day suffers from his own PTSD of his early childhood trauma. He has warmed up to a select few friends of mine and my sister and her dog; however, he can still be reactive and show fear-based aggression towards men and other dogs. I am convinced that because of his behavior, if he were to go through the regular animal shelter system, he would have ended up being euthanized. We really did save each other.

Murray has been there for me through everything over the past 6 years. I've cried my tears onto his back and held him tight when I was scared. Through the highs and lows of life, he's been there. During the COVID pandemic, we would go on lots of walks together. The first time I went camping by myself, he was there. Through moving back to California, visiting National Parks on road trips, he's my little shadow, and I need more time with him. Murray is only 6 years old, and I am sure this mass in his ear will be benign, but we won't know for sure until it is removed and tested. Any amount of a donation to help cover the cost of his surgery, I am so grateful for.

This year started out crazy with the wildfires and my younger sister Chloe passing away on that same day. Murray evacuated with me and remains a constant state of calm for me. I couldn't work very much the first few months of this year, from being sick to the fires affecting business, and the loss of my sister made me mentally not able to handle work for a bit. Those of you who know me know that I have a very strong work ethic and hate the fact that I am in this financial predicament to begin with. I will work even harder now; I will do anything for my best friend and make sure he gets to live as long as physically possible for him. I am eternally grateful for Murray and all that he has gotten me through. I swear God made this dog just for me. Not to mention that our birthdays are only a week apart; we both love cheese and both get car sick. This is my dog, and I am so, so grateful for him.