When I initially started drafting this GoFundMe, it was meant as a way to help cover the costs of a knee surgery for our 6yo pup Valkyrie (Valli), but over the last five days, her health has taken a sudden and unfortunate turn. The vets aren't too sure what's going on, so at this point, we're trying things based on her symptoms and hoping they work. If they do not work, we're looking at a hospital stay of undetermined length and vet bills we cannot afford--any savings we did have were put towards the vet visits, X-rays, meds, ultrasounds, etc that have happened in the last three days. Any money raised through this fundraiser will first go to ensuring Valli gets better, and the remainder will go toward paying for her knee surgery (roughly $5000).

Earlier this summer, Valli tore her CCL (doggy version of an ACL), and we were quoted $5500 for the standard surgery (TPLO) to ensure she could live a normal life. While we are shopping around, the minimum pricing we're seeing is $4200-$5500. Our vet let us know that the longer we wait to have this surgery, the more likely she is to blow her other knee out, and sooner rather than later. Before the injury, we were taking 1.5-2-mile walks daily and going outside as much as possible. Now she's limited to a few yards outside to go to the bathroom and as little movement as possible to ensure we don't make things worse. It's drastically impacted our ability to ensure she's happy and has a normal life.

A little bit about Valli: she's a 6yo shepherd/pit mix. We rescued her in 2019 after she and her brother were found in an industrial park in Guilford County, NC. She fit right in with our other dog, Leia, and loved her so much. We always referred to Leia as Valli's emotional support dog. While exact opposites, they made the perfect pair. She loves long walks with mom, carrots, snuggles with dad, and making sure the entirety of her 47lbs takes up most of mom and dad's king-sized bed. Last year, we lost Leia super unexpectedly, and we were devastated. We navigated our grief through nightly neighborhood strolls as a family, extra-long snuggles in the morning, and extra-long mom and Valli walks. This past May, we welcomed a new pup into the mix, Emmett, and Valli's been the best big sister. Unfortunately, due to this knee injury and sudden illness, we've had to significantly restrict their interactions and not allow them to play like they both want.

To a lot of people we know, $6000 is not an insignificant amount of money. To us, it feels quite impossible, especially when we consider that the sooner we figure out what's going on and the sooner we have surgery done, the better quality of life she'll have. Asking for donations is very hard because we know she's our responsibility, not anyone else's, but we're not sure what else to do or where else to turn. Any amount will help get us closer to being able to give her a semi-normal life and a better quality of life.