The great Arthur Ashe said, “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” In 2017, I adopted a pup through a 501 (c)(3) organization called Puppy Rescue Mission (www.puppyrescuemission.org). I began to follow Puppy Rescue Mission (PRM) on social media, and they frequently asked for help with rescues arriving in the US. I was so impressed by their work, I agreed to help, and I met SO many amazing people! It brought me great joy to help other rescue dogs & cats! In August that year, I reached out to PRM’s Executive Director to tell her I had a passport & could travel overseas to accompany animals back to the US for reunion with their US service member. She called me
two weeks later and asked, “Do you want to go to Kuwait?” I said, “YES! “Since then, I have been honored to travel all over the world escorting rescue animals back to the US. I have been blessed to have made great friends all over the world, including Chenelle. Chenelle found a tiny kitten on the street in Dubai. She messaged me because his eyes were cloudy. A veterinarian friend in Jordan suggested she take him for vet treatment because he probably had a herpes eye infection. She immediately did, and they prescribed medication; however, a few hours later the kitten became non-responsive—he’d had an anaphylactic reaction. She rushed back to the vet, and they revived him! A few days later Chenelle called me & was upset because she couldn’t keep the kitten due to her three senior cats, but she couldn’t find a rescue group or shelter to take him due to overcrowding. This was the point in the pandemic when people were returning to work and surrendering the pets they had adopted. Luckily, my friend, Margaret, was going to Dubai for work, and she agreed to bring the kitty back to the US for me! I named the kitten “Rocky Balboa” because he’s a fighter! Little did I know that Rocky would be facing the biggest fight of his life…a birth defect called portosystemic shunt. This means his blood is bypassing his liver and not being properly filtered. As a result, toxins build up in his brain and cause seizures. Surgery will correct this issue and Rocky will live a full life! Without surgery his life expectancy is 2 – 3 years. Please note that Rocky is about 2.5 years old.
Please, please, please help me save Rocky! I’ve assisted in saving so many animals, but I can’t save Rocky by myself!! Every dollar will help!