On Sunday night, my husband and our German Shepherd "Nash" were outside on the shoulder of a residential street (it's a WIDE shoulder too, by the way, at least 10 feet wide). They were right across the street from our kids' elementary school, Cedar Valley. A car approached and suddenly veered off the road and crashed into Nash, literally yanking him out of my husbands grasp. He bounced up onto the car's hood, smacked into the windshield, and then fell to the ground. The driver didn't stop; she didn't even slow down. She sped away while simultaneously throwing her hands in the air (cell phone in hand) and gave my husband a nasty look - as though he had just greatly inconvenienced her. It was dark, (even though it was only about 4:45 in the afternoon) and it was rainy so my husband wasn't able to get her license plate. I heard Nash's yelp/shriek from 2 blocks away while upstairs in my bedroom. I came running downstairs to figure out what had happened, and Nash came running into the house on three legs, dripping blood everywhere. I screamed in horror, and my husband came limping into the house and found his dog crumpled on the kitchen floor, shaking, panting, and bleeding. My husband cradled Nash and started crying, right alongside our three kids and I. My mother-in-law (who happened to be visiting at the time) and my husband rushed Nash to an emergency vet (no easy feat for a Sunday night when all regular vets are closed). Anyway, to make a long story as short as I can, Nash's left hind leg was completely shattered. The force of the impact sent pieces of bone shooting out through his skin and onto the street somewhere. The rest of his tibia and fibula were shattered and splintered. The cost of our bills so far (assuming no additional complications) has exceeded $4,200. He has a cast on which needs to be changed every 2 weeks (at an additional cost) and will need more xrays at about 10 weeks to see how his bones are healing. He has a metal plate in his leg and also required 6 bone grafts. As I already mentioned, we also have 3 children, and our 8-year-old son was recently diagnosed with epilepsy so all of our savings have gone towards his medical costs. We were able to finance Nash's medical bills with the Care Credit option, but we were encouraged by family and friends to set up a donation site to see if we might be able to get a little help toward this massive bill looming over us. We both work full-time, and I am also in nursing school so we work hard, but we just don't have enough to prepare us for something as catastrophic as this. Thank you so much if you are willing to help. Here is the link to the site I created which has pictures, and more details to our story along with updates. There is a Paypal donation button on there too. If you can spread the word, we'd sure appreciate it. http://nashmedicalfund.chipin.com/nashs-medical-bills
