Jax, our 16-week old Australian Shepherd puppy, was a spur of the moment addition to our family. We had talked at length about a therapy dog for my daughter who was born with a seizure disorder, so I finally decided to just do it and went with her on my day off to pick out our new family addition.

Jax and my daughter were instant friends. He took to her the minute they met. Once home, he became sort of a therapy dog for us all. All while we began to prepare him for his training classes ahead.

As a young puppy, Jax needed lots of walks, which was great because we had wonderful trails across the road from our housing development. On an early spring day in 2014, it was my sons turn to take him out after school. Usually these walks were without much incident, but this day was soon going to be much different.

About 20 minutes after he left, I started getting a bunch of phone calls from strange phone numbers. When I recognized the one from the school transportation department, I called back right away. They saw my son with our puppy on the side of the road. A car had hit Jax and my son was terribly upset. I rushed to be by his side and quickly learned that a truck went by him and Jax as they were walking down the road. This scared Jax so our young puppy bolted, broke the leash and ran straight into traffic where he was hit.

We rushed Jax to our family veterinarian up the road. They did the preliminary exam and discovered it was a femur fracture. It was recommended that Jax be transferred to ACCES to be monitored overnight and get a surgery consultation.

The staff was very helpful and kind, which was thoughtful as we were all horribly upset. Unfortunately, we soon realized we would not be able to afford the cost of the care Jax needed and we were faced with losing him. That is when the ACCES staff told us about Frankie’s Friends and we were so thankful. Frankie’s Friends was contacted and helped by providing funds to help cover Jax’s surgery.

Now, Jax is healed and as spunky as ever. He has regained full range of motion in his leg and, other then being a little behind in his training as a therapy dog, he is doing great! Thank you Frankie's fund for saving our sweet boy Jax!