Community Corner

Giving The Gift of Movement to an Injured Lab

The Lawsons of South Huntington Avenue are hoping the community can help them pay for their ailing dog's knee surgery.

 

Jenn Lawson remembers when her dog French Fry would chase rogue tennis balls by the pond in the summer. She recalls when she would gallop happily in the dog park across the street.

Now, French Fry can barely stand.

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Lawson said French Fry came home from the MSPCA-Angell dog park one day last summer with a limp. She and her husband, Chris, thought it was a minor injury sustained after a particularly active romp, but when they brought the spry 5-year-old Springer-lab mix to the vet in September, it turned out she’d torn the anterior cruciate ligament in her right hind leg.

“She likes to jump and do crazy things,” Lawson said. “I think after overworking herself for so many years she ended up tearing her ACL.”

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Though she toughed it out for a few months, French Fry struggles to walk now.

“It’s getting to the point where she’s not even just limping," Lawson said. "She doesn’t even want to get up."

The surgery to repair the dog's injured leg will cost at least $3,500, which is more than the South Huntington Avenue couple has.

Help appears to be on the way, however. The Lawsons’ friend Meghann Martin started a fundraising campaign for the couple with the ailing dog.

Martin's GoFundMe donation site received $1,155 from 21 donors before 2:30 p.m. yesterday, the first day of the fundraiser.

At this pace, the Lawsons look to be on track to reach their goal and then some. Lawson says they’ll donate any extra money to the MSPCA.

“It’s in the spirit of how we are here in Jamaica Plain,” she said.

The Lawsons look to get French Fry in for an initial consultation as soon as possible, and though they’re clearly distraught over the situation, Jenn Lawson is modest and holds on to hope that her dog will be given the gift of restored movement this holiday season.

“Not having the money to take care of her has been really rough,” she said. “It’s not life or death, but she’s only a 5-year-old dog. In order for her to be her happy puppy self she’ll need the surgery.” 


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