Knifemaker crowdfunding his dog's surgery?......

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Kohai999

Kohai999

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When Adam and Haley DesRosiers burned down their shop(which resulted in their two dogs dying as well) in December 2015...I did a lot of soul-searching in a very short period of time.

What I had been thinking about to help them had been done on a small scale before, but not in the manner that(eventually) came to bear....wholesale contribution from the entire Knife Community, in a manner that equaled if not exceeded, the annual GROSS income of a better-than-average US knifemaker in today's market.

I have no regrets in helping to drive an effort to get them back on their feet at this time....and hope those feelings remain.

We ALL deal with tragedy in our lives, it says a lot about the individual how they come out the other side. My wife and I have two of our five cats that require medical intervention. One has a form of leukemia that responds well to medical treatment, and it averages $500.00 a month in cost. I haven't worked a financially rewarding job in over a year, but we are doing ok financially because we made good economic decisions and have excellent financial management when we had regular income. The other cat requires that we deliver subcutaneous saline via an iv drip weekly, which we do at home. We feel/pray/hope that we are doing the right thing by our four legged furry family.

Really hope that this microcosm of the macrocosm is not the future of the next generation. I have a good friend who had a Great Dane that had hip dysplasia.....after much medical consultation, he took the dog, Hoover, out in the woods and shot him in the head. This tore out his heart, but he decided that it was best for the dog. If my cat with leukemia was not getting better, we were going to put her down. We still think about it regularly.

I'm conflicted about Nick crowdfunding his dog's knee surgery(but do, as always, wish Nick the best). What do you all think? If you support this, there WAS a hyperlink at the top of this post.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
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I was very happy for The Desrosiers .. Watching the knife community come together like that . Was priceless . What I want to share with you folks is how charitable the knife community again ... The past couple weeks have been a tough time for us. My Grandaughter came down with Leukemia and we didn't know what was going to happen to her. She was so sick when she was rushed to Children's hospital in Boston . My wife and daughter were shaken up ,, we all were. I am not here to tell you the boring details about Harleys sickness.

What I am talking about is what people in the Knife Community did for us. Some friends I met online on another forum help countless GAWS and raised a boat load of cash and on the Michrotech Michroholics and Marfione Custom Knives Facebook Group just knocked us out the park . The page administrator was phenomenal and Tony Marfione and Susan,Sean and TJ kicked in a very high end knife to raise money for us.

I hope this is not a page Hijack .. I Just wanted to point out yet another story of the community coming together for my Daughter and GD Harley . We have a pretty special community all around. Not just right here on this forum but on all the forums and social media that so many hate ... but has made so many people come together.

Nick sorry about your dog . I know how much you love those guys.

Take care everyone

Mark Andrews
 
I don't see anything wrong with asking. I also see it as a sign of the times in our new highly connected digital age. I remember before I had kids, our dogs were our kids. Not that they aren't now, it's just the human kids take up a lot of time that used to benefit the furry kids. I don't think crowdsourcing/crowdfunding is something I would be comfortable doing but that could change with time. I might send Nick some money because I used to have a newf/lab mix resulting in a soft spot for newfies.
It's a brave new digital world.
Or something.....
 
It's a great thing seeing our community coming together showing support and helping two of our knifemakers get back on their feet after their shops burning, but perhaps we need to draw a line somewhere for this type of thread.
 
Kevin Jones said:
It's a great thing seeing our community coming together showing support and helping two of our knifemakers get back on their feet after their shops burning, but perhaps we need to draw a line somewhere for this type of thread.
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That's my point, Kevin.

1. Show what's up with the hyperlink
2. Have a discussion about it

The can of worms has been opened over the years with makers having impacting events to their livelihood and the community opening it's heart(and wallets).

Nick didn't come on BFC asking for a handout....he did it through open source format...this wasn't targeted to US....however....because he is a member of the community, I thought it was relevant to have a discussion about it.

Do you disagree?

This is my personal feeling-

Can't fathom the pain that a 170 lb dog with blown knees is going through, and if it was MY dog, would put it down...simply because there is no way the beast is gonna understand that the surgery and aftercare is for it's own good, and how long does it have to suffer for before I put my own feelings aside and do what's best for the animal?

If it was a sub-80 lb dog, I would consult with a vet very carefully, and if there was a better than 70% chance of full recovery, would pay for the surgery out of my own pocket. Would sell everything that I owned if I had to before asking anyone for anything. That's me.

We went through one of our cats having a saddle thrombosis years ago and it knocked out his mobility, rendering his hind legs crippled..he could drag himself around with his front paws, which is heartbreaking to watch..with care and money, he got well enough to function, and we were happy, but he threw a clot again, and it was same stuff, different day...we put him down THAT day.

I've not become heartless, I've become incredibly attuned to what is best for the animal you love and care for. Sometimes the best thing is to put them down.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
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Kohai999 said:
That's my point, Kevin.

1. Show what's up with the hyperlink
2. Have a discussion about it

The can of worms has been opened over the years with makers having impacting events to their livelihood and the community opening it's heart(and wallets).

Nick didn't come on BFC asking for a handout....he did it through open source format...this wasn't targeted to US....however....because he is a member of the community, I thought it was relevant to have a discussion about it.

Do you disagree?

This is my personal feeling-

Can't fathom the pain that a 170 lb dog with blown knees is going through, and if it was MY dog, would put it down...simply because there is no way the beast is gonna understand that the surgery and aftercare is for it's own good, and how long does it have to suffer for before I put my own feelings aside and do what's best for the animal?

If it was a sub-80 lb dog, I would consult with a vet very carefully, and if there was a better than 70% chance of full recovery, would pay for the surgery out of my own pocket. Would sell everything that I owned if I had to before asking anyone for anything. That's me.

We went through one of our cats having a saddle thrombosis years ago and it knocked out his mobility, rendering his hind legs crippled..he could drag himself around with his front paws, which is heartbreaking to watch..with care and money, he got well enough to function, and we were happy, but he threw a clot again, and it was same stuff, different day...we put him down THAT day.

I've not become heartless, I've become incredibly attuned to what is best for the animal you love and care for. Sometimes the best thing is to put them down.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
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Fair enough, you asked what we thought which should develop into good discussion. I feel about the same way as you on this subject as to what I would do. I certainly feel for Nick as one of our dogs had to be put down recently (17 years old) who was basically a family member raised up with my kids.

Perhaps a line needs to be drawn as:
This being a knife forum, knifemaker's losing their shops to fire is certainly most relevant to this forum, a knifemaker's dog needing knee surgery, perhaps not so much.
 
In my opinion, which no one asked for, it's Nick's dog and his business. He didn't post it here, so I think this thread is at the very least irrelevant and doesn't have a place here.

He is free to do what he feels is best for him and his dog.
 
BenR.T. said:
In my opinion, which no one asked for, it's Nick's dog and his business. He didn't post it here, so I think this thread is at the very least irrelevant and doesn't have a place here.

He is free to do what he feels is best for him and his dog.
Click to expand...

^^^^Agreed^^^^
 
BenR.T. said:
In my opinion, which no one asked for, it's Nick's dog and his business. He didn't post it here, so I think this thread is at the very least irrelevant and doesn't have a place here.

He is free to do what he feels is best for him and his dog.
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I posted it here, Ben. If he can get additional help from the knife community, that's great.

It seems to be a topic worthy of discussion, and in that case, relevant, at least to those who frequent Customs and Handmade knives....really not seeing how it doesn't belong here.

Anyone is free to do just about anything within bounds, but there are decisions that people have made(not in this case) that when publicized, made me never do business with them again.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
I could be wrong, but I think what STeven is really discussing, is knifemaker's using crowdfunding to pay for stuff. That was the way I took it. I think everyone here cares about Nick, Adam, Haley, and all of them, but crowdfunding is trending. Nothing wrong with that.
 
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Logan Pearce said:
I could be wrong, but I think what Stephen(sic) is really discussing, is knifemaker's using crowdfunding to pay for stuff. That was the way I took it. I think everyone here cares about Nick, Adam, Haley, and all of them, but crowdfunding is trending. Nothing wrong with that.
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Pretty much right at the core of it, Logan.

First time I have seen it.....worth discussing, I hope.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Kohai999 said:
I posted it here, Ben. If he can get additional help from the knife community, that's great.

It seems to be a topic worthy of discussion, and in that case, relevant, at least to those who frequent Customs and Handmade knives....really not seeing how it doesn't belong here.
Anyone is free to do just about anything within bounds, but there are decisions that people have made(not in this case) that when publicized, made me never do business with them again.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
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IMO, not relevant because this is a knife forum and it has nothing to do with knives. Is anything that goes on in a knifemaker's life relevant here?
For that matter is anything that goes on in a knife collector's life relevant here? I don't think so, probably more a topic for facebook.
 
Kevin Jones said:
IMO, not relevant because this is a knife forum and it has nothing to do with knives. Is anything that goes on in a knifemaker's life relevant here?
For that matter is anything that goes on in a knife collector's life relevant here? I don't think so, probably more a topic for facebook.
Click to expand...

While I appreciate your position laid out Kevin.....you are free not to post in threads that you don't like.

If there is something of interest going on in the world that might be of note to the CUSTOM & HANDMADE knife community, I will post it here and encourage others to do the same.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Kohai999 said:
While I appreciate your position laid out Kevin.....you are free not to post in threads that you don't like.

If there is something of interest going on in the world that might be of note to the CUSTOM & HANDMADE knife community, I will post it here and encourage others to do the same.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
Click to expand...

Then we risk having a once excellent custom knife forum that's no longer relevant to custom knives. That would be unfortunate IMO.
 
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