Hector is a 21 month old black Labrador Retriever who we took into our family at the age of 6 months. His previous owner hadn't looked after him very well and we found him advertised online where we immediately fell in love with his beautiful face. It took us a full 12 months to gain his total confidence.

He is a wonderful family member - my wife Olga is disabled and uses an electric wheelchair and we are both over retirement age. Cutting a long story short, Hector's pal, Harvey (21 month old cross) had learned how to open doors. Last Thursday, Harvey opened our front door without our knowledge and Hector joined him in the courtyard of the farm on which we live. Before we knew it, both dogs had crossed a not so busy road adjacent to the farm and upon returning, Hector collided with a pick-up truck, running over one of his back ankles and fracturing it.

Hector ran home with his leg hanging and rather a lot of blood coming from a compound fracture. I immediately bundled him into my car and headed for our vet - about 15 miles away - where he was admitted, his wound cleaned and a full investigation of the injury made. The long and the short of the situation is that our vet felt he didn't have the orthopaedic expertise to operate and a referral was arranged.

X Rays and other information were passed to the referral specialist and an estimate of £7,000.00 came back. We were in disbelief but our concern for Hector transcended everything else. We are not wealthy folk and managed to cobble together our own vet's fees of £960.00 but the prospect of finding a further £7,000.00 is daunting.

In clinical terms, Hector needs an operation to re-establish a tendon and rebuild with steel plates and screws the portion of bone lost during the accident. He is home now with a temporary rigid dressing and awaiting our efforts to afford his operation.

Our sincere thanks to anyone who feels they can come to our aid.