The woman showed him staggering numbers: thousands of dollars pledged overnight to cover Rusty’s surgery. “Look,” she insisted, tapping a donation tracker that kept climbing. “You aren’t alone.” Derrick stared in disbelief, adrenaline surging. “I thought it was just a scam,” he murmured, voice shaking with relief.
He recalled the phone pings he’d ignored while working, labeling them as spam. “How could total strangers care so much?” he muttered, heart hammering. Then, he remembered giving his banking details at the vet for Rusty’s final procedure—information that now fueled an outpouring of worldwide generosity.