RIVERVIEW, Mich. – An 8-year-old boy from Taylor made a sacrifice to help his best friend.
When Bryson Kiliman heard his parents talking about the expensive vet bills they may not be able to pay, he got to work.
He spends his summers in Michigan with his dad and grandpa, but when he’s not in Michigan, he’s with his mom and stepdad in Virginia -- that’s where get got his best friend, a Rottweiler/lab mix named Bruce.
At 4 months old, Bruce became sick with parvo.
“He didn’t want to play one day,” Bryson said. “Then he started to get slower and he didn’t want to play.”
Parvo is a virus in dogs that can be treated if you act quickly, but multiple nights at the vet was going to be tough for Bryson’s family to afford. That’s when Bryson got the idea to sell his Pokémon cards on the side of the road to raise money for his best pal.
“Every year when he comes up for his birthdays, for Christmas, for whatever, when we take him shopping and stuff like that it’s Pokémon, Pokémon, Pokémon,” said his grandfather, David Cole. “For him to get rid of them is something huge.”
Bryson made more than enough money through his sales and a GoFundMe page. Not only was he able to save Bruce, but now he’s helping other families going through the same thing. On June 27, the family will be holding a fundraiser for Bryson’s cause at Warpzone Comics in Riverview.
More: Pet stories