Priscilla is an 11-year-old Yorkshire Terrier in Thompson, CT, who needs $2,000 for urgent airway surgery.

Jen B. lives to help animals. Not only does she rescue them, she is also in school at Tufts University to become a veterinarian.

A couple of years ago, Jen was in an animal clinic helping out when a sweet Yorkshire Terrier was rushed in.

"She suffered a stroke and landed at the vet clinic," Jen tells Waggle. "She was starting to improve, but her owners felt she'd never be the same, so they asked she be euthanized. I stepped in as she clearly had more life to live. Being in rescue, my plan was to find her a new family, but when my boyfriend met her, it was clear she was staying put."

Jen and her boyfriend adopted Priscilla and spent even more money fixing her up. Priscilla's teeth were in really horrible shape.

"She was seen by a dental specialist who ended up needing to remove all of them, as they were either loose or rotting," Jen says. "That still wasn't enough to keep her from her first love: food! When she smells food, she becomes quite vocal and occasionally barks so loudly, we think it's one of our big dogs."

Unfortunately, Priscilla was involved in an altercation with a big dog and now needs urgent surgery. "Her jaws sustained multiples fractures, and her breathing was so compromised, we thought we were going to lose her," Jen says. "The Tufts doctors didn't give up, finding a way to keep her airway open until she had surgery to stabilize her jaw. Her breathing didn't improve, though. Now a second surgery, an epiglottectomy, is needed to allow her to live."

Once surgeons partially remove Priscilla's epiglottis, she is expected to recover and be able to breathe much better. But Jen is panicking because she is drowning in debt as a struggling veterinary student and can't afford this life-changing operation. "I'm subsisting off school loans and don't have the funds for an additional surgery. I'm struggling to get by without an income, yet she needs this procedure. Priscilla is a fighter, and it would mean everything to bring her home again."

Please help Jen "pay it forward" so Priscilla can get the medical treatment she needs. When Jen is a full-fledged veterinarian, she will undoubtedly return the favor to help even more animals in need.