Our precious little boy has been approved for a seizure-response service dog, and we would love to have your help in the process! Linus has a form of severe, drug-resistant epilepsy called Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome (www.lgsfoundation.org). He developed it suddenly and unexplainedly at age 2.5. Since then, he has suffered thousands of seizures of many different types. By God’s grace, he is doing SO well! We have fantastic medical care here in Colorado, and he is an amazing little 5-year-old guy. We believe a service dog would be an invaluable resource for him for many reasons (see below), and we have chosen to partner with 4 Paws for Ability as a high-quality provider of excellent service dogs. 

The process of breeding, raising, and training a service dog to help a specific child is lengthy and expensive. Our family’s financial commitment in the process is $23,000. 4 Paws for Ability will cover the remainder of the total $40-60,000 it takes to provide a trustworthy dog. 

Your contribution will make an impact, whether you donate $5 or $500. Every little bit helps!

Of primary importance, a service dog could alert us to Linus’s nighttime seizures. The majority of his seizures happen during his sleep, and they are often nonconvulsive. It is very hard for us as parents to detect those seizures, and they put him at risk for SUDEP (sudden death in epilepsy). Of course, we are doing everything we can to lower that risk, but we believe a service dog would be invaluable in this. 

Other benefits of a service dog for Linus include the following:

• Tethering skills (helping Linus keep his body coordinated and controlled when seizures cause him to walk in a wobbly or unsteady manner)
• Comfort and emotional regulation
• Behavioral interruption (seizures can cause him to act impulsively)
• And others we hope to discover along the way!

I've included more information about 4 Paws For Ability, Inc. below. Feel free to check out this amazing organization!

4 Paws for Ability is a non-profit organization that breeds, raises, trains, and places service dogs with children and veterans who have disabilities.

4 Paws for Ability places over 120 service dogs annually, all trained with specific tasks and skills to mitigate the impacts of their partner’s disabilities. 

To date, more than 1,800 service dog teams have been created thanks to the dedication of our staff, volunteers, and donors.

Training a service dog to meet our child’s requirements can be very costly. On average it costs between $40,000-60,000 to raise, train, and place a service dog at 4 Paws for Ability. While 4 Paws for Ability fundraises to help cover a significant portion of this cost, families are tasked with raising $20,000 of that amount or $23,000 if receiving a poodle, doodle or papillon. We hope that we can receive assistance from our beloved family and friends to help make our service dog dream a reality.