Hi everyone! This is our loving 5-year-old son, Carter!  Carter was diagnosed with Fragile X Syndrome when he was 3 years old.  Fragile X Syndrome is the most common form of inherited intellectual and developmental disability.  Fragile X affects both males and females, but males are usually more severely affected.  Symptoms can include learning disabilities, cognitive impairment, delayed development of speech, movement and communication problems, anxiety and autism. 

Since receiving our diagnosis in May of 2022, we have settled into what we think will be our long-term "normal".  We deal aggression, self-harm, a lot of dysregulation and elopement.  But we also see the good in it all.  You can see the love and the joy in his eyes, he is full of sarcasm which brightens up our days.  But the struggles seem to outweigh the happiness sometimes.

We hope to welcome a new furry member to our family who will help with the struggles we currently face. Please help us raise the funds to make this happen.  Our family really needs to find hope and a light at the end of the tunnel we are currently navigating though. 

Thank you for your support and generosity!

Love,

Carter and the rest of the Almeida Family

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.