Becca has had many challenges in her life so far, including Cystic Fibrosis, Celiac, DysAutonomia, gastroparesis and severe Tracheomalacia.   She has had 6 major surgeries and more minor surgeries than we have been able to keep track of.  She has spent hundreds if not thousands of days in the hospital.  Through it all Becca has smiled and carried on, living her life as normally as possible during her many hospital stays.   

Becca is getting older and like most young adults looks forward to the day she will be able to live independently. Becca has big goals.  She plans to go to college at Mizzou and then to Vet School (also hopefully at Mizzou).  After vet school she would like to specialize in the care and treatment of aquatic animals or possibly large livestock (she LOVES cows).  She hopes to stay in Mid-Missouri so she can continue to get her medical care at KU because they are amazing.  She knows she will have to work very long and hard to make these dreams come true, but is used to fighting for what she wants...she has fought for every breath so far and does not plan to let her medical issues derail her life plans.  She hopes to someday marry and maybe have a family...or A LOT of pets!

For Becca this does present some challenges as her medical concerns can be overwhelming.  In order to safely live independently, Becca needs a service dog.  A service dog would help her in many ways the biggest is that it would help her to be safe, a service dog would be able to warn her when her blood sugar was getting too low or too high, it would be able to warn her when there was gluten in her food, it would be able to warn her that her blood pressure was dropping and she was going to pass out due to a dysautonomia episode.  All of this would help her to safely be independent and live on her own.  

A service dog would also help her to manage her medical treatment burden.  The dog would be able to remind her to eat (she oftentimes feels full due to her severe gastroparesis and forgets to eat), it would help her to maintain her hydration (due to both her dysautonomia and Cystic Fibrosis she needs to drink more fluid and also have more salt in her diet than most people), it would help her to control her Celiac disease by sensing hidden gluten in her food, it would help her to know when her oxygen levels were getting too low or her carbon dioxide levels to high (a consequence of her trachea issues) and be able to address them quickly, it would be able to annoy her until she did her treatments and took her medications, she does 8-12 breathing treatments a day and takes medication 8 or more times a day...this is part of her routine but because it is routine when she is busy or working hard she sometimes forgets...a trained service dog would not forget....and she would be healthier and more able to participate in her life and acheive her goals.  Her service dog would also be trained to bring her her medicines if she forgets to grab them, to bring her water and a salty snack if her blood pressure drops too low, to bring her a sugary snack if her blood sugar drops to low.  A service dog would also encourage her to be more active and get more regular exercise, since it would need daily walks etc.  This would help her overall health.  Her medical issues make her very tired and need more sleep than most but a service dog would help her optimize her physical activity. 

Becca will continue to have health struggles, and will have more hospital stays.  A service dog will also be a companion for her when she is ill.  This will help her stay motivated to do her best and also help her mental health...being sick and in the hospital is hard and lonely.  

As you can see a trained service dog will help Becca in so many ways.  She will be able to be independent and safe at the same time.  But we need your help.  

A trained service dog is expensive.  Our insurance does not cover service dogs.  Through the years we have had many, many uncovered medical expenses and have managed to cover them on our own...but a trained service dog is a little bit more than we can handle.    Becca would be grateful for your help in getting a service dog so she can be the best she can be!.  Thanks.

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.