Provide a Service Dog.

For those that do not know me I am Kathy Dodson. My husband and I are parents to a blended family of nine for over 25 yrs. We are proud grandparents to twenty-one little blessings. We are a very fortunate family with healthy children and grandchildren. Why is this fundraiser so important to me and why am I doing it? First and foremost I am a wife, Mother and grandmother. As a parent, there is no greater fear than for your child to be ill. I cannot imagine having a child with an illness that is not only life-threatening but has no cure. To go to bed every night and wake up hoping your child has not had a seizure in their sleep and that the baby monitor you rely on wakes you up is unfathomable to me. Or when your child has a seizure during the day that they do not hit their head and hope you are near enough to find them.

I made a call to a friend that had a service dog for her son. I knew how amazing this dog had been for her son. Little did I know the funds it would take to provide one of these amazing dogs. She recommended wonderful trainers that have dogs that would be ready to go by July. The hard part? These life-saving dogs start at $22,00 and go up to $28,000. At this point I knew in my heart I had to find a way to help Jordan and his daughter Teagen get this life-changing companion. So below are Jordan's words about his daughter:

Teagen McMillian is an energetic, happy, playful 10-year-old girl. She is nonverbal autistic and has been recently diagnosed with epilepsy. Her most recent grand mal seizure caused her to completely stop breathing and she needed immediate rescue breathing. Thankfully we were in the girls' room tucking them in when it happened, or we may have lost her. Since that night, we installed a VERY sensitive baby monitor in their room. Both girls move all through the night so we are constantly up checking on them in a panic. We would love to get a cross-trained Autism and Epilepsy Alert service dog to alert us to her having seizures as well as tethering as she is a flight risk.

Having a service dog (a medical tool, essentially) would be an amazing opportunity for our family, now and in the future. For our peace of mind now, and also for Teagen's future independence.

So on behalf of Jordan and his daughter Teagen, I am asking for all my friends, family and our fellow house movers to please find it in your heart to help raise the funds for this much-needed service dog. I would appreciate anyone reading this to please share this on your timeline or page.

All funds will go directly to them and those that know me can attest that I will make sure this happens.

Thank you for reading and I appreciate any donation.