A K-9 for Keemy
Donation protected
We were blessed 4 years ago with the birth of our sweet boy Joaquim! He was born 6 weeks early and spent 2 weeks in the NICU~he was a figther from his first day. He was born with delays and at age 2 was diagnosed with GDD (gross developmental delay). He did not walk or speak or hit any of the milestones his peers did but we were so blessed to have early intervention services and have watched him make amazing gains in speech and motor skills.
Joaquim is still not able to communicate with others well, he doesn't always understand dangerous situations, he bolts or runs away, he also wakes and wanders in the night and gets upset easily. We have prayed for a way to help keep him safe and help him to be calm. We have tried every thing we can to make his world better.
We watched a video about an Autistic child that had a service dog that changed his entire world. We researched and found Project Chance in Fernandina, Florida.
We brought our family out to Project chance and met Ms. BJ and a few of her dogs. All of our children were immediately engaged with the dogs but Joaquim was talking to them and we saw a calmness in him we didn't usually get to see :)
Some of the things that a service dog can do to help Joaquim in his everyday life are to calm him when he is upset or frightened, help to keep him from unsafe areas, alert us if he is wandering in the night and give him a friend that doesn't react to any of behaviors others don't understand. We prayed and hoped we would be selected for this awesome opportunity.
Today Ms. BJ told us we are going to have one of her new puppies, Fagin! The cost of this service dog will be $12,500, we are hoping we can raise the funds for Joaquim to have this chance to be able to interact in public safely and comfortably and to help him as he grows.
Here is the link for Project Chance
http://www.projectchance.com/
Joaquim is still not able to communicate with others well, he doesn't always understand dangerous situations, he bolts or runs away, he also wakes and wanders in the night and gets upset easily. We have prayed for a way to help keep him safe and help him to be calm. We have tried every thing we can to make his world better.
We watched a video about an Autistic child that had a service dog that changed his entire world. We researched and found Project Chance in Fernandina, Florida.
We brought our family out to Project chance and met Ms. BJ and a few of her dogs. All of our children were immediately engaged with the dogs but Joaquim was talking to them and we saw a calmness in him we didn't usually get to see :)
Some of the things that a service dog can do to help Joaquim in his everyday life are to calm him when he is upset or frightened, help to keep him from unsafe areas, alert us if he is wandering in the night and give him a friend that doesn't react to any of behaviors others don't understand. We prayed and hoped we would be selected for this awesome opportunity.
Today Ms. BJ told us we are going to have one of her new puppies, Fagin! The cost of this service dog will be $12,500, we are hoping we can raise the funds for Joaquim to have this chance to be able to interact in public safely and comfortably and to help him as he grows.
Here is the link for Project Chance
http://www.projectchance.com/
Organizer
Jeanna Diaz
Organizer
Kingsland, GA