Service Dog in need of Surgery

I met Jazzlyn and her service dog, Max, in May 2015 in an introductory American Sign Language class at Nova Scotia Community College. During these two years, we’ve gone from classmates to roommates. Now, we are more than best friends, we are inseparable and we make each other better every day as we work towards our mutual goal of graduating from NSCC with diplomas in American Sign Language/English Interpretation.

This past March, in the middle of our winter semester for the first year of our two year college program, Jazzlyn was hit by the unexpected: a diagnosis of a colon stricture at the age of 24. Our lives were turned upside down. Thank God for Max, Jazzlyn’s service dog, trained to alert her to any hiccups in her day to day life. For example: if Jazzlyn is about to have a pain spell Max will tell her in advance by between 9 and 13 minutes, giving Jazz time to take medication that prevents her debilitating pain and allows her to continue to function out in public. (Local dog trainer and Jazzlyn’s friend, Ted Efthymiadis with Mango Dogs, has made this video discussing Max’s abilities and how he works as a biochemical alert service dog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NooXzJtJe8g).

Because of Max, Jazzlyn was able to continue attending college until spring, balancing her new treatments and school work. Thanks to Max’s abilities allowing her to understand her own body, her quality of life remained high –she could leave the house confidently knowing her body wouldn’t betray her with Max acting as its communicator. However, by the May long weekend it was clear that the colon stricture wasn’t going down without a fight and Jazzlyn was admitted to Dartmouth General Hospital on May 20th , 2017 where she remained until mid-July. Over the course of the two months she was admitted, Jazzlyn and I searched for specialists and surgeons with experience in her specific diagnoses, hoping someone would step up and take on her case. We are grateful to say that someone did! On July 15 th , 2017 Jazzlyn flew to Vancouver, British Columbia where she met with an incredible colorectal surgeon: Dr. Ahmer A. Karimuddin, who has taken over her medical care and will be operating on her in the coming weeks to remove the colon stricture alltogether! In the meantime, Jazzlyn is admitted to hospital in BC.

But, like the two peas in a pod they truly are, Max has taken after his Momma-Jazzlyn and has just been informed he requires his own major surgery. He has ruptured his cruciate ligament in one of his back
legs, causing him almost as much pain as Jazzlyn is in herself. This is a huge issue: without a surgery called TPLO (Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy) Max will be unable to return to work as Jazzlyn’s service dog when she recovers. Without Max working for her full-time, Jazzlyn’s quality of life will never be as high as it could and should be. If Max isn’t around to inform Jazzlyn of her body’s impending actions, she won’t be able to do something as simple as leave our apartment without fear her body may betray her. So, this is where I appeal to you, those who love Jazzlyn, Max, and I, and humbly ask for your financial help. Max does have medical insurace but because of a similar injury before he was rescued his insurance will not cover the costs. Max’s TPLO surgery will cost $6,089.00 when all costs are included, which is too much for 2 college students/in- patient to cover. Jazzlyn has been through so much in these past 6 months, nothing would make her happier or mean more to her than to provide Max with the surgery he needs for them to continue life together on the other side of this.

All my love,

Sydney Goodaire on behalf of Jazzlyn and Max Braddock.