4 Paws for Selah - Final Hurdle
Donation protected
Meet Selah Audrey, our sweet 9 year old daughter who loves passionately and perseveres fearlessly. She loves to play, move and dance and will undoubtably find even the most quiet melody within earshot.
In 2011 Selah was diagnosed with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex, a rare multi-system genetic disease that has caused tumors to grow in her brain and many other vital organs in her body. As a result, she has experienced significant speech and developmental delay and up to this point has very limited expressive language. Selah must be watched closely as she has little safety awareness and is prone to wander. Selah is also on the Autism Spectrum and needs to be engaged and redirected often to keep her present and aware of her surroundings.
Despite being on multiple medications, Selah also experiences multiple seizures a day. They can occur at any time, in any environment. At times Selah will elope and run at the onset of a seizure. This can be helpful as it gives us some warning to a potential episode but is also unnerving as she has displayed this behavior in unsafe environments such as parking lots and public places with heavy foot traffic. Other times we are caught off guard and have found Selah walking backwards into objects mid seizure or on the floor having lost her balance and fallen down.
A friend had suggested we look into 4 Paws for Ability, a non profit organization that provides task trained service dogs to children with disabilities, such as Seizure Alert Dogs. Upon looking into other families testimonies, we quickly realized what an incredible opportunity this could be for Selah and for our family. Prior to a person having a seizure, there is a chemical change that occurs on that individual and results in a change to their scent. A Seizure Alert Dog is a dog that has been trained to detect that chemical change of a particular individual and will immediately alert the individual/family prior to it occurring. You guys, this is huge! Having advanced warning of a seizure like this would give us the opportunity to respond proactively, making sure Selah was in a safe environment and not alone. Her Seizure Alert Dog would also be trained to serve as an anchor in the occurrence of elopement in public, give her more independence and be a constant companion who will lovingly and persistently draw her into the world around her.
The first step in this journey is fundraising. 4 Paws provides service dogs to children worldwide and because the cost is so great to train these service dogs, they ask for families to assist in part of the fundraising process. Our family was responsible for raising $17,000 for Selah’s service dog, once the funds have been raised, we wait. The average wait time would be about two years before Selah would be matched with her dog who must first display all the necessary characteristics and skills to meet her specific needs. The second and final step is traveling to Ohio, going through advanced training with her dog and finally bringing Selah’s Seizure Alert Dog home!
We are thrilled and humbled to be able to share that Selah's community and those who have heard her story have fully met this initial goal of $17000 in less than TWO DAYS - we are overjoyed by the tremendous support by everyone. Truly incredible.
Now it is time for our family to begin working on the final financial hurdle in order to get Selah's service dog. Along with preparing our yard (fencing), we will also need funds for a 2 week mandatory trip to OH where we will be partaking in an advanced training class with Selah to learn how to work with the dog and the dog with Selah before bringing him/her home with us. These expenses will help cover loss of income/travel expenses/lodging/etc.
The average wait for the advanced training class is about 2 years but we have seen God fast track things for Selah in ways we would have never expected so we want to prepare for a sooner arrival for her sweet new service dog. Though we plan on saving/contributing to these future expenses, we would appreciate any donation to help cover these costs. If you feel led to give towards this final hurdle for our family, we want to say thank you and let you know we are so incredibly grateful! Thank you so much for loving our family and our sweet girl thus far - thank you!
In 2011 Selah was diagnosed with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex, a rare multi-system genetic disease that has caused tumors to grow in her brain and many other vital organs in her body. As a result, she has experienced significant speech and developmental delay and up to this point has very limited expressive language. Selah must be watched closely as she has little safety awareness and is prone to wander. Selah is also on the Autism Spectrum and needs to be engaged and redirected often to keep her present and aware of her surroundings.
Despite being on multiple medications, Selah also experiences multiple seizures a day. They can occur at any time, in any environment. At times Selah will elope and run at the onset of a seizure. This can be helpful as it gives us some warning to a potential episode but is also unnerving as she has displayed this behavior in unsafe environments such as parking lots and public places with heavy foot traffic. Other times we are caught off guard and have found Selah walking backwards into objects mid seizure or on the floor having lost her balance and fallen down.
A friend had suggested we look into 4 Paws for Ability, a non profit organization that provides task trained service dogs to children with disabilities, such as Seizure Alert Dogs. Upon looking into other families testimonies, we quickly realized what an incredible opportunity this could be for Selah and for our family. Prior to a person having a seizure, there is a chemical change that occurs on that individual and results in a change to their scent. A Seizure Alert Dog is a dog that has been trained to detect that chemical change of a particular individual and will immediately alert the individual/family prior to it occurring. You guys, this is huge! Having advanced warning of a seizure like this would give us the opportunity to respond proactively, making sure Selah was in a safe environment and not alone. Her Seizure Alert Dog would also be trained to serve as an anchor in the occurrence of elopement in public, give her more independence and be a constant companion who will lovingly and persistently draw her into the world around her.
The first step in this journey is fundraising. 4 Paws provides service dogs to children worldwide and because the cost is so great to train these service dogs, they ask for families to assist in part of the fundraising process. Our family was responsible for raising $17,000 for Selah’s service dog, once the funds have been raised, we wait. The average wait time would be about two years before Selah would be matched with her dog who must first display all the necessary characteristics and skills to meet her specific needs. The second and final step is traveling to Ohio, going through advanced training with her dog and finally bringing Selah’s Seizure Alert Dog home!
We are thrilled and humbled to be able to share that Selah's community and those who have heard her story have fully met this initial goal of $17000 in less than TWO DAYS - we are overjoyed by the tremendous support by everyone. Truly incredible.
Now it is time for our family to begin working on the final financial hurdle in order to get Selah's service dog. Along with preparing our yard (fencing), we will also need funds for a 2 week mandatory trip to OH where we will be partaking in an advanced training class with Selah to learn how to work with the dog and the dog with Selah before bringing him/her home with us. These expenses will help cover loss of income/travel expenses/lodging/etc.
The average wait for the advanced training class is about 2 years but we have seen God fast track things for Selah in ways we would have never expected so we want to prepare for a sooner arrival for her sweet new service dog. Though we plan on saving/contributing to these future expenses, we would appreciate any donation to help cover these costs. If you feel led to give towards this final hurdle for our family, we want to say thank you and let you know we are so incredibly grateful! Thank you so much for loving our family and our sweet girl thus far - thank you!
Organizer
Victoria Muscolino
Organizer
Milford, MA