Hello! My name is Amanda, and with the help from my twin sister, as well as the support from all of my doctors, we have started a fundraiser to raise money to be able to afford the cost of training my service dog, which would greatly improve the quality of my life. 

I suffer from severe and complicated gastroparesis, and due to that, I rely solely on a jejunal feeding tube for nutrition. A jejunal feeding tube goes into your lower intestines, placed through your abdomen, when your stomach is non-functional. I also have POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome), which causes me to suffer from a multitude of symptoms, including nausea, imbalance, blurred vision, sudden weakness of muscles, light headedness or passing out. I also have an arrhythmia, which has been managed with medication for the most part, and chronic pain due to compression fractures in my spine.



My sister and I started this fundraiser to financially afford the cost of training a service dog for myself, who could help prompt me to take care of myself before a major medical event occurs, preventing me from further injury.
Having a service dog would boost my confidence and sense of safety out in the community and would allow me the continued independence that is so important to me.
Having a service dog has also proven to greatly to benefit patients with PTSD, anxiety and depression symptoms, as well as chronic pain, all things I struggle with.

I looked into service dog programs for quite a long time, and they are expensive to say the least. They range anywhere from $10,000 to as high as $35,000. I am on disability and work part-time. The majority of my income of goes towards necessary expenses throughout the month. The cost of a trained service dog is completely outside of my reach without support.

As some of you might noticed, if you’ve been to my page before, the amount has changed several times. I decided to lower the amount again for several reasons. The first one being, I want to be realistic. Secondly, now that I’ve had Paxton for four weeks, I’ve gotten a picture of what I can handle, financially and training wise (the basics for example I can definitely handle). I want to reassure people that without assistance, I’m able to afford his food, treats, toys and vet bills, with a caveat. I want to try to raise additional money for possible emergencies at the vet. However, it’s the training I’m raising money for. It’s important that I state that. 

I’ve lowered the amount back down to $15,000.  The breakdown is: $10,000 would go to training, $4,000 to emergency vet bills, and $1,000 to GoFundMe fees. 

I want to stress that although Paxton would help me and be of service to me, he will be my family. He will be spoiled and loved and well cared for. I don’t take this responsibility lightly. I won’t be a first time pet owner, either. While slightly different, I’ve had two cats as an adult, Cosmo and BatGirl. Cosmo sadly passed away in 2017 from cancer, but BatGirl turned 12 early in May, and I’ve had her since she was a kitten. She’s extremely loved and spoiled. The service dog, Paxton, will be extremely loved and spoiled as well. Like humans, their job as a service dog is only one aspect of their life. He have all the joys of just being a dog as well. 

If you’re able to, please consider contributing to this fundraiser. Any amount helps. I would also greatly appreciate it if you could share this GoFundMe with as many people as you can. You can share this via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. Anywhere. The more people who see this, the more likely it is that I will reach my goal.

I’ve been asked what it is exactly that a service dog will assist me with.

•  He will be trained to help with a couple of things related to my gastroparesis diagnosis, including waking me up should I start to vomit in my sleep so I don’t aspirate. That’s one of the most frightening experiences I’ve ever had, and I’ve experienced it enough times in my lifetime. 
  
• He will also be trained to prompt me to sit down before I have episodes of passing out or hitting the floor when it comes to my heart, preventing me from possibly hitting my head, causing further injury to my spine or damage to my feeding tube. He will assist me with getting to the floor safely. 
  
•  Along the same lines, he would assist me with my balance when I’m feeling unsteady, preventing a fall. 
  
• He would be able to pick up things for me when pain, POTS or nausea is inhibiting me from doing so myself. 
  
• Along the same lines as above, but a little different, is he will be trained to bring me my medicine bag, which I sometimes need as soon as possible, faster than I’m able to get it myself depending on the condition I’m in. 
  

• Another night time task would be nightmare interruptions, where he would wake me up during a nightmare caused by PTSD. 

The list goes on but I hope this can answer some of the questions you may have. 

A little bit more about myself:
I will be 37 in August and I'm a born and raised Portlander.
I have an incredible twin sister (Savannah), who is a major piece of my support system.
Savannah and a couple cousins are the only family I have. Our mom, my only parent, passed away when we were 20.
I have an incredible group of friends and this past year my circle has only grown as I've shared my story on TikTok.
You can check out my TikTok, too! @gpwarrior013
From finding the courage to share my story, I've been able to meet other individuals who have similar health struggles and hear their incredible stories.

I work in behavioral health and in the fall I plan on going back to school to finish my degree. I can't imagine doing anything else for a living.
I have an amazing cat named BatGirl. I love watching baseball, tennis and soccer. I love yoga. I love going to the coast and walking around Cannon Beach; up and down the sand. Now that I have my feeding tube, I have the energy to do these things again. The only thing missing is a fully trained service dog to assist me with my safety while I go about my daily life with work and school and as I try to do these fun activities

Thanks for all your support everyone. I really appreciate it. It means the world to me. ❤️