Hello. My name is Elizabeth. I'm not going to mince words; I have a lot of physical and mental challenges.

I am looking to get a service dog to help me with physical disabilities associated with Multiple Sclerosis and psychiatric disabilities associated with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. How could a service dog help me?

Imagine....

A woman walks down a quiet street, a dog practically glued to her side. They are enjoying the warm spring air when a car blasts its horn. The woman freezes in terror because the loud sound did more than just startle her. The dog by her side, knowing what is needed of him during such times, presses against her legs to bring her out of it. After a few heartbeats, the woman takes a few deep breaths, realizing once again that she is safe. She ruffles the dog's head and they continue on their way.

Imagine...

A woman rolls her wheelchair up the remainder of the ramp to her front door on a cold and blustery winter day, a dog by her side. It begins to sleet as the woman fubles through her bag looking for her keys. She finds them but her fingers are numb and she drops them on the wooden ramp. She says a few words to the dog who puts his head down to retrieve the key and gently holds them up for her. She takes the keys, unlocks the door and the two of them enter the warmth of the house.

Imagine...

A woman lies on the couch, struggling to get up and go about her day. A dog sits next to her. She looks at him and he nuzzles her arm. She smiles for the first time that day, gets up to grab his harness and takes him for a walk.

Imagine...

A woman struggles into a dark room, her arms full of forearm crutches with a dog near her, but giving her the space she needs to maneuver. She stops and the dog stops with her. It could be dangerous to walk in a darkened room as she can't see if anything happens to be in the way but she does need to enter it. She speaks a few words to the dog who moves around her and toggles the light switch on with his nose. They walk into the room together.

Imagine...

A woman sits on her bed, tired and ready to sleep. The ever-present dog wags his tail gently and goes to grab her medication. She takes it, puts the bottle on the night stand and lies down. The dog hops into bed beside her and she falls asleep, feeling his comforting weight against her, knowing that she has a canine companion who can help her through whatever challenges life throws at her.

My History

After a very difficult and traumatic childhood and even young adulthood, I managed to land my dream job in 2008. I was a geographer with the US Census Bureau, hired during the ramp up to the 2010 census. I loved what I did; I loved my coworkers and I was good at my job. I managed to get from a GS-9 to GS-12 in three years and had the respect of my superiors and my coworkers.

It was not to last.

I spent most of my life dealing with severe mental illness but I had never gotten it diagnosed. A traumatic childhood, a traumatic young adulthood, those leave scars, both mental and physical, which I bear to this day. In 2009, I had an episode that frightened me enough to finally seek help. I wound up in a psychiatric unit in a general hospital in Washington DC. After I was released, I sought out a psychiatrist and a therapist to help me with troubles that escalated week by week. I was put on strong medications that did not deal with my symptoms and sought therapy a couple times a week to try to manage a life that grew more chaotic as time went on. My supervisors and my coworkers tried to help me as much as they could but in the end, I realized my illnesses were impacting their work in addition to my own. I filed for a disability annuity from my job. My illness was so severe that I was approved in mere months, record time. My current diagnoses are Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Bipolar Disorder and Dissociative Identity Disorder. I've had psychiatric symptoms for most of my life...mood instability, fear, easily startled, an inability to touch people, spacing out (also known as dissociating), losing time, self-harm, even a suicide attempt. I sought treatment for these things in 2009. I was unemployable in 2012.

A few years later, I began experiencing weird physical symptoms: frequent dizziness, especially after standing; strange numbness in parts of my body; severe heat intolerance; vision problems including losing the vision in my left eye off and on (I'm already nearly blind in the right even with best vision correction) and strange difficulty differentiating colors; general uncoordination and frequent falls. I went to doctors for years, looking for any idea of what it could be and was told there was nothing wrong. During one of those frequent trips to the psychiatric wards of various hospitals something happened that changed my life, yet again. I fell three times in 2 days. They really don't like it when you fall in the hospital and finally, someone decided to get to the bottom of it. I was scheduled for an EKG, CT scan, MRI, stress test, cardiology consult, neurology consult...they threw nearly every test they could think of at me to try to discover what was wrong. I was actually taken for an MRI of my brain on my 37th birthday. I was opening presents when they came with the wheelchair. Finally, all of those tests and examinations were done. I was still in the psychiatric unit and did not hear anything for a week. I had begun to think that it really was all in my head...and it was, just not the way I had thought. The nurse practitioner for the psychiatric unit of the hospital at which I was staying called me into her office and told me that I have Multiple Sclerosis. I was both confused and relieved. I finally had a name for what was wrong. MS is an autoimmune disorder of the central nervous system. Basically it means that my body is attacking itself in the same way that lupus might but it is attacking my brain, spinal cord and optic nerves instead of more systemically as it does in lupus. I have good days and I have bad. On a good day, it is possible that you cannot tell me from someone who does not have MS. On a bad one, the symptoms flare and I struggle to get things done and must use my wheelchair. I get a medication via an IV once a month to help with my illness but it doesn't always keep the symptoms at bay.

Throughout all of this, my mental illnesses have continued to require treatment. I was still in and out of psychiatric units in the years before and since and my MS diagnosis, as my symptoms continued to get worse, despite consistent treatment of talk therapy, psychoeducation, group therapy and a variety of medications, continued to progress. Eventually I sought long-term care at Sheppard Pratt, a psychiatric hospital originally founded in Towson MD but now with locations all over Marland. I was recommended for their Residential Treatment Center, a long term but not permanent care center with most of the treatment modalities I may need included within it. They can and do seek outside providers, when what a patient like me may need is not contained within the program. I have an outside trauma therapist here, for instance. I am able to come and go, visiting places around the city so long as I continue to engage with treatment. It is a longish term care facility but not permanent. I will not stay here forever, nor do I want to. My goal is to live as independently as I can.

This brings me to the dog. Why do I want a service dog? How do I believe having one will help me? As you have likely gathered, my health needs, both physical and mental, are quite complicated. I believe a service dog will help me in a variety of ways. Service dogs can be and are trained to deal with psychiatric challenges, including PTSD and physical ones, such as those I have with my MS and Fibromyalgia. Service dogs can be trained to provide pressure with their bodies to help people with anxiety, for instance or get help or even remind a person to take medications. They help with physical challenges, too. They can turn on a light switch or pick up something from the ground. I as well as my providers here believe that having a service dog will help me a great deal when I transition to living in the world beyond the walls of a residential facility. I am capable of caring for a dog and am able to take on the emotional, mental, physical and fiscal responsibilities of caring for a dog. I am not, however, entirely able to raise the extensive funds required to cover the cost of bringing a service dog into my life.

That is where you come in.

Update

I had previously been thinking of doing things through a for-profit company. I have since thought better of the idea. I'm going to go with a non-profit, Little Angels Service Dogs.

I decided that going to the place in Chantilly to train a service dog is not feasible for me. Assuming I could raise the 15 to 18 thousand they require, plus the cost of a dog and things associated with that, Chantilly is an hour away from me and I cannot drive. An Uber or Lyft out there is about 100 dollars one way without a tip. I would have to get out there several times a week. That amount of money adds up fast.

I have decided to apply through a non-profit, Little Angels Service Dogs. They are a 501(c)-3 who provide dogs for people with a variety of disabilities. I emailed them Saturday (they got back to me only a few hours later) and asked about their dogs. They told me that they are able to train a dog for both psychiatric and mobility tasks. I filled out an application (thankyou to my donors-the application fee was 50 dollars) and I should hear back from them within 6 weeks.

There is a cost associated with the placement of a dog. As I mentioned earlier, there is a 50 dollar application fee. Should I be accepted, there is a 500 dollar security deposit. Beyond that, the costs are 9500 dollars. They can raise that money but it can take a year or more. I will not be put on the waiting list until the 9500 dollars has been raised. The waiting list is already 36 to 48 months long once the 9500 has been raised. If I wait for them to raise the money, it will be 5+.

For that and other reasons, I am keeping the gofundme up but edited. I have edited the amount requested from 14000 to 9500. I would like all of the support I can get to help with the cost of this. I realize that I am likely to get few, if any, donations because I informed everyone that the non-profit is willing to raise the money but I wanted to be fully transparent and up front with everyone. Donations can make a difference between getting a dog in 3 years versus 5 or more. I, of course, will be throwing every spare penny I've got at it and I ask that if you should have any spare pennies hiding in the couch cushions, would you throw them at this,