A Seizure Response Dog for Owen

Hi, I am Cindy, the mother of a 9-year-old boy named Owen. We are in the process of purchasing Owen a seizure response dog through a great organization named Domesti-PUPS. Domesti-PUPS requires the use of fundraising with the purchase of a Service Dog for accountability purposes. There is a service dog named Barley that is available at the end of December, this is a great opportunity to give Owen the help he needs immediately. Now is the hard part, the fundraising and a very short time frame. At this time, we are asking for your help with a small portion of the cost to obtain Barley and fulfill our fundraising requirements for Domesti-PUPS, we are happy to provide the remainder. Any donation would be a blessing as we begin this new journey with Owen.

Who is Owen?

Owen is a 9-year-old little boy who began having seizures at 18 months old. Owen has tried all seizure medications available and still seizes daily. Over the past several years, Owen has had 4 major surgeries to try to help with his seizures however none of them have been fully successful and he still seizes at least once a day. Just this year Owen has had two of the surgeries to have a RNS, Responsive neurostimulation System, installed however sadly both systems had to be removed due to infection. In January he was admitted to the ER and diagnosed with Bacterial Meningitis after only 7 days of having the RNS and due to the infection the RNS had to be removed. After several complications following the removal of the RNS, he was approved to have it reinstalled in May and everything seemed to go well. In September, the incision began to look infected and once again, when the neurosurgeon investigated, he found infection, the system had to once again be removed. Currently, no surgery options are available to Owen due to him already previously having a Corpus Callosotomy and currently having a Vegas Nerve Stimulator installed. Although we are still changing medications to try and find some control, our options are limited.

Why does Owen Need a Seizure Response Dog?

Owen is non-verbal and has epilepsy and autism. Owen is unable to tell us when he is about to seize or call out to us if he goes into a seizure or when he comes out of a seizure. The only way to know if he has a seizure is for us to always have eyes on him which will be much easier with Barley by his side. Barley will give Owen more independence and comfort him when he seizes. Barley will notify us of his seizure by ringing a bell and will retrieve his VNS magnet or medicine and remain beside Owen waiting for us to arrive. Our greatest fear is Owen's night seizures, knowing Barley is by his side and can alert us if he does seize allows the night to be a little less scary. We feel at this point in his healthcare plan, Barley is our best solution to keep him safe.

Thank you for your kind consideration to help with this wonderful opportunity for our son.

Below is the link for Domesti-PUPS. Please take the time and read about them, they are a great organization and any support that they can receive helps children like Owen.

Domesti-PUPS - https://www.domesti-pups.org/

Another Great Foundation for the Seizure Community is Chelsea Hutchison Foundation.

https://chelseahutchisonfoundation.org/