Hi my name is Sarena Hapke and I am fundraising for myself and my service dog. Growing up, I always thought something was wrong with my brain because I either got hot way too fast, got random headaches from sneezing or bending a certain way, had random leg spasms, had bad neck pain because there was "too much weight on my back," always getting sick or feeling nauseous, insomnia (I thought I was just a night owl), or my biggest problem of it all...syncope (fainting.) I thought I fainted from not drinking enough water or not eating enough that day. However, I have recently been training my body under high altitudes of stress to go through Field Medical Training Battalion to go with the Marines and understand how to save their lives in basic everyday needs or when they're screaming "Doc" on the battlefield. Devestatingly, I was dropped from the class for fainting. We thought it was just not enough sodium or not drinking enough or my favorite (I just couldn't handle it.) Today Im explaining my condition because I was diagnosed with a condition called Arnold Chiari Malformation 1 and had my surgery yesterday. It's where it "occurs when the section of the skull containing a part of the brain (cerebellum) is too small or is deformed, thus putting pressure on and crowding the brain. The lower part of the cerebellum (tonsils) is displaced into the upper spinal canal." The crazy thing is most people with malformation 1 don't really have symptoms, but me on the other hand I'm a rare case to my doctors. I have almost all the symptoms, especially fainting. I tend to wake up everyday and hope I don't faint while aim driving or walking in public alone, start my days with migraines or headaches that can last up to 48 hours, double vision, dizziness, and numbness where i can't feel my legs or arms. In the last year I have fainted about 37 times and thought that was normal. Thankfully I got a chiari decompression with a few bur-holes to help my symptoms and hopefully put a stop to it. However, I will also be needing an assistance dog to help me with everyday activities. Even lifting something from the ground to put it up can make me faint. So having a service dog will help keep me from doing anymore damage to my brain. Assistance dogs are very expensive for their training, health care, and everyday life activities the dog needs. . If there is any help you'd like to contribute, I would be internally grateful and could never thank you enough. If you've made it this far, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for listening to my story.