A Service Dog for Hannah: Support Her EDS Journey

Hey everyone,

My name is Nathan Durhamwood.

My wife, Hannah, and I live in Rochester, NY with our cats, Wheat and Dragon.

Anyone who has known Hannah knows that she has suffered from chronic illness since middle school. Debilitating migraines paired with heavy fatigue and body pain have caused her to miss many days of school, work, events, and experiences with friends and family over the past 12 years.

After years of symptoms and doctor's appointments, Hannah has finally found the root cause of her illnesses - Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS).

hEDS is a genetic tissue disorder that impacts the way the body produces and metabolizes collagen, leading to body pain, joint pain from loose muscles and ligaments, chronic fatigue, mobility issues, digestive issues, reproductive problems, and neurological issues such as migraines and poor proprioception.

Through all these struggles, Hannah has always been persevering, hardworking, and stubborn. She constantly puts her own pain aside in pursuit of bringing happiness to those around her.

Despite mountains of challenges, she did really well in school, going on to obtain a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from SUNY Geneseo. She began pursuing a Master’s degree, but her illness really caught up with her and she was forced to step away due to her symptoms.

More recently, her increasingly severe symptoms forced her to step away from a job that she really loved.

Hannah means so much to me and all I ever want is to give her the best life possible.

Over the last year, we have made significant lifestyle changes in order to decrease the severity of her symptoms, from changing our routine to purchasing pain reduction tools. These changes have helped greatly, but hEDS creates permanent barriers to her abilities.

After researching hEDS accessibility tools and speaking with her doctor, we have determined that a service dog would be very beneficial to Hannah’s daily life.

A service dog for Hannah would perform tasks to assist her with mobility, provide pain relief through deep pressure therapy, and help make everyday tasks less difficult.

hEDS Service Dog Tasks

I cannot be home with Hannah all day because of my job and this dog would be able to assist her in ways I sadly cannot.

Acquiring and training a service dog for Hannah's specific needs will be very costly.

Our finances have been struggling lately, like many people. Insurance issues have left us with medical debt, as insurance has frequently refused to cover medications prescribed to Hannah without jumping through costly hoops.

These strains, combined with the fact that Hannah's symptoms have kept her from working, we cannot afford adding a new member of the Durhamwood Family alone.

We have learned that our only way to survive is to embrace the communities around us and learn to ask for help.

Being vulnerable and asking for help requires strength, and I am so proud of Hannah's strength and perseverance that it has taken to get to this point in her medical journey.

Donate only if you have the financial means to, and please share.

Alone, we cannot do much. Together, we can bring great change.