Hello! My name is Bethany and you may or may not know some of this about me, so let me give you some highlights.

1) I was diagnosed with Epilepsy my freshman year in high school when I was 15 years old. I'm now 34 years old, for reference.

2) Everything seemed pretty controlled. I would have an episode (grand mal/ tonic-clonic) once a year.

3) In April of 2019, I was suddenly having seizures 3 times a month.

4) I tried a specialized diet, Keto Diet, which has helped so many people. Well, it made things worse for me.

5) Since the diet failed, my neurologist and I decided to move forward with a medical device called a Vagus Nerve Stimulator (VNS). I had that surgery at the beginning of January 2020 (before the Covid stuff started getting crazy)

6) The surgery caused me to develop anxiety and PTSD. With that, psychological seizures on top of what I was dealing with.

7) I was put on medical disability (only for a few months) and my parents have been amazing through this all.

8) I was still having 3-4 seizures a month when we realized that they were connected to my hormones. But this was a NEW seizure disorder, I didn't realize I could get a new one before this.

9) I saw a gynecologist, who is amazing. There are only 3 ways to treat hormone-related seizures: birth control (the pill), a shot of birth control (depo shot), and surgery (taking the source out). Birth control didn't work so we took everything out.

10) Oh, around February of 2020, I started seeing a therapist (if you can, you should do it... it's great to just help with life!). And she is amazing.

11) I am still having seizures. I have an emergency medication that if taken in time, I'm solid. If not, there's another one for the books. About 3-4 times a month, we have to do this, and about once a month I have a seizure.

12) My therapist suggested a therapy/service dog. So we started looking.

13) I added a new specialist to my team of doctors. Luckily, I'm a fascinating case, so he wants to solve it.

14) We started looking at options for therapy dogs around the middle of 2021. I finally made it through 90% of the process with one organization and found out the average wait is 4-6 YEARS. I was more thinking around a month or two... ugh.

So that brings us to today. I bought Hank on Sunday, January 23rd of 2022. This has been a LONG 3-year journey. Hank is a puppy and needs training. I found a place that will train him to be a therapy dog WHILE his normal training is going on. He will be working on training all the way through May. We have a consultation on February 3rd, 2022 for training to be a service dog.

What Hank needs:

I already bought him (woohoo)

Paying for training (I own my own company and have had to sideline it while dealing with my medical stuff).

Service dog training

Puppy starter kit (bed, toys, food, crate). And for the record, I only bought two toys... He came with two already.

What Hank will do:

-help with anxiety through specialized training

-trained to retrieve one specific item for me and tell others something is wrong.

Some of you have known me for years and had no clue any of this was going on. I am a private person but it's also difficult for people to understand invisible illnesses. If you can even give a dollar to help, I would appreciate it. I know some of you are asking, do you really need Hank. And the answer is yes. I want to feel confident when hanging out with friends... wait, I want the CHANCE to hang out with friends. Things have reached a level where sometimes my anxiety skyrockets when one of my parents is in a different room.

I want to be me again... a better version of me.

Thank you,

Bethany and Hank