Help me get an Assistance Dog

Hello!

My name is Anna, and I am 13 years old.

I am the youngest child in my family and have two older brothers (and 2 cats). I was very close to my both my brothers growing up (one is 16 months older and the other 10 years older). We had so much fun growing up, I used to follow my middle brother everywhere. Mum and dad used to call me his shadow! I couldn't wait to start primary school and follow my middle brother as I missed him so much when he was at school.

Like him, I was diagnosed with Autism (Level 1) during kindergarten which helped my family understand how I understand my world (inside and out). My family supported me, and I was happy and loved my life. I was so happy when I joined him at the local primary school. He was the year above me. I was so happy to go to school every day with him, and sometimes I'd play with him and his friends. He'd keep an eye on me. I knew he looked after me.

Unfortunately, due to severe bullying at school when I was 7 years old (beginning of grade 2 -Term 1 in 2019) my life changed completely, in ways I never thought possible. I am still dealing with the repercussions.

I didn't have the understanding, or the words, to know how to tell anyone what was happening. What I experienced for a whole term at school, continues to affect my brain chemistry and my body, even after all these years. Then, and now, my brain and body freeze's when I feel scared, threatened, overwhelmed, and confused making it difficult for me to process information, specifically at school.

I now struggle to read, write, do maths, and spend time at school. I miss having friends, playing and riding my bike. At home, things changed a lot too. I became very scared of everything and everyone. I still can't be alone, I get very scared in the dark, and I am scared of so many things. I find lots of noise, light, sound, touch, smells, a lot of foods, too many people and a lot of movement too overwhelming and exhausting. I get exhausted from trying to life and I often need a 3–4-hour nap during the day, I get so tired.

PTSD has made my life very hard, and I have tried lots of different supports, and I have seen lots of different people, but no one has been able to make my life better.

My Autism is now Level 3 (requiring very substantial support), and I also have PTSD with dissociative features (I go to La La Land), ADHD, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Separation Anxiety Disorder, severe Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, and Dyscalculia. I have many more undiagnosable medical challenges, however, for this summary, I wanted to keep it all factual and not what I may or may not have. I have now also developed an eating disorder, and I have had 9 hospital admissions in the last 6 months. I don't feel healthy, and I feel constantly weak and tired because I now find eating and drinking super hard. It all makes me sad. I didn't do anything to deserve this. I don't understand it.

The reason I am trying to raise $50,000 is to have enough money to pay for an Assistance Dog (AD), through an organization, that will have public access. That means the AD will be trained to know when I get scared or overwhelmed to help me through it and not get stuck in freeze or hurt myself. It will be trained to go with me everywhere.

The dog will help me feel less scared and overwhelmed of the world. It would help me calm down when I’m stressed, make me feel safer going to school and public spaces without supervision, and make me feel like an ordinary 13-year-old. I would like to go out and do things myself and become more independent in time. That would make me so happy.

Thank you so much for donating. You will change my life.

Please keep an eye on this space as we will be having lots of fundraising events.

I can’t wait!

Thank you, Anna and family.