Help Colleen Gain Freedom with Solo the Service Dog

Help Colleen get a service dog!

Meet Solo- after a tragic start of losing his littermates and mother at birth, he thrived and became a medical scent detection dog to help people participate in community and live life safely. He is now 4 years old and is specially trained to detect and alert to viral pathogens, including covid.

Solo was matched with Colleen a few weeks ago!

Solo will need to fly with his trainer to Boise so Colleen and Joe can be trained and learn how to integrate Solo into their lives. They need your help in making this dream a reality!

As a service dog, here are some of the many things that Solo will help Colleen with:

• Solo will accompany Colleen in the hospital where she works as a Speech Pathologist so that she can selectively take her mask off while treating patients uninhibited and without concern for reinfection, allowing her to do her job safely and more effectively.

• Solo will be allowed in public spaces- including on planes and in airports to help Colleen return to traveling safely

• Solo will accompany and increase safety for Colleen during her to her numerous medical appointments by reducing the chances for exposure to viral pathogens, re-infection, and further complications from a visit that is supposed to help her

• Solo will allow Colleen and Joe to see friends and family more freely with increased safety and significantly more ease by reducing the need for everyone to mask and test

• Ultimately, Solo will give Colleen back freedom to live, work, and socialize, and safely access all spaces she wants to be in

Colleen’s journey from being fully abled-bodied to disabled and needing a service dog began in 2020. At the time, Colleen was working 40-50 hours per week as a medical speech pathologist at a rehab hospital. She was passionate in her career, enjoyed seeing her friends and family regularly, traveling, and loved the outdoors- especially skiing, snowshoeing, and hiking.

In September 2020, she contracted covid after treating covid-positive patients. Being "young and healthy," she expected to go back to normal after her two-week quarantine once her acute symptoms resolved. But that never happened. The first year, Colleen spent in a cloudy brain fog with chronic daily headaches and nausea, racing heart rate, lost sense of smell and taste, debilitating fatigue, and cognitive changes. She still tried to get back to working full-time while managing her own medical rehabilitation and therapies, dozens of medication trials, and lifestyle changes. Instead of getting better, her health significantly deteriorated- most basic home management tasks, hobbies, and socializing were severely impacted.

After years of unrelenting and evolving symptoms and many evaluations and assessments, Colleen received official diagnoses: Long Covid, covid-induced postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome/dysautonomia, and most recently, covid-induced myalgic encephalomyelitis in addition to immune system changes. There are no cures for these conditions.

Following the urging of her medical team, Colleen reduced her hours to part-time while paying out of pocket for expensive experimental treatments and continued to be severely inhibited in participating in daily activities.

Currently, there are only two management strategies for her conditions: 1) Limit her energy expenditure to reduce post-exertional neuroimmune exhaustion episodes and 2) reduce reinfections to prevent further harm to her autonomic nervous and immune systems.

Because of this, Colleen and Joe have continued taking covid and viral precautions every single day, including masking at work, avoiding high-risk environments and social situations, as well as testing friends and family before hanging out. Hence, the search for SOLO!!!

I could write a book on how hard Colleen and Joe have fought for a semblance of normalcy and acceptance of what has permanently changed. The sacrifices both have made and the caregiver fatigue that comes with working in a helping profession (Colleen a speech pathologist and Joe a physical therapist) while dealing with chronic illness and disability at home are significant. All the while, Colleen never stopped looking at new research, trying new treatment approaches, fighting for the chance to trial medications with insurance, meeting with new doctors, and spending her diminished energy on fighting for more freedom, more safety, and more community. I hope you feel inclined to help Colleen bring Solo to his new loving and grateful family. I can't think of anyone more deserving.

Any amount of financial support will help Colleen and Joe fulfill this opportunity for increased access, safety, freedom, and community. No amount is too small, and they will forever be grateful for your support.

Thank you for taking the time to read and considering to contribute! <3