Help Kennedy Get A Service Dog

My name is Kennedy and having a service dog would significantly improve my day-to-day life.

Here is my story:

Growing up I always strived to do my best in everything. One of my passions was athletics. I liked to do track and field, soccer, basketball, and basically any kind of sport I could try. When I was little, I even used to run alongside my older sister's classmates during their running club.

Throughout the course of my life, I had experienced severe chest pains, joint pain and extreme shakiness. These were often triggered by growth spurts. At times, the pain was so unbearable I couldn't even walk. My family had taken me to doctors and they all came to the conclusion that my chest pain was due to anxiety or asthma, and that all my other pain was simply just growing pains. My family continued to advocate for me because we all knew that there was more to what was going on, but we didn't have the answers yet.

Fast forward to 7th grade in April, right after basketball season ended. I began to experience fainting symptoms whenever I tried to be active. Whenever I would try to run, I would blackout. No one understood why this was happening, so I was taken to a doctor. The doctor of course believed that it was nothing severe, but my family wouldn't settle for the medical system's lack of effort. We pushed the doctors to actually do something about what was going on, did some research of our own, and tried different doctors until finally, in August 2019, I was diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS).

The development of POTS has caused me to suffer from numerous symptoms on top of the ones I already grew up with. I developed chronic migraines, dizziness, nausea, pre-syncope and syncope, tachycardia, issues with digestion, vertigo, and much more. The development of POTS has rendered me unable to pursue athletics. Often times I can't do so much as stand up without coming close to fainting.

Later the same year I was diagnosed with POTS, I noticed that I would often get sick after eating certain foods. I went to the doctor to try to figure out what was going on and I got sent to do an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. That's when we found out, in December of 2019, that I had celiac disease.

All in one year I lost the ability to eat some of my favourite foods, and the ability to do the activities that I loved to do, that I had been doing my whole life.

I believe that having a service dog would benefit me greatly because it can be trained to detect when my heart rate spikes and signal for me to sit or lay down if I'm about to faint. A service dog could be trained to do deep pressure therapy as well, which is very beneficial to me. It can also help me with my day-to-day activities that are now difficult for me to do.