Hi. My name is Julie Otto and I have refractory (drug-resistant) epilepsy. But this GoFundMe isn’t exactly for me. It’s for another one I live with who has epilepsy, my dog “Shaggy.” We are trying to raise funds in order to keep his proper care going. We are low income, living off of my mom’s social security and VA benefits because a judge thought I just had anxiety over my epilepsy. I, myself, can’t even be alone in public due to lighting. But this isn’t about me; it’s about Shaggy and his quality of life. Today I just faced a very difficult decision. I had to decide whether Shaggy lived or died due to a cluster of seizures. We chose for him to live because Shaggy is a beacon of light shining to show what the life of epilepsy entails. I deal with the struggles of epilepsy every day, but in a way, Shaggy is a symbol for me to keep going even though my own treatment options for epilepsy are growing thin to almost non-existent. My goal is to raise funds in order for us to deal with vet bills, food, grooming, medications, and for those times that he needs care when I may be hospitalized.

My story with Shaggy starts with the first time I saw him at the shelter. He was fifty pounds underweight and had just been rescued from being abandoned in the back mountains. We were told he had just undergone a procedure for the removal of hundreds of foxtails and ticks. Why did someone abandon Shaggy in the back mountains? I’m sure we will never know, but the day I went to the shelter to look for a dog to train to be a seizure response dog for myself is the day I met Shaggy. Shaggy has the perfect temperament for public access, being calm and ignoring the environment around him. We were told he was younger than he actually was by the shelter, and because of his temperament, we decided to adopt him and try to scent train him ourselves and for other tasks that may help me with my various disabilities. But first, we needed to make him gain some weight. In our first month with Shaggy, he gained a proper weight. But during that first month, we learned something else.

Shaggy couldn’t be a service dog because he has seizures himself!

After learning he had seizures, we decided to keep Shaggy anyway as a part of the family because he was dealing with the same evil condition I face every day. I understood what Shaggy is going through. As I see Shaggy go through confusion, times of instability in being able to stand up or walk straight, a feeling of isolation, exhaustion, side effects of medication, yearning to be free, and eventually the convulsions that take over and wrack your body with the chance of harming oneself unconsciously, I understand because that’s what I deal with every day. But today I also saw the chance of not surviving, of not living the life I cherish because Shaggy almost met that fate. One thing about Shaggy and me is that we know how to stress my mom out! Shaggy and I have both somehow coordinated our seizures to happen at the same time. When those times come, my mom is not sure who to help first. I’ve told her to take care of him first unless I’ve injured myself or something because epilepsy has become a way of life for me, but I don’t want it to be that way for Shaggy! His seizures are generally controlled by medication, but he needs to be on a specific diet, stay on medications, get proper vet care, and be cared for properly. I don’t want to lose Shaggy because he represents an inspiration for my life.

He just needs help.

We need help.

Share with your family and friends!

He needs people like you to shake it with Shaggy!