Help Unite Laura & a Service Dog for a Better Life

Resilience, challenge, joy, and tragedy are a few buzzwords that immediately come to mind when I think about my mom, Laura. Tragedy comes to mind because she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) at 33, imposing unfair, unavoidable hurdles.

MS attacks the immune system, damaging nerves, and disrupting communication between the brain and the body. Over time, this results in decreased mobility and physical strength, pain, and neurological complications. This disease has had tragic consequences for a former athlete, avid runner, and outdoor enthusiast, as well as cutting short her professional life as a clinical social worker.

Despite all of this, Laura has maintained an active lifestyle to the best of her ability. Every wall MS has raised, she has run through. Raising money for those experiencing MS, she biked the 150-mile MS bike ride until she couldn’t; she walked the MS Challenge Walk for five years. She has visited Washington, D.C., petitioning Congress to support MS research. She has always fought, never letting permanent setbacks stop her, only redirecting her. While she has mourned these setbacks, she has always carved out a new niche to fill her time, and keep her brain and hands moving. She continues to fight, but recent circumstances have seriously affected her ability to sustain an independent lifestyle.

In February of 2022, she experienced a fall resulting in a broken elbow, which required surgery and involved a long and painful recovery process. In late April of 2023, Laura experienced another fall, resulting in a fractured hip and broken ankle. Her hip required immediate surgery with permanent pins and screws. After several days in the hospital, Laura was transferred to a rehabilitation facility for a few weeks, to recuperate and begin physical therapy. Recovery from these injuries, coupled with MS, significantly limits her independent life at home.

The idea of a mobility assistance service dog has been discussed by our family for a long time, increasingly so in recent years. Both of these very serious incidents, this year and last, may have been preventable, or at the very least less harmful, had she had a trained service dog with her. It is now apparent that a service dog is necessary, and the best option for Laura to maintain her independence, and lead the active and fulfilling life she wants.

A service dog is a companion, partner, and liberator to many people. Mobility assistance tasks include safety measures like alerting people nearby if their person needs help, retrieving a phone, picking up dropped items, bringing a stool to help them stand up, performing necessary actions like opening and closing doors, fetching water, and even moving laundry in and out of the washer or dryer. These brilliant, helpful beings form a mutually beneficial relationship with their humans to lead a beautiful life together.

Professionally trained service animals are costly. Our monetary goal of $10,000 considers the following costs: The outright purchase of the dog, initial full-time training and boarding, transfer lessons, reinforcement training, initial and ongoing vet visits, tags and registration, chipping, and more. Uniting Laura with a service dog will be an exciting start to a long journey of resilience, independence, and companionship.

My mom is one of the best people that I know; she is kind, intelligent, brave, creative, determined, loving and so supportive. I write this hoping to lend her some support, as she has always done for me and others. Contributions of any amount are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. Thank you for supporting Laura in finding safety, freedom, and joy by allowing a service dog to walk beside her.