Independence Through Service Dog

TLDR: Raising funds to help cover the cost of a service dog to help with POTS. Here is a short video (4 min) on what Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome is:  https://vimeo.com/187404694


My name is Catherine Cuddy. I will be turning 25 in a few months. I have dealt with a variety of health issues since infancy and have had chronic pain since first grade. I grew up spending most of my free time in a hospital. I always seemed to dislocate joints easily and it took me 3-4x as long as the average person to heal from every injury and surgery. It was not until I was around 20 years old that my health became significantly poor though and I lost the ability to function. I struggled to eat even a cup of chicken broth a day. I had a resting heart rate of 140 BPM and could not even walk 10 feet without a heart rate of over 200 BPM. I was completely debilitated and was receiving IV hydration multiple times a week to survive. My liver and kidneys were under great duress and no matter how much I drank or how many IV infusions I had I was perpetually dehydrated. I eventually ended up at Mayo Clinic and went through testing and treatment there and back home in MA and discovered I had dysautonomia and Ehlers Danlos Syndrome.

Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS) is a rare genetic connective tissue disorder (https://www.ehlers-danlos.com/what-is-eds/). For me it manifests with frequent subluxations and dislocations of my hips, shoulders, fingers, toes, and kneecaps. People with EDS can also develop dysautonomia. Dysautonomia is when the autonomic nervous system fails to function properly (http://www.dysautonomiainternational.org/page.php?ID=39). The autonomic nervous system controls things like breathing, digestion, body and skin temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure, among other bodily functions. I worked extremely hard for over a year to get my body back to a functioning baseline and succeeded thanks to the help of my doctors and my personal drive to get my life back.

In May of 2019 I successfully graduated as a first-generation student from Grinnell College with a 4.0 in my Russian major. I also completed all my prerequisites for medical school. A couple of weeks after graduating I had what should have been a routine surgery that ended in a temporary hospitalization and made all my medical conditions worse. I started passing out daily and sometimes multiple times a day and developed a mast cell disorder that causes me to have sudden allergic reactions without consistent causes. During one of these sudden allergic reactions I almost died and stopped breathing 3 times. After extensive testing I was found to have mast cell activation syndrome, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), and small fiber neuropathy. POTS is a form of dysautonomia that causes significant changes in blood pressure and heart rate with various forms of movement. These sudden changes in my heart rate and blood pressure are the cause of my frequent syncope (fainting) episodes.  At this point in time I have maxed out all my medications and other treatment options such as physical and aquatic therapy. After a year of hard work, I have gone from fainting multiple times a day to fainting 1-2x a week.  While this is a significant improvement, my quality of life is still not at a truly functioning baseline which is why I am here asking for help.

Due to falls related to these health issues I have sustained six spinal fractures (fell down flights of stairs more than once), a severe concussion, sprained ankles, broken toes, and multiple soft tissue injuries. I am not able to drive a car or be left alone. I am turning 25 and I have the independence level of a 16-year-old. My doctors suggested a service dog could help me function again as an independent adult. I spent many months researching and speaking to service dog handlers before reaching a conclusion. With the blessing of my entire medical team I have chosen to go forward and become a service dog handler. I have been paired with a young, standard poodle puppy who has shown through several rounds of temperament testing that he will be an excellent service dog. After professional training is finished my dog will be able to recognize changes in my breathing pattern associated with spikes in heart rate (tachycardia) and will also be trained to recognize mannerism changes when I am about to pass out. He will be able to alert me to these changes and help me get to the floor safely. When I am unconscious, he will know to elevate my legs and/or perform deep pressure therapy to increase circulation and help me wake up faster. With commands he will be able to retrieve medications, water, specific people and even provide forward momentum to help me walk safely when I am dizzy and weak. With the help of my service dog I will be able to reduce the frequency and/or severity of syncope episodes and prevent dangerous falls. 

My goal in life is to become a doctor. I have wanted to become a doctor since I was a young child and the strength of that goal has only grown with the more health obstacles I face. I want to be able to help people like me and approach cases with the empathetic heart of someone who can truly understand what it is like to be a patient. I believe it is my life purpose to take my years of struggle and use it to give back by becoming a doctor and helping others through their own hurdles so that they can find a better quality of life. My own life right now is experiencing a hiccup but I, and my doctors, believe that a service dog can help me get back on the path towards helping others.

Please consider donating anything you can. Even a dollar helps and is a blessing. This process is expensive, and I am not financially capable of providing the full amount needed. After an entire lifetime of medical bills my family is not in the position to easily afford this process either. The $20,000 will cover the cost of the dog itself, neutering, and an orthopedic evaluation (to ensure fitness of dog for mobility tasks), and part of the training.

We have already purchased the dog and found an experienced, medical response service dog trainer and are moving forward with this process so any assistance at all is welcomed and appreciated more than you could ever imagine. 

My service dog in training! Standard poodle, 8 weeks old. Possible name of Bodhi.