A Service Dog For Jakob

We have started on the very long journey of getting a seizure alert and response dog for Jakob. As many of you know, Jakob suffers from epilepsy. He has a type of seizure called a left temporal lobe partial seizure. These seizures are localized to the part of his brain that controls his five senses. His seizures often cause changes to his vision, and one severe cluster last February caused temporary blindness. Because of the type of seizure Jakob has, his seizures are very hard to detect for an untrained person. Many times the adults around him miss the seizure completely until he becomes unresponsive (a period called the post-ictal state where the brain is attempting to recover from the seizure). This is why we have decided a seizure alert and response dog would be a great benefit for Jakob's quality of life. The dog would be specially trained to perform tasks such as alerting an adult of an impending seizure, trigger a life alert device worn by Jakob, remove potentially harmful objects from the immediate area, break his fall should he lose muscle tone during a seizure, and attempt to arrouse him following the seizure. These dogs are not cheap. The average cost of training for these dogs is approximately $24,000. We are applying for his dog through a non-profit based in San Diego, but the more funds we can raise with your help, the faster Jakob and his dog can be matched and begin training. Please consider donating. Anything helps and every penny will go directly towards training costs and travel expenses for us to fly Jakob and myself to San Diego to pick up his forever companion. Thank you all and God bless.