Lori's Life Companion

I can’t say I ever thought I’d be here making one of these things, but here I am. It’s amazing how fast your life can change.  

All it takes is a split second.  

On January 2nd, 2012, I had a severe accident. I took my dog out at around 5pm in the evening for a walk on a cold and very icy winter evening.

I have no recollection of what happened. I remember only stepping off the bottom step of my apartment stoop to walk through the parking lot, and the next thing I remember is being shaken and a woman yelling at me to wake up and for someone to call an ambulance. 

I was very confused and my head hurt like hell. I had quite the goose egg on the back of my noggin. I was extremely cold. The kind woman helping me told me she saw me lying unconcious on a sheet of black ice as she was driving through the lot and it had taken her several minutes to stir me.  Since I have no idea what happened, It’s assumed that I didn't see the ice and slipped on it and hit the back of my head hard on the pavement. 

I was unconcious for approximately 20 minutes. I know this because I had an instant messenger record of me telling my friends I was going to walk my dog at 5pm, and the woman told me she had found me around 5:20 as she was coming home from work. 

Long story short, I was thankfully not hemorrhaging into my brain, so my doctors figured it was OK for me to recover at home. I could not leave my apartment for three months after that because I couldn't walk. I spent that entire time studying (as I had just started college that day) and sleeping. 

It was three years ago now. I recovered significantly, but I still have permanent disabilities that have been slowly but steadily been restricting my life. I fall, get confused, forget things, drop things, get lost, and do things that endanger my life like walking out into traffic without looking first. I often forget my name, birthday, phone number, and address. I cannot work or go outside even for a walk around my neighborhood for some exercise because it’s too dangerous to do without someone with me.

My family and friends of course, as wonderful as they are, do their very best to help me. But they have lives of their own to attend to and I desperately want to make that easier for them. It's not just heartbreaking and inconvenient for them but often impossible. I took care of my mother long ago when she became ill, and it's not easy...they never complain, but I see clearly and know well how tiring and taxing it is for them to have to structure their lives around me. A person cannot live two lives. 

It's an unworkable position for all of us as a long term situation. I need more independence. 

It’s wasting my life. Before I got hurt, I had a thriving career as a writer and in medical research. I was going through college for the third time at the time of my accident for career advancement. I worked for every penny that paid for all three of my college stints all three times and never took out a single loan. 

A split second and some frozen water was all it took to erase everything I'd worked for.  

It sucks and that's a bleak story, I know. But there's a lot of good things going for me. There’s a good deal of hope for me. My doctors are convinced I can still live a full and happy life and regain most of my independence, even if I am differently-abled.

I think they are right. I KNOW I can do it. 

There are a LOT of things I can still do with a little more help. This is where a service dog comes in.

Service dogs are dogs trained to help mitigate certain disabilities. They essentially fill in for the parts of the patient that do not work. With their help, many people turn from "disabled" into "differently abled" and gain a chance to have a full and productive life that was not there before. 

This is what it will be like for me. I may well be able to go out and do my own errands, make my own appointments, and go back to work again.

Things a service dog will do for me: 

-- Act as another set of eyes. Because of my brain injury, I frequently will randomly lose my ability to see. I can see shapes, color, and movement and if I work really hard at it, I can make out what I’m looking at, but at the expense of doing ANYTHING else including walking or talking. The dog can act as an extra set of eyes and guide me safely around and over obstacles.

-- I’ve several times walked out into traffic without it occurring to me to look for cars. The dog would prevent me from doing this and therefore solving a major problem of very easily avoidable tragedy for both me and my family as well as the drivers in our community.  

-- Act as a brace so I can get up when I fall or steady me when I stumble.   

-- Allow me to go outside with assurance of safety.

-- Fetch my medication at the same time every day and paw at me until I take my medication, as well as automatically run to fetch my emergency medicine. 

-- Guide me to a safe place if I get confused on where I am and what I’m doing.  

-- Pick up things that I drop when my fingers stop working.

-- Get me out of bed and guide me out of the house in case of emergency.

-- Call 911 if I am incapacitated and open the door to let paramedics in.

-- Provide Deep Pressure Therapy to help pull me back into my body and recover from episodes of ataxia (loss of bodily control).

This is just some of what a service dog can do for me and I’m sure there will be more.

The money from this campaign is mostly going to pay for expert advice on picking an appropriate dog and helping train the dog in advanced tasks. It will also go for equipment like a vest and harness, adoption costs, vet bills for shots and neutering, and things like that. None of the money will be used for anything else other than what is needed regarding the dog.

It doesn’t take much to boost the life of someone who has very little. My life was stolen from me but I have been given the chance to get it back, even if it’s different. Your donation would ensure this.

Thank you for your time and your help.