Hi everyone!

My name is Ashley Hossler, and I am fundraising to help pay for medical alert service dog training. I have recently been diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, often known as POTS. Although I am just now getting this diagnosis, I have likely had it for many years. POTS is a condition that causes several symptoms when you transition from lying down to standing up, such as a fast heart rate, dizziness, and fatigue. POTS can be triggered by many things/events, such as a concussion, a change in hormones (pregnancy), trauma, and illness. In 7th grade, I got my first concussion, and since then, I have dealt with a wide range of symptoms. I struggle with pre-syncope, fainting, lightheadedness, dizziness, headaches, anxiety, tachycardia, low blood pressure, excessive blood pooling in my legs, changes in my vision (tunnel vision, stars, black, white, dots, slow-moving), brain fog, fatigue, and more. Since I had my daughter in March of 2022, it has worsened. Before I had her, I did not faint, my heart would not beat as fast, and my vision would not change.

I work full-time, am a wife and mom, and am in graduate school to become a school counselor. However, it has gotten to the point where the combination of my symptoms affects my everyday life. I have to take many days off from work for appointments and days when I have bad flares. I have two little kids, and it is hard knowing there are days when I am home alone with them and something could happen to me. For example, I could pass out and hit my head. Sometimes I even have to pull over from driving because I get short dizzy episodes and my vision changes. With a service dog, she would be able to alert me before an episode, get help if I was in public when an episode occurred, call 911, help with deep pressure therapy, and more. While there’s no cure, several treatments, and lifestyle changes can help manage the symptoms of POTS; a service dog is one of them. It would mean more than the world to get help training my puppy. I appreciate this opportunity and am grateful to have you all on my journey. I would not be able to do it without you. Thank you.