Our Superhero needs a sidekick!

Welcome to Isabella's journey to obtaining a service dog!

We have shared sporadically about our sweet Isabella Thérèse over the course of her 14 months of life during times that we’ve felt the need to *boost* our intercessory prayers. Every time, we have felt the deep warmth of the Father’s embrace through our extended community’s intercessions and for that,we are truly grateful! Before today, we have not shared any details about what is going on with her because, after what seems like hundreds of PT and doctors’ appointments, so much blood drawn and 14 months of sleepless nights, we remain in the limbo of “let’s do the next test to get more info.” The one thing we do know about our baby girl is that she is a fighter. Our most recent example is trying to get her scheduled for the basic procedure of putting tubes in her ear due to chronic ear infections. We've only been able to treat these infections with antibiotic injections. She spends 3-4 nights a week right now crying and holding her ears while she tries to get restless sleep. We finally got in with an ENT, finally made it to the surgery week, and we were denied by 2 different hospitals and anesthesiologists who refused to do the procedure due to her abnormal blood work. So we must start the process over again, getting in with an ENT, getting the procedure scheduled, and finding an anesthesiologist who will work with our case... Even though she has constant pressure behind her ears, she scrunches her nose and shows off her dimples any chance she gets. She has taught us so much about being joyfully uncomfortable.

All of the above is just some of the background on Isabella, and what brings us to the need for a GoFundMe. We’ve never fundraised for personal needs before. Honestly, it actually feels extremely awkward. Jonathan and I have spent our entire 12 years of marriage fundraising for the missions we’ve served whether it's the needs of Adore Ministries or Gratia Plena mental health services. We’ve chosen to live simply all these years to best support these missions we believe in passionately. So we find ourselves feeling unworthy to ask for personal support. But then we look into the beautiful eyes of Isabella, and our intentions are invigorated! This is a necessity for her. This is a need for her safety. This is the next step in doing the next right thing for her. So we are humbly coming to our community to help us get Isabella a Mobility Service Dog to support her safety. I humbly ask for your generosity in this endeavor, and we will continue to be open and honest about our endeavors for her. You are more than welcome to reach out with any clarifications you’d like along the way.

What are the skeletal muscular issues at the foundation of Isabella's disabilities?

The symptoms that are being investigated in Isabella are mainly hypertonia in parts of her body that has caused hypotonia in other parts. She has the Hulk strength in her legs to almost “airplane” her siblings into the sky but the core strength of a 4-month old trying to do a sit-up during a diaper change (makes for many daily laughable moments). She has had some abnormal blood work lab results that we are monitoring for “trends” and evaluating what further diagnostics need to be done.

The average person would have no idea she is anything other than a “typically” developing toddler, but, the truth is that she has to work in overdrive all the time, and that’s where we will forever be in awe of her strength.

So how did we get to the place of desiring a Mobility Service Dog for her? Due to her hypertonic nature that she won’t outgrow or PT “out” of, she is extremely susceptible to losing her balance, especially when stimulated (which in toddler world, is basically every second of the day, Ha!). She bumps into tables, falls into walls, and throws her body with excitement into situations before her brain can catch up to say, “Wait! That’s tile!” Her weak core has gotten her *stuck* in situations in which she was unable to use her diaphragm to cry or scream to alert us to help (between the mattress and headboard, sofa and walls, etc). Praise God she not only has two parents, but five other older siblings who are acutely aware of her shortcomings and protect her as best we all can! We have thanked her guardian angel more times than I care to admit.

Unfortunately, none of us can be 100% dedicated to supporting her and watching her every move. After sharing our predicament with friends, family, doctors and therapist, we received the unlikely suggestion to look into getting a Mobility Service Dog. After trying to dismiss the idea for weeks, we prayed diligently about it and felt that this really could be a viable solution to such a dangerous problem.

We started down multiple paths to obtaining a dog that is up the task. Unfortunately for us, most organizations that work with and provide Service Dogs “ready to go” only provide them for veterans or certain aged children diagnosed with autism, or the organizations have a 3-4 year waitlist. After contacting multiple experts in the “Service Dog Community,” we have decided to take the advice to find and purchase a purebred dog, bred to best genetically support her mobility needs, then locate a local mobility service trainer to work with. Both of these steps come with very steep price tags. With this GoFundMe page, we hope to achieve both of these things. All the money raised will go directly to making Isabella and her new teammate an unstoppable duo! We cannot thank all of you enough for the continued prayers and support you have provided our family! We will continue to update this page throughout our process so please check back for updates! We are thanking God for your generosity every day. May God bless you & Merry Christmas from Isabella and family!