Raise Funding for Makayla’s Mobility Service Dog

Makayla Symes is in her 20s and has struggled with several chronic illnesses for most of her life. The most impactful has been her Arthritis . (she also has Crohn’s and kidney disease) She has tried all available treatment options in Canada and she is part of a small percentage that has experienced no improvement. Over the last year, her mobility has progressively declined with her spine, feet, knees, hands, elbows and hands all impacted. Despite that, she is one of the most positive people I know. She believes that you need to live as a healthy person and not let your disability define you.

She works full time, is an amazing pyrography artist on the side and pursues all her hobbies and interests with such passion. She is always willing to help everyone else and is fiercely independent and will not ask for help. She never experiences a pain-free day or a day that she doesn’t have to calculate what can be accomplished before the pain becomes unbearable. Her prognosis is so uncertain with no viable treatment on the horizon, she has courageously decided to take ownership of her mobility as much as possible.

Makayla has been researching service dog program as her medical team believes that a service dog will help her mobility, quality of life, be able to provide support as her illnesses progresses in the next few years. Service dogs in Canada that are fully trained can range from 35-40k and non -profit organizations can provide a dog but the waitlist can be 3-4 years.

 

She has decided to get a dog and learn the specialized training herself so that she will know how to train her own assistance dogs throughout her life. Makayla is a volunteer patient advocate with the arthritis society and has made it her personal mission to improve access to service dogs for people living with arthritis. We highly doubt Makayla will learn these tools and not pay it forward. 

Makayla has a love and passion for animals and her own pets have offered her so much comfort and emotional support through some very tough years. To professionally train her own service dog, it will take 1.5 years and will be a minimum of $5000 in training costs alone. Makayla has already incurred the cost of a new puppy named Honey and she will be covering all basic obedience classes, vet bills and upkeep. However she needs help with the costs of the specialized training which will starts when Honey is about 6 months old. (about 3.5 months from now).

 

She would never ask for this help but the cost is another barrier and her need for a mobility dog can’t wait for years. Someone so young shouldn’t have to handle so many barriers, so many disappointing pieces of news and so much daily pain. She knows that she may not be able to walk on her own in a few years and wants to take action instead of sitting around waiting for things to improve.

 

If you can offer any support whether it be through donation or sharing her story it would be greatly appreciated.