Service Dog for Janae

Janae is a 17-year-old who loves the U.S. Navy, soccer, and being outside.  Two years ago Janae began having seizures and was diagnosed with epilepsy.  Janae  has always loved being active, and she has not let this stop her from doing the activities she loves.  She has continued playing soccer, volunteering at a local nursing home and her church, and serving as a Petty Officer 2nd Class in the U.S. Naval Sea Cadets.  Janae is taking college courses at Allegany College of Maryland this semester to work towards a degree in athletic training along with some business and entrepreneurship classes, as she hopes to open a gym to help others love fitness and nutrition.   

Since Janae began having seizures she has been on multiple treatments for her epilepsy.  It is not uncommon to have to try multiple medications to help reduce the number and severity of seizures (about 60% of patients will find the right medicine for them on the first or second try according to the Epilepsy Foundation); and Janae has had to try multiple types to reduce the number of seizures she has.  A key part of treatment, however, is recognizing when a seizure is imminent and being able to take medication or have someone alerted to help Janae.  That's where Logan comes in.     

Janae's service dog, Logan, has gone through almost 4 years of training and will continue to go through training for 1-2 days a month for the next few months to make sure he is best-equipped to help Janae when she has a seizure.  They will be using a hand-hold harness so that Logan is always aware of her movements and able to alert her if she is showing any pre-seizure symptoms.   

New Hope Assistance Dogs has done a wonderful job of training Logan and of personalizing his training for Janae.  When they learned that she was planning on taking a swimming class this semester and that she enjoyed canoeing and kayaking, they arranged for Logan to go to a pool with her and go canoeing with her so that they could work out any kinks in his training.  


While in training, Logan has begun nudging and licking Janae when she does seizure drills with him, so they are working on making that their cue so that she knows to stop what she is doing and get her rescue medication quickly.  Logan will help make sure she doesn't fall or get hurt, and will keep her safe if she is by herself - which is even more important as she starts college and becomes more independent.  

All of that said, the costs of training and placing Logan are nearly $18K; so we're reaching out to our friends, family, and community at large to help us bear that expense.  All of the proceeds that we receive through this page will go directly toward these expenses and we sincerely appreciate anything that you are able to contribute.