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Hi, this is my 10 year old, Rhian. We are raising money to get her a service dog. Rhian has a few medical and mental health diagnoses and we have been to so many specialist trying to figure out why our once sweet, loving, and spunky kid was suddenly struggling so hard. Our biggest concern is her anxiety disorder. Rhian avoids crowds, noisy places, and is often overwhelmed. At times this leads her to self-harm. In addition to her anxiety disorder, Rhian has some other things happening that contribute to these symptoms. She has also been diagnosed with Central Auditory processing disorder, ADHD, Raynauds syndrome, functional nausea, and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome or POTS for short.
She is in therapy weekly and all of her doctors agree that she would benefit greatly from Psychiatric Service Dog. We do have letters of support from her therapist and pediatrician.
We have had a long and emotional battle over this last year, but we have learned so much and are so grateful to finally have some answers. We hope that a service dog can help us get our spunky and super cool kiddo back. ❤️
A very generous breeder has donated a goldendoodle puppy to Rhian. The puppy should be ready to come home in December. This gives us 6 months to raise the money for training. Our goal is $10,000.
What we plan to do with the money-
We are looking at Certified Canine Services https://www.certifiedk9.com/
*Initial evaluation $100
*2 week Puppy program $1400
*Basic service dog training $5500
*Specific task training $700 per week (estimated 2-3 weeks)
Total $8400 - $9100
This program does include any updating or individual training required for the life of the dog.
The remainder of the $10,000 that we are hoping to raise will cover the spay/neuter, shots, and any other required vet care.
we can also take donations through cash app $zhmzpr or venmo @heather-winn-23
A little more about Rhian and what makes her so amazing…
Rhian is the youngest of 4 kids and has always kept us on our toes. Rhian loves to make videos on her iPad and always amazes me with her creativity and her editing skills(she sure didn’t get them from me) and she is an amazing artist. Rhian is always drawing either on her iPad or on paper (sometimes she even animates her drawings). She is super smart and loves to tell jokes. She spends a lot of time watching Dr. Mike, Be Amazed, or Think Noodle on YouTube.
A little about her diagnosis..
I know most of us understand ADHD and anxiety but what about the rest?
CAPD (Central Auditory Processing Disorder) has to do with the way her brain interprets sounds and words. It causes significant difficulty understanding speech, especially in the presence of background noise, difficulty following multi-step directions that are presented verbally, without visual cues, and makes her easily distracted by loud or unexpected sounds.
POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) is caused by reduced blood volume that occurs when standing up. This syndrome is usually triggered when a person stands up after lying down. This means that when she goes from sitting to standing she could get dizzy, fall, blackout, or lose consciousness. In addition to going from standing to sitting, she has some issues while in the shower.
Functional Nausea has to do with the nerves in her stomach being overly sensitive making it hard for her to eat sometimes but is more annoying than anything.
Raynaud’s syndrome is a condition in which some areas of the body feel numb and cool in certain circumstances. In Raynaud's, smaller arteries that supply blood to the skin constrict excessively in response to cold, limiting blood supply to the affected area. Again more annoying than anything and means she wears a lot of gloves and socks.
Thank you for reading our story and we hope that you have a great day!
Here are some links