Lacey's Service Dog, Axel
Donation protected
I am Lacey, a 20-yro student at Yavapi Community College. I have Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) as I weighed a little over one pound when I was born. I have had 7 eye surgeries in my life to help improve my eyesight best we could.
In Janurary of 2017, I went for my check up with my eye doctor and found my eyesight got worse than it had since my last vsit in 2015. This means that the ROP is not regressing. I am now somewhere between stages 3 and 4 of it (you can click the link at the bottom of this description for more information about my condition and details on these stages). My prescription for glasses went a lot higher.
UPDATE DEC 1 2017
I went back in September of this year and I already need a higher prescription.
Our next step after the check up was to see a retinal specialist as I don't want to be as reliant on my glasses and I wanted to see if there are any procedures I could have done to make that happen. When we went in to talk to the one we found, he told us to find a Lasik surgeon It's been months since we went and saw him and we've been calling multiple Lasik places who either say no, they do not treat ROP or to go and see a retinal specialist, which is what we had already done. On top of that, my mom looked into the procedure we'd be doing if we did Lasik and it is risky. No one wants to do anything or they just keep telling us to go talk to the person we already talked to.
Because of this, I started looking into people with ROP and what they did. The answers I found were either surgeries I have already had done, Lasik, or get a seeing eye dog. I have been researching the service dogs and guide dogs since April and contacted a few trainers here in Arizona who have given a rough estimate of anywhere between $2,000-$20,000 to train one.
I also emailed Seeing Eye angencies and found I cannot get a dog from them as I am not legally blind and I am not on disability yet.
When I started looking at breeds commonly used as Seeing Eye SDs, saw the top three breeds are German Shepherd, Golden Retrievers and Labradors. I started talking to Michael at the Prescott K9 Academy . He has given me information to ask breeders to ensure the dog I get will be the best fit. We met up and he showed me two Shepherds with very different drive levels and then showed me a Labrador and both me and my mom have decided to go with a Lab.
The cost of getting a puppy is around $2,000 for a high quailty Lab. Training will cost $10,000.
Any donations will be a great help, as well as promotions. If you have any resources you'd like to send to me to help out, you can email me at [email redacted]
You can see where are currently in the Updates tab.
For more information about ROP, please read here.
UPDATE DEC 1 2017
I have brought my puppy home! His name is Axel!
For updates and information on training costs, please read the updates.
In Janurary of 2017, I went for my check up with my eye doctor and found my eyesight got worse than it had since my last vsit in 2015. This means that the ROP is not regressing. I am now somewhere between stages 3 and 4 of it (you can click the link at the bottom of this description for more information about my condition and details on these stages). My prescription for glasses went a lot higher.
UPDATE DEC 1 2017
I went back in September of this year and I already need a higher prescription.
Our next step after the check up was to see a retinal specialist as I don't want to be as reliant on my glasses and I wanted to see if there are any procedures I could have done to make that happen. When we went in to talk to the one we found, he told us to find a Lasik surgeon It's been months since we went and saw him and we've been calling multiple Lasik places who either say no, they do not treat ROP or to go and see a retinal specialist, which is what we had already done. On top of that, my mom looked into the procedure we'd be doing if we did Lasik and it is risky. No one wants to do anything or they just keep telling us to go talk to the person we already talked to.
Because of this, I started looking into people with ROP and what they did. The answers I found were either surgeries I have already had done, Lasik, or get a seeing eye dog. I have been researching the service dogs and guide dogs since April and contacted a few trainers here in Arizona who have given a rough estimate of anywhere between $2,000-$20,000 to train one.
I also emailed Seeing Eye angencies and found I cannot get a dog from them as I am not legally blind and I am not on disability yet.
When I started looking at breeds commonly used as Seeing Eye SDs, saw the top three breeds are German Shepherd, Golden Retrievers and Labradors. I started talking to Michael at the Prescott K9 Academy . He has given me information to ask breeders to ensure the dog I get will be the best fit. We met up and he showed me two Shepherds with very different drive levels and then showed me a Labrador and both me and my mom have decided to go with a Lab.
The cost of getting a puppy is around $2,000 for a high quailty Lab. Training will cost $10,000.
Any donations will be a great help, as well as promotions. If you have any resources you'd like to send to me to help out, you can email me at [email redacted]
You can see where are currently in the Updates tab.
For more information about ROP, please read here.
UPDATE DEC 1 2017
I have brought my puppy home! His name is Axel!
For updates and information on training costs, please read the updates.
Organizer
Lacey Sager
Organizer
Phoenix, AZ