Service Dog for Noelle

Noelle needs a service dog and we need your help to meet this need.  To help her with mobility, anxiety disorder, and other deficits stemming from EDS, her dad (Josh) and I are in the process of helping Noelle train a mobility and medical response service dog and we need your help.  Here is Noelle story....

I'm the proud mom of  Noelle Thompson.  Noelle is your typical teenager in that she listens to music all the time, likes to have colored hair, and loves hanging with her friends.  However, she is not like your typical teenager because Noelle has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) which is a connective tissue disease. We have connective tissue in all parts of our bodies.  EDS has affected Noelle in many ways, from hearing loss to joint subluxes (pops partially out) and everywhere in between.  These issues sometimes require that Noelle needs crutches or a wheel chair to get around sometimes because her joints are very unstable, which in turn increases the anxiety she has dealt with for several years. 



Why a Service Dog?
We have always teased Noelle that she inherited the "klutz" gene from me.  Little did we know, there was a reason for all of her falls and injuries.
After a lot searching, God arranged Noelle to meet with a pediatric clinical geneticist who diagnosed her with  Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) .  This is a genetic  disease of the connective tissue.  Since connective tissue  is in almost every area of the body, it can cause a wide range of  issues.  Noelle's main symptom is her constant pain in her joints and muscles, and she has other issues like hearing loss, migraines, dizziness, digestive issues, etc.   Her panic and anxiety attacks are also a symptom of EDS.  Unfortunately there is not cure for EDS, but Noelle is working with a good team of doctors to treat the symptoms.  Noelle also has  Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) which is common in EDS patients. In a real quick explanation, when Noelle changes positions like sitting and rising to a stand, her heart rate goes way up and her blood pressure drops low which causes her to be very dizzy.   This is one of the places her service dog, Smokey, will be trained to step in and help.

This service dog will assist Noelle in her daily living.  The dog would assist her when she gets up, push handicap door buttons when she is in her wheelchair, get things for her like her crutch or cane, get help when she falls, notify her if she can't hear an alarm, help settle her when she has a panic attack, and other tasks. 

A service dog will give her the confidence to be more independent as she finishes high school and goes to college.  

The cost of a service dog.
It was recommended a few years ago that Noelle would benefit from a psychiatric service dog, but the cost is so high we did not pursue it.  After a lot of praying , and since her EDS has progressed to the instability she has now, we decided now is the time and we are trusting God will provide the funds.

After much research and praying, we have teamed up with Scouts Legacy Service Dog Training . They have helped us find a wonderful puppy for Noelle that we will train through the Scouts Legacy program.  The director of Scouts Legacy has the same disability as Noelle and has trained her own service dogs.  She knows exactly what Noelle is going through knows what training would be best for her.  God answered that prayer!  Scouts Legacy has a program that enables Noelle to be involved in training her dog.  So the costs involved are on the lower end of the service dog spectrum.  Through the help of generous GoFundMe supporters, Noelle has a Service Dog in Training (SDiT) puppy named Smokey, but the work is far from over.  We are now raising funds for the Scouts Legacy training program fees and Vet fees.


We really need your help.