Sheldon’s Little Adventures

Hi my name is Sam and this is my dog Sheldon and this is our story.

Just over 12years ago I became very ill very quickly and only 18 months later I was given just 6 weeks to live. I caught a stomach virus which attacked my central nervous system causing it to fail, effecting most of my body. This is extremely rare, I have met others who have similar conditions but i’ve never met anyone who got ill through a simple stomach virus like myself.

I have gastroparesis, intestinal failure and an ileostomy, unable to eat/drink properly unable struggle to absorb anything orally.  I tried all the feeding tubes and nothing worked so I was eventually put on TPN - total parental nutrition, which is an intravenous form of feeding and given via a central line into your heart, via your blood stream and absorbed through your liver. A major complication of TPN is infection and I have had 13 line infections, 10 of which were sepsis. Not a day goes by without me being in never ending pain, always feeling and being sick.

Due to my nervous system dying off I have fowlers syndrome, my bladder is failing and I have to self catheterise. It has effected my whole body, suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome, peripheral neuropathy, fibromyalgia and other multiple chronic illnesses including clinical hypermobile elhers-danlos syndrome. Most recently, I am now loosing the feeling on my left side of my body and have been told it will eventually spread to my whole body if survive that long.

7 years ago my life changed and I got Sheldon. He is a mini labradoodle, the most loving and funny dog with a character you would never forget. He of course is my entire world and now my therapy dog, this is something I never trained him to be, it’s what he has picked up over the years with always being by my side. He can sense when I am going to pass out and has even got help when it was thought I was asleep one night, yet in fact I was unconscious from being septic. However, I did as a puppy train him that he is not allowed near my TPN and my central line. If his toy goes near it and I don’t realise he will sit and give you his paw to tell you, or if he wants cuddles he won't jump up until my line is covered. If he does catch my line by mistake, he actually gets very anxious as he knows he knows he is not meant too. I say to everyone that there is absolutely no way I would be here today without him.

Over the years I’ve had this idea of writing a children's story book, based around my chronic illness life, from certain illnesses and procedures, too hospital admissions and how Sheldon has got me through it. With suffering from such rare illness you do feel lonely and can sometimes feel like you’re going crazy. Being in hospital and terrified of what’s happening because you can just feel yourself slipping away, not just physically but mentally takes everything from you. The amount of time you spend being stuck in bed and missing out from life, its hard not too be depressed and not want too just give up. But when I look at Sheldon, I just know it’s going to be ok. And, I want to give that hope to anybody who feels like that, especially children. Life is so precious, nobody deserves to suffer or to have it taken away from them.

I has taken me a lot longer than I expected but, after months of writing I have finally finished my first book!

Except, there was far too much to fit into one book so Sheldon’s Little Adventures is now a collection of short stories I want to publish. I have finished the first book, nearly the second and will continue to write these short stories for as long as I am able too.

The money raised will be used to publish these books, turning the manuscripts I have into actual story books. I am not writing these stories for money, the dream would be able to have a book on each children’s wards and adult wards who also suffer from similar these illnesses. If a child has a parent or sibling that is suffering then Sheldon’s Little Adventures can also help other children understand how that person is feeling and what’s happening to them. I would also use some of the funds to purchase a laptop as I currently writing on my iPad which can be rather difficult.

Self publishing could be an option but for myself it isn’t suitable as I need help and guidance, Writing in itself is exhausting and very time consuming, so I need a publishing house to bring it all together, produce illustrations and do the marketing. Luckily I have already applied to various publishing houses and have had multiple offers, which is something I am very road of.

This April will actually be my 10 year anniversary of being on TPN (I never thought I would make it to 30 and I turn 33 this year) and to celebrate this I want to get Sheldon’s story out there. And this would probably never happen, but I would love to be able to take Sheldon into a children’s hospital so they can meet him in real life and we can tell our story together.

I set up a Instagram account called @sheldonslittleadventures for inspiration to start writing our story. I haven’t been as active recently due to my health declining but, please check it out and have a look.

Thankyou for taking the time to read this!

Sam & Sheldon x