My beautiful daughter's name is Ginny. She is 46 years old and a mom of 3 precious girls (ages 12,10, & 8). Her story starts two years ago when she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. In addition to her MS, this past November, she passed out and ended up with TBI and was recently diagnosed with Dysautonomia (which is a dysregulation in the autonomic nervous system) and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, also known as POTS (This causes a significant (above 20 bpm) change in heart rate upon changes in position, such as sitting to standing.)

Her symptoms have been worsening over time. Between these three issues affecting all the systems in her body, every day feels like different challenge arises, from extreme dizziness and fatigue to joint injuries and chronic pain. Most days she unable to do basic tasks like bending over to pick things up, showering or washing her own hair, or walking very far without having to sit down, let alone work and drive. This means that she is currently very dependent on her family to help with her ever-changing needs, which is extremely taxing on us all.

A mobility service dog will provide her with the help and independence that she needs. The dog will be trained to perform tasks like helping her stand up, providing stability and bracing when she gets dizzy. It will also be trained in picking up objects she drops but most importantly the dog would alert her when her heart rate gets too high or low and she is about to faint. The dog will signal her to sit down and will stay with her until she wakes up. This will not only help her gain independence and functionality but also ease the caregiving burden on the family.

The downside is that training a service dog is very expensive. The cost of training a service dog is anywhere between $15-$35k. She is not able to work right now due to this illness so fundraising and asking for donations one of the options she had to help with this expense.

She is very blessed because she recently found a dog that fits her medical and mobility needs. He is currently staying with the trainer for now until he is officially a service dog in training and will start to go places with her. The funds raised will go towards all training the dog.

Thank you for taking the time to read her story and for considering a donation to help Ginny with a service dog.

For those of you that do not know what POTS and Dysautonomia are, here is a list of a few things Ginny deals with to give you a better understanding of what her life is like. Most of these symptoms she has every day and all day. The severeness changes day to day and sometimes hour to hour.

Heart racing

Low heart rate

Low blood pressure

Dizziness

Passing out - syncope or pre-syncope

Nausea and vomiting

Numbness and tingling

Headaches/migraines

Severe generalized pain

Stomach cramping

Blood pooling

Severe brain fog

Severe fatigue

Insomnia

Temperature dysregulation and temperature intolerance

Joint pain

Hyper-mobility, subluxation and dislocation

Vision issues