Help The Kindred System Get An Assistance Dog

Us (One of my littlies are fronting in the body) at a dinosaur exhibition

Hey everyone, my name is Kiana. I look like a normal girl, much like you or someone you know. I have a mum and a dad, and 3 brothers.

Unfortunately, I'm not a normal girl. I have Dissociative Identity Disorder, which many of you may recognise it better by its old name, Multiple Personality Disorder. This means that I am not just one person. There is a world of people inside of my brain, all carrying a shard of who I was meant to be. This makes living difficult sometimes. I was deemed unfit to work by a medical professional, as dangerous things started happening at work. I would lose time, and start wandering around, leaving work without telling anyone, and appearing in places that I don't remember getting to. Colour would drain from my face, and I would sometimes pass out. This caused many accidents at work, including falling down some stairs and having to go to the hospital to make sure I hadn't broken any ribs or given myself a concussion. This disorder means that my family have to keep an eye on me during the majority of their waking hours, to make sure something bad doesn't happen to me, or to make sure I don't get lost, as some of my alternate personalities do not understand that we can not just leave the house and not tell anyone where we are going. Sometimes, my parents, who have been happily married for over 20 years, can't even share a bed, as my mum has to sleep with me, to help wake me up from nightmares, or monitor me during a psychogenic seizure. I have very little independence in my life, meaning that I can not even shower safely alone. Most nights, my mum has to sit in her room while I have a shower in my parent's bathroom, just in case I pass out in the shower, or become light-headed and need help.

D.I.D also causes debilitating migraines, which often lead to me feeling drained, tired, and nauseous. Once again, this stops my family from being able to do things that other families can. It means plans often change at the last minute due to the way my body and mind work.

I also have Complex Post-traumatic stress disorder. This causes me to struggle daily, even in my own home. It causes me to suffer from two different kinds of insomnia, which often causes me to be more irritable due to lack of sleep. On the nights I do sleep, I tend to have nightmares that cause me to wake up in a panic, dripping in sweat. I experience flashbacks often, and sometimes completely shut down, becoming unresponsive to my family.

In Australia, It cost between $20,000 to $30,000 to acquire, vet assess, vaccinate, train, groom, and get the required equipment, bedding and toys for a puppy who will grow to become a service dog. In the First year of training it costs around $15,000, for everything a puppy neds, including vet treatments, training, assessments, accessories (like their training gear) and bedding,toys and food, for just the first year of their life.

My current Dog (shown in the photo), who is a family pet, has helped me so much in the last 12 years that she has been with my family. Unfortunately, she passed away a few months ago and we are still struggling with her loss.

I don't plan on adopting another dog to train as my assistance dog for a few months, as I am still grieving, but I am still saving as it does take time to save up. The adoption alone could cost nearly $4,000

An assistance dog will allow me to be more independent in my life. An assistance dog would be able to help me through panic attacks, flashbacks, and navigating fear-inducing situations and allow me to live a somewhat normal life.

A dog would be able to help my alternate personalities who are afraid of the dark by turning on lights for them and checking dark corners of the house to make sure they're safe. A dog would be able to alert my family to seizures or switching personalities and help me in public so that I can go out and do things that I need to do, reducing the need for my parents to watch me so closely

I am trying to sell products on my Facebook page and website, Kindred Spirit Craft, where some of the profits from those sales go towards saving up for an assistance dog. My family are also helping in any way that they can, but this is a lot of money, and we know that realistically, we can't afford it all at once.

Here is the link to the craft website

http://kindred-spirit-craft.square.site/

Here is a link to our other business, Just Breathe Body and Bubbles, our soap making business.

https://justbreathebodyandbubbles.square.site/

I will be posting on a blog page, or a Facebook page, all of the updates about my assistance dog, including how much we have raised, how my current dog's health is going, and when the time is right, the raising of an assistance dog, plus training and all other things I think you would enjoy.

I know I am asking a lot, and I struggle to reach out and ask for help, much like we all do, but I want to live a life that is as normal as possible. The trauma I experienced as a child caused a lot of the problems I face today, and although I can't change my dark past, I am trying to make sure I have a bright future and some independence.

Any help would be much appreciated. A donation, even a small one of just a few cents, could go a long way to help us live a functional life.

Proper breakdown of costs for one (1) year (Approximate)

Adoption - Up to $1500 - $6000 MAX

Pet Health Insurance - $1400 - $2000 MAX

Vet bills, vaccination, spay/nueter, worming, flea control etc. - $750 - $1500

Training with AD trainer (once a week MINIMUM) - $11,400

Training equipment - $300

Assesments - $200

Total (Minimum) - $15,550

Photo 1 - (People from Left to Right) My Dad, My mum, and Me, on my 18th birthday

Photo 2 - (People from Left To Right) My Youngest Brother, My Oldest Brother, My Sister In Law, My Middle Brother, and Me, enjoying a swim.