TOP SECRET - CANINE COMPANION FOR JOSIE

Hi Team Josie,

 

As many of you already know, Josie and family have been through a lot in the past 3 months. Full details can be found in the Caring Bridge site, but here is a quick synopsis for those new to the room.

 

In early July while celebrating her nephew's birthday, Josie began to have strange symptoms including vision changes, light headedness, dizziness and those all pre-empted a scary abnormal seizure and a trip to the hospital. After an MRI, they found a 19 mm brain tumor on the left parietal lobe that would require surgery. The surgery was a success, and the very experienced surgeon reported back that the tumor appeared benign from its physical appearance. Everyone was hopeful that we were nearing the finish line - but when the pathology came back from some of the world's leading specialists (Mayo, St. Jude, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centers, etc.), they determined that it is an aggressive, malignant brain cancer. She is currently about half way through 6 weeks of targeted proton radiation, and just began chemotherapy that will continue for the next 13 months. They are going after the cancer with everything they have to completely eliminate it - because if it comes back the prognosis isn't good.

 

The outpouring of love and support from family, friends and community over the past several months has been astounding. Many have asked, what can we do, how can we help, where can we donate - and we think we found the answer to that question.

 

Josie's lifelong dream has been to become a veterinarian. She has always loved animals - but especially loves dogs. After hard days of treatment, she's been finding comfort from a neighborhood dog that comes to visit, and you can see that it has a healing effect on her.

For a variety of reasons, getting a dog hasn't been in the cards in the Meyer household. Given the fact that we do not know how long we have left with Josie (we are trying to remain hopeful and positive that it will be a very long time), that stance is now going to change. 

 

The family is already inundated with daily trips to Mayo for radiation and chemo, as well as tired from the stress, work and everything going on in life - training a dog/puppy is not something they'll have the time/energy for. In addition, several family members have allergies, asthma and medical conditions that require us to find a dog that is hypo-allergenic. When searching for a fully trained, hypo-allergenic emotional support dog, we realized that it is very expensive. The training is by far the most expensive part - and that is what is needed to make this work.

 

https://www.prideandprejudoodles.com/training-program/

 

That's where Team Josie can help. Any money donated to this GoFundMe will help offset these costs.

 

We are starting the process of finding Josie a furry companion that she can have by her side now through hard times, and hopefully for many years to come. Studies have shown the great impact that animals can have on health outcomes, and we can't think of a better gift to Josie.

 

If you'd like to contribute to Josie and the family, I can promise you that this will be the most impactful thing Josie has ever experienced and seeing her happy is the most important thing to us.

 

Thank you all and please keep Josie and the rest of the family in your thoughts and prayers!

 

Love,

 

Josie and the Meyer Family

P.S. REMINDER - THIS IS A SECRET! PLEASE DON'T MENTION TO JOSIE, NOAH, OR THEIR FRIENDS :) Feel free to share on Facebook or directly with friends and family - she doesn't have any social media at this time.

P.P.S. We've already started the process of getting the fur-child and as soon as we have pictures, dates and details, we'll be posting them here and on the Caring Bridge site.