Service Dog for Quintin
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I'm starting a campaign to help raise money for a service dog for my son Quintin. I'm going to my best to explain things the best as I can.
Quintin has recently been diagnosed with epilepsy as of January 2nd 2019. Quintin's seizures started in October 2018 after a bad bout of pneumonia. Literally a few hours after coming home from Sparrow Hospital after a 4 day stay, Quintin had his first seizure. While in the hospital being admitted, Quintin had another seizure. Technically it doesn't count as a second seizure because both seizures were in the same 12 hour period. During our hospital stay we were referred to MSU Pediatric Neurologist. Quintin was started on Keppra, to help try maintain the seizures. During this time all the testing came back clean or normal. MRIs, CT scans, EEGs, EKGS, echocardiograms, lab work. Very frustrating. At first it was believed that the seizures where a results of veso vego syndrome, his pneumonia, and the various medications he was on. After being home a few days, Quintin had his third seizure while his Grandmothers house recovering. Quintin had a fourth seizure during November when was heading out to scout for deer with my father. During the excitement of getting ready, Quintin's medications were left behind. At that time we believed that seizure was a result of missing a dosage. After meeting with MSU Pediatric Neurology stated that the only way to tell if it was veso vego syndrome or heredity causing the seizures, Quintin would need to be weaned off his medication, in the time if Quintin had a seizure, it would lead away from veso vego syndrome and more towards the hereditary epilepsy. We got through all of December with no seizures. January 2nd 2019, Quintin had his fifth seizure. He had just taken his medicine, went down to his bedroom and starting seizing. We took him to ER and was to increase his dosage of Keppra. Quintin had another appointment with the Neurologist. My husband was told at that time that if Quintin had another seizure, that we would need to increase the Keppra, look into the need to add another epilepsy medication to help maintain the seizures and do a 72 EEG. The problem with EEGs, they are more helpful in the moment of a seizure of while a person is having one. In Quintin's case so far, when he's had EEGs, he has never had a seizure.
Quintin's seizures are generalized seizures. When he has a seizure, he clenches his teeth, his whole body stiffens, convulses and makes noises. The very first seizure was in the shower. Quintin had went from completely standing straight up to falling forward into the tub. He just missed the edge of the tub and faucet thankfully. I was very familiar with what was happening as my mother also epilepsy. I grew up seeing this activity. Each seizure after that, was trying to stay calm and walking people through what needed to be done while on my way to get him. This last seizure yesterday, January 22nd 2019, by far has been the worst and defiantly opened our eyes on the need for a service dog. Quintin was in the shower and fell from a bent positing to face first on the tile floor in the bathroom. Each time Quintin has a seizure, they get worse. Both my husband and I work full time and parent full time. We need help with Quintin and service dog was offered as an option for him. This is something we need immediately as neither of us can afford to quit our jobs. As you can imagine, we've racked up quite a few medical bills.
After family sending us different places that offer service dogs and doing our own research, we've come to the realization that we need a service dog to try and help detect when Quintin's seizures are coming, giving him time to find a safe place to lie down and to help him to come around after his seizures. A service dog costs anywhere between $15,000 and $50,000 This cost covers the dog and the training. The particular dog chosen for Quintin would be trained specifically for Quintin's illness. As far as we've been able to find, this is not a covered benefit under anyone's insurance plans. Anything that could be contributed would be very much appreciated and we will forever grateful.
Quintin has recently been diagnosed with epilepsy as of January 2nd 2019. Quintin's seizures started in October 2018 after a bad bout of pneumonia. Literally a few hours after coming home from Sparrow Hospital after a 4 day stay, Quintin had his first seizure. While in the hospital being admitted, Quintin had another seizure. Technically it doesn't count as a second seizure because both seizures were in the same 12 hour period. During our hospital stay we were referred to MSU Pediatric Neurologist. Quintin was started on Keppra, to help try maintain the seizures. During this time all the testing came back clean or normal. MRIs, CT scans, EEGs, EKGS, echocardiograms, lab work. Very frustrating. At first it was believed that the seizures where a results of veso vego syndrome, his pneumonia, and the various medications he was on. After being home a few days, Quintin had his third seizure while his Grandmothers house recovering. Quintin had a fourth seizure during November when was heading out to scout for deer with my father. During the excitement of getting ready, Quintin's medications were left behind. At that time we believed that seizure was a result of missing a dosage. After meeting with MSU Pediatric Neurology stated that the only way to tell if it was veso vego syndrome or heredity causing the seizures, Quintin would need to be weaned off his medication, in the time if Quintin had a seizure, it would lead away from veso vego syndrome and more towards the hereditary epilepsy. We got through all of December with no seizures. January 2nd 2019, Quintin had his fifth seizure. He had just taken his medicine, went down to his bedroom and starting seizing. We took him to ER and was to increase his dosage of Keppra. Quintin had another appointment with the Neurologist. My husband was told at that time that if Quintin had another seizure, that we would need to increase the Keppra, look into the need to add another epilepsy medication to help maintain the seizures and do a 72 EEG. The problem with EEGs, they are more helpful in the moment of a seizure of while a person is having one. In Quintin's case so far, when he's had EEGs, he has never had a seizure.
Quintin's seizures are generalized seizures. When he has a seizure, he clenches his teeth, his whole body stiffens, convulses and makes noises. The very first seizure was in the shower. Quintin had went from completely standing straight up to falling forward into the tub. He just missed the edge of the tub and faucet thankfully. I was very familiar with what was happening as my mother also epilepsy. I grew up seeing this activity. Each seizure after that, was trying to stay calm and walking people through what needed to be done while on my way to get him. This last seizure yesterday, January 22nd 2019, by far has been the worst and defiantly opened our eyes on the need for a service dog. Quintin was in the shower and fell from a bent positing to face first on the tile floor in the bathroom. Each time Quintin has a seizure, they get worse. Both my husband and I work full time and parent full time. We need help with Quintin and service dog was offered as an option for him. This is something we need immediately as neither of us can afford to quit our jobs. As you can imagine, we've racked up quite a few medical bills.
After family sending us different places that offer service dogs and doing our own research, we've come to the realization that we need a service dog to try and help detect when Quintin's seizures are coming, giving him time to find a safe place to lie down and to help him to come around after his seizures. A service dog costs anywhere between $15,000 and $50,000 This cost covers the dog and the training. The particular dog chosen for Quintin would be trained specifically for Quintin's illness. As far as we've been able to find, this is not a covered benefit under anyone's insurance plans. Anything that could be contributed would be very much appreciated and we will forever grateful.
Organizer
Brandy Bradley
Organizer
Owosso, MI
