Paws for Jack
A nonprofit fundraiser supporting
4 Paws for Ability Inc$17,000
raised by 139 people
$17,000 goal
Fundraising for the dog is complete!
We are officially in the first class of 2021! What does this mean? We have completed fundraising and are now officially waiting for our service dog. YAY! We won't have an exact date until the beginning of 2020, about a year before we go. It will be sometime between January - March and Jack is very excited that we might see snow when we are there. Thank you all so much for helping us reach our goal so quickly (Only 7 weeks, it takes most families an average of 6 months) so that we can get Jack his service dog. I know we have what seems like a long wait but time usually flies.
We may do a small fundraiser for travel expenses as we get closer, but more on that later.
Jack is a vivacious 9-year-old boy who loves to make people laugh and try new things. If you met Jack on the playground you probably wouldn't guess that he was handed the short end of the stick when it came to life because he handles it all with so much grace and ease. Jack was born with a rare genetic disease called Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC for short) that causes benign tumors to grow in all major organs. He currently has a very small brain tumor, 4 heart tumors, and most recently eye tumors have been added to the list of thing we have to be concerned about and monitor. But TSC is primarily a brain disease, and intractable epilepsy is the game it likes to play along with a host of developmental diagnoses. We are hoping that a service dog will help Jack manage a few of those diagnoses better when he is away from us and at school.
For example, he sometimes gets worked up and over stimulated and when that happens at home he can escape to the quiet of his room, but he doesn't have that at school. But a service dog can provide some deep pressure or nuzzle him to provide some comfort. Many of you know that Jack had life changing brain surgery when he was 2.5 and that changed the direction of his life. But when you have part of your brain surgically removed, you don’t ever get to lead a “typical” life after that and he will always have special medical needs and a service dog can help him be more independent. The dog can help keep him safe in parking lots because he is unaware of where his body is in space and sometimes unintentionally wonders into traffic.
The dog will also be specifically trained to alert us to Jack's seizures and the hope is that he can eventually have his own room as he becomes a teenager. Really, what teenage boy wants to share a room with his sister? But that is how we have them right now because little sister can tell us if he is seizing at night. But if he has a seizure alert dog who is specifically trained to come a get us if he is seizing then he can be on his own and that takes the responsibility off of little sisters too. And they are phenomenal little sisters! Maggie has already been hard at work selling lemonade and cookies to raise money for Jack’s service dog!
We have a long way to go, and anything can help!Thank you very much for your contribution!