Andrew's Hope: Struggles

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Struggles

We have been lucky enough to have Carina in our lives for 3 years now. Andrew and Carina are best friends. They go everywhere together, even school. That has not come easy though. We had to fight the school from November 2010 until July of 2010 just to get her in the door. They were unwilling to let a service dog in, which is against the law. The school continued to make things very difficult for Andrew and Carina to remain in school. We have gone as far as getting the Office of Civil Rights involved. We continue the battle and are now sending Carina back to 4 Paws in hopes to make our lives easier with the school. We asre hoping that by having Andrew tethered to Carina we can keep Andrew safe, yet we will not have to pay for someone to hold Carina's leash at school. We have absorbed this cost for the last 3 years.

We struggle to keep all Andrew's medical issues and school issue on track and organized. Then on August 23, 2013 I lost my Dad after a long medical battle. Yet, the school still persisted with all there issues surrounding Andrew's education and Carina being in the school. Andrew broke his heel and needed a cast. We had to replace the cast twice in 3 1/2 weeks. Andrew's seizures got worse due to the fracture and his pain. It was like the school took advantage of me being in a tough spot emotionally and physically.

It has only been 2 months since my Dad had died and I keep wanting to call and talk woth him about my struggles with Andrew's school. I hope that others can learn from this and truely stop and think before they judge. EMPATHY is a wonderful thing..........some people just forget what it is.

Please consider donating to help fund the trip back to Xenia to get Andrew's best friend, Carina.

2 comments:

NancyNovember 15, 2013 at 12:09 PM
Jamie, can you share with us how much you need to raise for Carina's travel to Ohio and her specialized tether training? I know you will also need to drive four of you to Ohio for a few days to go through Carina's training at 4 Paws For Ability, and then drive back to New Hampshire. Just the driving is a. Ig expense...can we all say GAS PRICES?! So please let us know both on Andrew's blog (http://www.andrewshope.blogspot.com/) and on your Facebook what your goals are, how we can get money to you, and how checks should be made out. We need to get this appeal out NOW since Carina is already in Ohio for training. Love you bunches!
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andrewshopeNovember 15, 2013 at 6:59 PM
Nancy- Carina's flight to Ohio was $600 and 4 Paws fronted the cost and we will pay them when we get to Ohio. Allen guess's that the gas will be around $600 give or take. We will have hotel stay at about $150-200/night for 5 nights. We hope to get a deal with a hotel in Dayton and maybe the cost will decrease. We will have food expenses for 6 days. This is all an estimate.

Carina will be hooked to Andrew to help keep him safe around steps, doors and help keep him from taking off on adults at school. Carina will help to keep him safe. He can not go walk forward with out Carina moving. This will help keep him safe yet independent. Hope this helps.
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About Andrew

Andrew is a very handsome wonderful 6 year old boy. He gives us so much joy to have him in our life and, just like any parents, we want to do everything we can to make his life better.

Andrew has bilateral hearing loss and a difficult to control seizure disorder. Andrew also has a visual processing disorder which essentially makes him "blind". While he can visualize objects, he can not process and identify what he is seeing. On top of this, Andrew also has a swallowing disorder which makes it necessary for specialized feeding.

The seizures Andrew has been diagnosed with have also included Infantile Spasms, which is a very serious diagnosis in a child. Due to the severity and frequency of Andrew's seizures, he is termed as "Global Delay" because of the interruption they cause in his daily learning and processing of information. This is despite of being on multiple medications and therapies.

At 3 years of age, Andrew took his first steps. We are still waiting for the day he says his first word. Andrew has come a long ways in the last 3 years. Having Carina enhance her training to include tethering will be wonderful for Andrew. We have fought long and hard to get him walking, including fighting the school when they wanted to put him in a wheelchair. Andrew should be indepdendent as safely possible and noone should ever hold him back.

Carina has improved Andrew's long term quality of life by alerting and providing comfort before, during and after seizures. She can also help to be Andrew's eyes and ears and provide a much needed source of support and comfort to him as he meets the upcoming challenges in his life. We heard about a great organization that places highly trained dogs.

4 Paws for Ability is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping children and adults with disabilities. The dogs are specially chosen and trained specific to each individual's needs. Our previous fundraising was on behalf of 4 Paws For Ability in order to minimize the wait time and allow us to participate in the process of placing a dog with Andrew.

Why 4 Paws For Ability?

4 Paws For Ability specializes in training service dogs for children with special needs and has a very high success rate. We encourage you to visit their site at http://www.4pawsforability.org/ to learn more about this wonderful organization. 4 Paws For Ability is a 501(C) Non-Profit Agency and all donations are tax deductible. 4 Paws for Ability's mission is to "Enrich the lives of people with disabilities by the training and placement of service dogs to provide individuals with companionship and promote independent living." and "Assist with animal rescue whenever possible by obtaining many of our animals from shelters and rescue groups." Through a family friend, we heard of another family currently undergoing the training and placement process of a seizure response dog for their 4 year old daughter Caitlin. 4 Paws For Ability is very highly recommended and has placed over 500 service dogs!