A Break for Mom and Dad!

Thanks for a couple sets of very good friends, Dawsyn's Mom and Dad got to spend some time together without the kidlets this weekend!  Eureka, what excitement!!

Another couple asked Mom and Dad to join them at a seminar called LAUGH YOUR WAY TO A BETTER MARRIAGE.  And laugh we did.  The speaker, Mark Gungor, has a true gifting for telling it like it is and keeping you in stitches all at the same time.  All Friday evening and Saturday morning we laughed and learned and laughed and learned and laughed.  I highly recommend a visit to www.laughyourway.com.

Another couple offered to keep the kidlets over night as well so we didn't have to rush home in between the Friday and Saturday sessions.  Brother is quite easy to have around but any friend who offers to keep Dawsyn over night is a true friend indeed!  Thank you so much I&Z!!  

Now we're back to "normal".  Dad is home after a week long road trip and our days will be full of work and fund-raising plans and our evening will be full of baseball practices and fund-raising plans!   And so will be our lives for the next few weeks and months until we can move on to the next step in our Assistance Dog aquisition.  

Thank you, thank you for your interest in our journey.  I am so excited to have you all along for the ride!

For those of you who have asked about how to go about donating towards Dawsyn's Seizure Assistance Dog, please do not send any money to us.  Rather, either send a cheque directly to 4 Paws for Ability, 253 Dayton Avenue, Xenia, Ohio   45385   or you can donate online by going to www.4pawsforability.org.  Either way, please indicate that your donation is specifically for Dawsyn Harke so that we get credit for the fundraising.  Thank you so much!

About 4 Paws for Ability

Mission & Goals. The stated mission of 4 Paws 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, regardless of age and severity of disability. In doing so, they will also reduce the number of unwanted ani­mals who would otherwise be de­stroyed by obtaining the majority of their animals from shelters and rescue groups.

The Placement Process. Most service dog placement organizations have a waiting list of at least 2 to 5 years. These service dogs, with their specialized training, are costly to train, some costing up to $26,000, and most organizations rely on a single person, or small group of people, doing the fundrais­ing. Because the amount of funds they are able to raise is limited, they can only offer a certain number of dogs each year. At 4 Paws, the money doesn’t come out of the recipient’s pocket, either. What they have done is to create a fundraising requirement. They form a working relationship with re­cipients and their families to have them raise money for 4 Paws, so the waiting list is only as long as it takes the person to complete their fundraising requirement.

4 Paws was the first agency to begin placing skilled autism service dogs and continues to be the largest organization in the United States placing autism assistance dogs with tracking. This continues to be the most often placed type of service dog, with well over 100 placed thus far. 4 Paws trains several other types of service dogs, as well.

Hearing Service Dogs. Dogs are trained to alert their teammates to sounds such as smoke alarm, doorbell, or alarm clock.

Mobility Assistance Dogs. Mobility Assis­tance Dogs increase the independence of a person with limited mobility. They perform tasks such as retrieving dropped items and opening doors.

Seizure Service Dogs. A Seizure Service Dog will provide support for the child be­fore, during and after a seizure, as well as easing their medical appointments and treatments. Some of these dogs can be helped to learn to alert their family when the child is about to have a seizure.

In-Home Companion Dogs. These dogs are trained to meet the needs of the child as in any of the other types of training programs. The only difference is that the dog is not certified to work in public, most likely because the dog does not work well in a public setting. These dogs cost less than the other types of service dogs, and are not subject to “pet” regulations, such as apartments with a “no pet” policy.

Multipurpose Dogs. While some children are clearly suited to one specific type of service dog, there are many with multiple issues, or with diagnoses that do not seem to be addressed directly in the typical ser­vice dog categories. 4 Paws will develop a training program specifically tailored to meet the needs of these children.

All of these dogs also provide their owners with a constant companion and a special bond of friendship. They build a bridge be­tween children with disabilities and their peers.

 

For more information or to donate, please contact:

4 Paws for Ability

253 Dayton Ave.

Xenia, Ohio  45385

Phone: (937) 374-0385

On the Web:  4pawsforability.org

If you would like to help Dawsyn, please note that the donation is “In Honor of Dawsyn Harke” so that the family is given credit for their volunteer work.

My daughter, Dawsyn, suffers from a rare form of epilepsy called Dravet's Syndrome (Severe Myoclonic Epilepsy of Infancy). 

Dawsyn's story began on February 15, 2002, when she was 6 months old. Less than 24 hours after receiving her DPT vaccination, Dawsyn suffered her first seizure (30 minutes long). Doctors thought it was probably a one-time occurrence caused by the vaccination. Two months later, on April 15 and 16, Dawsyn had two more seizures (one was 30 minutes, the other 45 minutes). We knew then that something was terribly wrong and began the long journey towards diagnosis. Finally, in July of 2003 it was confirmed that Dawsyn had Dravet's Syndrome. We were told that she would continue to deteriorate physically and mentally until about 4 years old when things would level off. We were naturally devastated. (NOTE: the prognosis for Dravet's children is different now than believed back in 2003 but continues to be an incurable disease that cripples mind and body.)

Dawsyn did not follow the prognosis we were given and actually did very well for the following two years. She continue to have seizures but they were much shorter (seconds to minutes rather than half hour+) and occurred in clusters every 1-3 months. Despite that, Dawsyn continued to learn and develop like every other child. We were thrilled.

In January of 2006, we moved from Lethbridge to Didsbury. We don't know if it was the stress of the move or "something in the air" here in Didsbury, but Dawsyn immediately took a turn for the worse. For a year, we were frequent flyers at the local emergency room as well as at Alberta Children's Hospital. Dawsyn would have seizures that just wouldn't stop. In April of 2006, we almost lost her because she had received so many meds to stop the seizure that it shut down her respiratory system.  We gained better control over the length of her seizures but the numbers and frequency remained alarming.  Dawsyn was having 1 to 12 seizures every 24 hours, usually during the night. In January 2009, Dawsyn started receiving monthly intravenous treatments that have helped cut her seizures down to 3-4 every week.  

Despite the rough time she’s had, Dawsyn continues to learn and grow. She loves school and works hard on her modified curriculum.   She is classified as profoundly delayed academically, socially and physically but we continue to work hard with her and she continues to progress. 

We truly believe that Dawsyn will be healed of this incurable disease and rely on God for the wisdom and strength we need to carry on through the journey. 

Because this disease is so rare, research is slow (we don't get the big funding grants like cancer and AIDS) so the families with children with Dravet's have formed an alliance for public education and fund raising. Please go to www.idea-league.org to learn more.

Dawsyn has just recently been approved to receive a Seizure Alert Assistance Dog from 4 Paws for Ability.  We are currently working towards raising the $13,000 required to train her Service Dog.  For more information about 4 Paws, please visit www.4pawsforability.org.