4 Paws for Lorelai

Hello There! We are currently raising money for Lorelai to get an amazing autism service dog. When Lorelai was 14 months old we noticed that she wasn’t using her words like she had been previously, she stopped interacting with her family, and became very withdrawn. It was as if the lights were on but no one was home. After months of research and one month before her second birthday, Lorelai was diagnosed with autism .

Throughout the last year and half doctors have searched and searched for the reason that Lorelai hasn’t been able to retain language and why she continues to have waves of gains and regressions. From MRIs to EEGs to multiple blood tests her specialists weren’t able to find any answers. Finally, after seeing a geneticist and doing additional genetic testing we were told that Lorelai has a very rare genetic disorder called Phelan-McDermid Syndrome. This syndrome causes the brain to have trouble communicating with itself and in turn causes Lorelai to have trouble communicating with the world. One thing Lorelai doesn’t have trouble with is climbing or eloping. She’s been known to scale the backyard fence, run in to the road, and has even try to bolt out the front door when given the chance.

If Lorelai ever successfully escaped and the family wasn’t able get to her in time we wouldn’t be able to call out for her and she wouldn’t be able to respond. One of the amazing talents of the service dog would be to track and find her. It could also be tethered to her so that in public she has a solid, safe helper to keep her from eloping. This new addition to our family would not only give us a sense of peace and comfort but would create an additional bridge between Lorelai and the people around her.

We are going through an organization called 4 Paws for Ability. The average costs to breed, train, and raise a service dog is $40,000-$60,000 to perform these life saving takes. Our family is raising $12,000 of the total cost.