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Your donation will support many children and
infants with seizure disabilities. Thank you
for your support!

Hi! My name is Michael. I am 9 years old. I started having seizures
when I was 3. Many times, I have fallen and hurt myself very badly.
I have to take lots of medicine several times a day. It helps but
hasn’t controlled my seizures. When I was five, my doctors put a
Vagus Nerve Stimulator in my neck. My parents can use the
magnet to stop grand mal seizures but, I have other types of
seizures including drops where I suddenly fall to the ground and
often hurt my face or head. When I was 8, the doctors did brain
surgery. They separated the two sides of my brain to keep seizures
from traveling from one side to the other part of my brain. It worked
really well, the drop seizures don’t happen nearly as often. One bad
thing happened during surgery; they accidentally knocked out one
of my permanent front teeth. I’ll have to wait until I’m much older to
get it fixed so, for now I have a pretend tooth.
I also still have two other types of seizures. The doctors say I have
Lennox Gasteau Syndrome which means my seizures will never go
away and might even get worse as I get older.
I would like a seizure alert dog to help me get into a safe place so
that I don’t get hurt when I have a seizure. I also would like to have a
dog to keep me company so that my mom and dad don’t feel like
they have to watch me all the time. Really, it would be nice if they’d
leave me alone sometimes.
I have an aide at school to help me catch up on school work that I
miss when I’m having seizures. It would be great if the dog were at
school too, then I might be allowed to play more on the playground.
Now, I sometimes have to sit on the bench and watch my friends
play. If the dog could let us know when I’m about to have a seizure,
maybe I’d be able to climb and run with the other kids the rest of the
time. Please help me get a dog so that I can have more freedom to
have fun!

Since 2003 Derrick has had numerous clusters of seizures ranging
from daily to monthly with no consistency to help with predictability.

Derrick always needs someone by his side to make sure he is safe,
but even with the best supervision there have been times when he
has suffered by falling down in the shower, going down the stairs,
and simply walking down a sidewalk.

Last May he was hospitalized due to the uncontrollable nature of his
seizures. He went under the care of a renowned Epileptologist who
explained that SUDEP (sudden unexplained death in epilepsy
patients) is a much higher risk than the possible side effects of the
new medicines which in themselves can cause death.

This is when his parents knew they needed an alternative. A seizure
assistance and alert dog would be able to warn Derrick before a
seizure occurs so he can take safety precautions, and can be
trained to go get help from other family members and even search
for and retrieve the phone in an emergency.

Not only will Derrick's dog offer this life-saving assistance, but will
give him fulfilling independence to live his life to the fullest.

Your help in receiving Derrick's service dog is truly a Godsend.
Thank you and God bless!

Help Support Children
who suffer from seizures today!