Sarah Farrell is a 7 year old girl who has autism, epilepsy and developmental delays.  She had her first seizure at 6 months old, and despite multiple trials of different medications she still suffers from seizures about every 3-4 weeks. She has also tried the ketogenic diet which is a strict high fat diet for seizure control with little success. She has been hospitalized many times for uncontrolled seizures and has had a vagus nerve stimulator implanted to help control them.  When she has a seizure she falls down abruptly without warning, stiffens up and her color  becomes pale.  She has sustained injuries due to her falling from these episodes.

She has limited speech due to her autism so she cannot tell us what the seizure feels like or when she feels like one may be coming on.  But hours before she has one she may get very cranky, irritable and cry a lot. She also has behavioral problems due to the autism and has tantrums and gets distracted easily. Her gait is unsteady due to poor muscle control and the medications she is on for her epilepsy.

As her mother, I have researched anything to make her and the rest of her family's lives easier. Sarah will be getting a service dog from East Coast Assistance Dogs this summer. www.ecad1.org.  This autism service dog will help her walk more steadily with a harness, and help prevent her from escaping from the confines of her home, another common trait with autistic children.  We are hoping that eventually the dog will learn to detect Sarah's seizures in advance and warn her caregivers  so that she can be safe.

A mother once said to me "I cannot imagine what it is like to worry about your child all the time". We are hoping that when Sarah finally gets her dog we can all live worry free.

The total cost of the dog is $6500.  We have already raised $1500.  Won't you kindly help and give to this great cause to help  make an innocent girl's life a little easier?

Our whole family and especially Sarah thanks you from the bottom of our hearts!