Mason running for Albies autism assistance dog

Hey everyone it’s mason, as many of you know I’m doing the Brighton Marathon in April I’ve been working extremely hard to make sure I can get across that finish line. I’ve been running every day every week getting those all important miles in whilst still being a dad a husband and working full time. I’ve been struggling to decide which charity to support as all are in need of the help. However my wife’s long time friend Nicola told us about there day to day struggle with albie and how they’re trying to raise £14,000 to be able to get an autism assistance dog. As a father myself it’s such a rewarding role but also extremely hard/ demanding one so if I can help in some way to make there family life that little bit easier running this marathon and Raising some money for them would be my honour.

here is some insight/information about albie and how they think this is going help him and them as a family. I just want to say thankyou to everyone for not only reading this but for your support and generous donations. Once the race is over I will be sending all of the funds I’ve raised to Nicola and hopefully this gets them one step closer to to there goal, love you all! Let’s go ‍♂️

A little bit of info about Albie and why we think an Autism Assistance Dog will really help him:

Albie is 6 years old. He was diagnosed with ‘severe’ Autism at 2 years old. He is cheeky, loving, adventurous and caring. He is pre verbal, which means he can’t always express himself and struggles to communicate which can cause a lot of frustration as he gets older. He processes the world around him differently to others which can be overwhelming and means he struggles with day to day life. He frequently experiences meltdowns and outbursts. There are parts of being a 6 year old boy that we’re sure Albie would love to do - clubs, shopping, cinema, parties, sports but the mix of anxiety, sensory processing issues and difficulty in communicating means he lives quite an isolated life at times and has to miss out on these things or has to work really hard to manage in these environments which often result in a meltdown.

An Autism Assistance Dog is highly trained to support an Autistic person through difficult situations, they offer companionship which boosts confidence and social skills, studies show they soothe meltdowns, aid with good sleep (something Albie struggles with when he is stressed). We have had some scary situations with Albie eloping. Eloping is when an Autistic person leaves the safety of their care givers without realising the danger. We’re hoping an Autism Assistance Dog will be an alarm in these situations and follow him.

Ultimately, Albie is growing up and inevitably needs some level of independence but also needs a lot of support so we feel this is the perfect way of giving him both of these things. And after some tough times, it’s something positive to work towards. All we want for Albie is for him to be happy and enjoy life :)