Empower Lincoln with a Service Dog

TLDR:

Lincoln, born in 2020, faced challenges including seizures and developmental delays. Despite these obstacles, he has made tremendous progress. We are seeking a service dog to enhance Lincoln’s independence and provide support for his seizures and falls.

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Why do we need a service dog?

Getting Lincoln a service dog would be the most amazing blessing for our family. This dog would be able to open doors for Lincoln and retrieve any objects. The dog could help pull Lincoln’s wheelchair if he needs it to. They could alert us when Lincoln falls, which he does very often. This dog could also help alert us when Lincoln has a seizure, allowing us to give him help and rescue medications. By getting Lincoln a service dog, it is going to increase his independence. Lincoln will not need Mom, Dad, or another adult by his side to help him adapt to his environment. Now let me tell you about Lincoln.

Birth & NICU

Lincoln was born in August of 2020. Pregnancy went very smoothly, and there were no complications. When I was 39 weeks pregnant, my water broke. Jacob and I were excited to meet our baby boy. We grabbed our hospital bag and went to the hospital. Labor went great, and there were no signs that anything was wrong. Lincoln was born at 4:26 pm, and I will never forget them putting him on my belly for that half a second before they snatched him away. I thought he died. I asked so many times if my son had died. There was no crying, and there is no way to describe what his body felt like on mine besides dead. It is a feeling I will never forget. Thanks to the amazing Cleveland Clinic doctors, he didn’t, and 21 minutes later, they returned him to me. However, he was having these jerks that they couldn’t tell if it was a seizure or newborn jerks. The morning after he was born, he was sent to the NICU to figure out if they were seizures. The EEG confirmed they were seizures. The next morning, he was transported to Cleveland Clinic Main Campus because they could not stop his seizures. Thankfully, the seizures stopped a day later. Lincoln spent 21 days in the NICU.

First Hospital Stay After NICU

Lincoln’s doctors had us start in-home therapy as soon as we got home from the NICU. We were doing everything we could to help Lincoln, but he was unable to stay awake at all. We went to Lincoln’s pediatrician appointment for his 2-week checkup following his initial NICU discharge appointment. His doctor told me that Lincoln had gone 2 weeks without gaining any weight. She told us we needed to go straight to Cleveland Clinic Main Campus. Lincoln spent a few days in the hospital, but thankfully it was a much shorter stay.

Catching Up

After Lincoln’s second hospital stay, things finally started to get better. He was doing well in home therapy. In January of 2021, we transitioned to outpatient therapy, and it was during this time that Lincoln hit his first milestone late. He did not start rolling both ways until he was 5 months instead of 4 months. After this, each milestone became later and later. Lincoln was not able to sit independently until he was around one year old. He started to stand when he was around 16 months old. He did not start crawling until he was around 17 months old. Everything for Lincoln has always been a struggle, but he is such a determined boy that won’t give up.

Walking

On March 8th, 2022, Lincoln received a loaner walker from therapy while we were trying to get him his own walker. It was difficult for him at first, but he was so motivated to be active and move around. We took it to Target and had him use it every chance we got. It took us almost a year, but we finally got him his own walker on February 2nd, 2023. Since then, he has done amazing with his walker. He can walk around preschool with it. He takes his walker to parks. He can use it all around Target. He still gets tired, but he has made incredible progress using it.

Epilepsy Diagnosis

On July 24th, 2023, Lincoln had his first seizure since they stopped when he was a newborn. We had to call 911, and I went with him to the hospital. This seizure was a big one like before, and it lasted over 1 hour. He had an EEG, and it showed an increase in seizure-like activity. Lincoln had been off all seizure medication for a year, but we had to put him back on one. After that seizure in 2023, we were seizure-free for a while, but the summer of 2024 has been rough for Lincoln. In a month and a half, Lincoln has had 4 seizures. Lincoln has officially received an epilepsy diagnosis, and we have added additional medication. We know Lincoln though, and these seizures won’t stop him. He is such a hard worker, and he will do everything he needs to do. He won’t give up, and we won’t give up on him either.

Thank You

If you’ve made it this far, thank you. Thank you for caring enough about our child to read through this. $25,000 is a lot of money, but I know we can do it with the help and support of our community. Any amount that you can donate will help us. If you cannot donate anything, even sharing Lincoln’s GoFundMe will help.

From our family to yours, thank you!