Help Unite Kalea & Gabriel

Hello! We are the Harris McMahon family and we are fundraising on behalf of Kalea, our daughter and Sonia and Koa’s sister. To help Kalea live her best life, we are working on purchasing a service dog for her. The cost of a service dog is substantial, approximately $25,000. We, her family, along with her various therapists and physicians, feel the benefits far outweigh the expense.

Kalea is a bright soul with a love for life and adventure. Kalea is also autistic with epilepsy, Duplicate 15q syndrome, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive tendencies. Due to her various diagnoses, Kalea struggles with communication, meltdowns, self-injurious and aggressive behaviors, elopement, sleep disturbances and seizures. We strongly believe a service dog will be a great tool to help Kalea navigate all facets of life.

A service dog would provide:

-a continuous calm presence

-behavior redirection

-deescalation and deep pressure therapy

-opportunities for social engagement

-communication enhancement

-comfort to assist with sleep

-tactile stimulation

-a response to seizures by preventing injuries and barking/alerting us when a seizure occurs

-and perhaps other ways Kalea’s interactions with the world will be positively altered.

Through a series of fortunate events, we have found a prospective match for Kalea. Gabriel is an English Cream Retriever who has completed his initial training and is looking for a child to serve. Gabriel is intelligent, active and loves the water. We could have Gabriel by late August for bonding, which would be followed by his intensive, Kalea-specific task training. Gabriel would be a certified service dog covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and would be able to accompany Kalea throughout life.

While some organizations provide service dogs, unfortunately, they are not taking applications or have a two to five-year waitlist. After much thought and consideration, we have decided to come to you, our village, seeking support. We acknowledge this is a huge goal to reach, however we believe this is meant to be. We ask that you please take a minute to share this post with anyone you can. Thank you for all your love and support.