Paws for Tanner

Joe Borges is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

This is Tanner Gracia and his grandfather, Paul. I wanted to start this campaign with this picture instead of words because I could type for years and never come up with more words than this picture speaks. This is the true definition of love. Tanner has never spoken a word in his life but these two communicate flawlessly every day. They are best friends.

Tanner is a young boy who will be 9 in September. He was diagnosed with Refractory Epilepsy at 2 ½ months old. He is also on the Autism spectrum, developmentally delayed and is non-verbal. Tanner loves music, The Trolls, Sing and Frozen movies. He loves going to his grandparents house, and he loves the sensation of wind blowing in his face.

This is Tanner and his mom, Amanda. This woman is amazing. Although she has great support from her family, she is in fact a single mom who is trying her absolute best to get it done. Tanner is her very soul and she always has and always will do whatever it takes to give her son the most comfortable and enjoyable life possible. That has never been a simple task.

He hasn't had it easy... In just the last 2 months he's been hospitalized 4 times, 2 of which required med flights. He's tried many different medications and alternative therapies with no success. His seizures come fast and hard and they are very unpredictable. He has had as many as 200 seizures in one day. 200. This is one of the sweetest little boys that I have ever met. It's completely heart-wrenching to know that he is living with this.

This is Tanner's grandmother, Kelley, trying to calm him after a seizure. A beautiful yet tragic moment captured as you can see the love in Kelley's face and the confusion and frustration in Tanner's. He has no idea what just happened to him or why he is restrained but just wants it to end.

Tanner's team feels he would benefit greatly from a Seizure Alert Service Dog - this would allow him to sleep in his own room, enjoy more independence and ease his families fears of him having a seizure that goes undetected or even worse that he stopped breathing. But that is not even close to what this family needs to improve Tanner's quality of life, care, and security. They need modifications to their vehicles, modifications to their home, emergency medical equipment, sophisticated monitoring equipment, ect. ect. The list goes on and on and medical insurance just doesn't cover much of it. I also take care of a handicapped brother and can testify that finding funds for these needs is near impossible. The family is working with a foundation and two fund raising events are planned for next month but they are expected to bring less than 1/3 of what is needed. The Service Dog alone is over $24,000.

Please consider donating what you can for this family. Spread the word. Share this on your social media pages. Every penny raised will go directly to the family to improve the quality of Tanner's life and to keep him as safe as possible. Thank you and God Bless.