Please help Rinnie get a service dog!

Joy has always been one of the first things that you think about when you think of 12-year-old Rinnie Pegg. To know her is to love her. Rinnie is the example of what it means to be resilient. Rinnie was born with a genetic disease that causes tumors on her major organs. She has spent her entire life traveling around the country, finding the best specialists available to help her continue to fight this disease. Rinnie is anticipating her 3rd brain surgery soon and is just beginning a new treatment to shrink the tumor in her brain that has caused her to have intractable (drug resistant) epilepsy. Her family has been told that they

need to focus on seizure reduction but will likely never achieve seizure freedom.

Since June, Rinnie’s seizures have grown dramatically worse, resulting in many trips to the emergency room via ambulance due to 2+ hour status epilepticus regardless of maxing out on 3 different anticonvulsant medicines.

Last Monday evening, while her mother was at a teacher’s meeting at school, Rinnie suffered another seizure. She was in the family room downstairs when it occurred and she then ventured out to find her mother. They are very close and, for whatever reason, Rinnie thought she could walk to school and see her. She left out the basement door without telling anyone in the home. Within minutes, her disappearance was

noted and the search expanded from the family searching the home to neighbors searching the

neighborhood and, ultimately, to police and fire personnel along with hundreds and hundreds of loving and concerned citizens in the community responding to a broadcasted Amber alert. Some three hours later, Rinnie was found wandering, scared and confused close to her old elementary school.

This GoFundMe is for a seizure dog for Rinnie that she needs in order to stay safe. This GoFundMe is to allow Rinnie to achieve some version of independence that she is so desperate for at this age. This GoFundMe is to allow her family’s minds to rest. A service dog has been discussed for many years but ultimately dismissed due to the astronomical costs associated with bringing this caliber dog into your home. These dogs are trained to alert when the person is about to experience a seizure and immediately seek help.

They will remain with the person, not leaving his/her side. With all that she has experienced in her short life, Rinnie’s resilience is amazing and her outlook remarkable. As she grows older, she desperately wants the same freedoms of any other 12-year-old girl. She wants to hang out with friends. She wants to sleep in her own bed. This dog would be a gift to this deserving child. We would all appreciate any support that you are able to offer.