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Service Dog for Collier

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Collier was born 8/8/2016 premature, but otherwise seemingly perfectly healthy. He was never admitted to the NICU and we were able to bring our precious baby home from the hospital just after 4 days.

The first time our child got sick was at 6 days old. We all just thought this was a normal ear infection and “bug”. This continued non stop for a year! At one and a half he started having high fevers every single night. These fevers weren’t your normal fever, but up to over 105 degrees! We spent countless hours in ERs being told nothing was wrong with our child.

December 2, 2018 is a date we will never forget. We took our child to see his first movie at the movie theater. This was an exciting time for us! After the movie he was having trouble walking. We brushed it off and said to ourselves “he did sit there a long time” and went on about our night.

That night he had his typical nightly fever (105) so we stayed up with him and it finally went down some and he was able to go to sleep. The next morning he wasn’t able to walk even worse than the night before. We called his pediatrician and were rushed to Baton’s Children’s Hospital in Jackson, MS.

When we arrived the doctors prepared us for the worst. They immediately believed that he had some form of cancer possibly in his spine. Our child went through extensive testing to find out that it wasn’t cancer at all. The team of doctors were all stumped of what it could possibly be. He was obviously in a lot of pain and very lethargic with very high fevers.

The team of doctors were ready to send us home with no answers until they decided there was one more doctor they could call for a consult. They contacted the Rheumatology team at Batons and they were there in no time.

The doctor came in to look at Collier and go over everything with us. He was very puzzled, but promised us that he would not let them send us home without an answer! This was amazing news, because we were feeling defeated at this point.

We prayed and prayed that Collier was going to be okay. By this time we had been admitted in the hospital for over two weeks with no idea what was wrong with our baby. A few days later the doctor came in and said he might have an idea of what it could be. He had a treatment plan, and if it worked in the slightest we were on the right path.

Our child was put on a very intensive regiment of steroids and penicillin. It was very tough to watch him sit there and go through that! After two more days he was finally getting a little better! Our prayers of answers from the team of doctors had been answered.

This was the day our child was diagnosed with SJIA (Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis). This is a disease that is very rare and the arthritis effects his entire body. This includes limbs and organs.

Little did we know the journey that we were embarking on. Collier has spent multiple nights in the hospital since his first long stay. He is on medications to help suppress his disease. He is on a daily injection medicine to control the fevers and arthritis.

Collier is non verbal and has been diagnosed developmental delays. He is the sweetest and most loving child you have ever met!!

We are raising money to get Collier a service dog! This will help Collier in more ways than you could imagine. The dog will help Collier with mobility, detection of flairs in his disease, emotional support, and many more things!

Collier getting a service dog would be a blessing for him. It would help him get through life a little easier! We would be able to attack his disease at first onset and hopefully stay out of the hospital as much as possible.

We ask you for your prayers for Collier first and most of all!

If you find it in your heart to donate to Collier’s service dog we would be more than grateful!

Any funds raised over our goal will go towards medical bills and other expenses!

We appreciate you taking the time to read about Collier’s journey! 

Donations 

  • Nichol Baird
    • $25
    • 5 yrs

Organizer

Laina Province
Organizer
Pearl, MS

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