Service Dog for disabled military family
Donation protected
Hello, my name is Caitlyn Lawrence. I am a military spouse, mother and living in constant pain with invisible disabilities. I am 35 and we have two young children, 9 and 5. Over a decade ago I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain illness that affects multiple systems. Symptoms include widespread musculoskeletal pain, cognitive impairment, digestive issues, fatigue, as well as nervous system impairment. Fibromyalgia pain in large muscles and joints is almost always present and fluctuates between lower levels easier to ignore and manage to "flares" that are completely debilitating. Managing fibromyalgia takes a lot of effort, time, energy and money. All to be only barely functional. Unfortunately I have also developed sciatica and arthritis in my knees and lower back.
I utilise many tools and other medical resources to be as functional as possible to help raise my children, take care of my family and support my husband as an enlisted member of the US Air Force. While I am not physically able to do half as much as an able bodied adult, I try my best to be a member of my community and provide my children with all the same opportunities to engage with school, activities, church, sports etc. All of these require energy consumption on my part and increase my pain levels. I still do my best to push on.
One of the most helpful tools has been having a service dog. In the past I had a golden retriever who was my fully trained psychiatric and mobility service dog. We had trained her ourselves before we had children. Unfortunately, she passed away November 2022 due to old age and developing seizures in her senior years.
We are now looking to get a new service dog to aide me once again. However fully trained service dogs from organizations are incredibly expensive. Ranging from $15,000 to $30,000 and often include a 2 year waitlist. That is not something we can afford so we are going to train the next one ourselves as well. Which is still quite expensive but more reasonable. First we must purchase a dog, but to be a service dog requires a specific temperament and type of dog. So we have to be quite picky when choosing a dog. The breeds we are looking at range from $2,000 to $5,000 for the dog. After acquiring a dog we also need to extensively train the dog. I have already found and lined up a trainer for this. Being that Service dog training includes obedience, public access training, as well as disability specific task training, the training will take a while and cost quite a bit more than regular family pet training. Obviously the level and length of training depends on each dog, as some will need to start at a lower level than others. We estimate based on the trainers rates that to get the full training we need will cost about $3,000 to $5,000. Which is quite a bit more affordable than going through an organization. The cost of a service dog is not something that insurance covers even though service dogs are considered medical equipment as far as public access rights are concerned.
We are asking for $6,000 in donations to help us acquire this long term necessary medical tool. A service dog can live and work for nearly the entire lifespan of the dog, 10-14 years. So it is quite an investment up front but the benefit lasts a long time. Having a service dog previously has allowed me to reduce pain and energy consumption as well as helped me to be better able to perform my own daily tasks. Some of the tasks we train the dog to do are: carry things, pick things up, use body heat when joints are flaring like a heating pad, bracing to help me stand, cleaning crumbs off the floor, pulling the laundry baskets, as well as tasks to aide depression and ADHD sensory overstimulation. The dog will be fully ADA compliant and qualify as a fully trained service dog by the end.
Thank you for anything that you can give to help me. Even if it's only $5. It helps so much and will greatly bless my life. I try to never ask others for help. But I am asking now. Being chronically ill is a financial burden on my family, just this once I would like to not have to have my family shoulder that entire burden. I truly appreciate you even just if all you do is share my campaign.
Fundraising team (2)
Caitlyn Lawrence
Organizer
New Hanover Township, NJ
Brian Lawrence
Team member