Help Melissa Get Her Service Dog

Hello everyone, my name is Nancy, and I am Melissa’s mom. We are creating this GoFundMe in hopes of raising funds to help with the costs for Meli’s Medical Alert Dog. She has been approved and as soon as we place the $2,500 down payment, will be on the list to receive her dog in June 2026 from Domesti-PUPS

Meli is 13 years old, she was born at 37 weeks in February 2011, she was the most perfect 5lbs 8oz I could have imagined! For the first couple of years of her life, she would have MRI scans regularly given the circumference of her head was always on the smaller side. They were never able to pinpoint exactly why the reason for this was, but we were told we would follow up with it yearly. By the end of 2015 we started noticing her seizures. She would stare into space and be “out of it” multiple times a day, the scariest instance was when she was in her car seat and my husband looked at the rearview mirror and saw she was in a seizure with a massive bloody nose. It took her a good 10 minutes to come out of that one. Her pediatrician sent her for a STAT EEG and referred her to a pediatric neurologist. That EEG showed generalized seizure activity, meaning the seizures were happening in both parts of her brain; Meli was having over 100 seizures a day. This neurologist, who was the first available and why we went to him, misdiagnosed her with having Absence Seizures and placed her on Depakote and Depakene right away, and so this journey began. After more EEGs to check if the medication was controlling the seizures, we found that these medication alone were not helping. He placed her on another medication called Keppra on top of the ones she was already on.

Fast forward to July 2016, my mom gut just knew something was still not right. I did my research and switched Meli to her current neurologist, Dr. Coker. Dr. Coker sent Meli for another EEG and found that her seizures were not always generalized, they were at times only happening in half her brain. Melissa started having a different kind of seizure. These were scary seizures where she would feel impending doom and freak out and just start walking/running scared and confused. She would say phrases that just did not make sense like “The farmer black cat in the store I don’t know mom, wall yellow, I can’t, it’s going to because.” These episodes would break my heart into a million pieces because I did not know how to help her or how to make it better. Dr. Coker ordered a 48-hour EEG. He diagnosed her with Focal Epilepsy and Complex Partial Seizures. She was placed on Trileptal, which gave her a horrible allergic reaction and had to be stopped cold turkey. Back to square I don’t even know what number now! He then placed her on what he said was a great medication, but his last favorite choice for girls, given the not so nice side effects in the long run. That was why he was trying to avoid putting her back on it like her previous neurologist had done so. Meli was back on Depakote. Depakote did not control them all together, so he added a new medication to the cocktail, Lamictal. This was the best combination so far; she was having fewer and less seizures a day. Months later, they were not even showing on the EEGs anymore! Meli had a great run for a couple of years, only minor blanking out spells here and there which would only last seconds. She had the energy to join a multitude of sports like soccer, softball, basketball, cheer, escaramuza, volleyball. You name it, she was finally doing “normal kid things.” In junior high, her grades started going down dramatically. We met with the school and her amazing teachers; we came to an agreement to have her tested and placed her in an IEP. Her academic skills were that of a third grader, what Epilepsy has done to her brain is just heartbreaking.

This Summer 2024, as originally planned with Dr. Coker, we began weaning her off Depakote so she would only be on one medication, Lamictal. Depakote is the medication not recommended for the long run for girls given its side effects and fertility issues once they are ready to start a family. She started having daily headaches, progressively getting worse, we were having open communication with Dr. Coker and logging everything per his request. But of course, Epilepsy is an ever-changing disability. While weaning from Depakote, in August, Meli had her first Tonic-Clonic seizure. Thank God she was at the dentist, and we witnessed it with her. Meli’s whole body went stiff, her arms and fists by her chest stiffed up, she stared up at the ceiling with her eyes open and deviated to the left, and tears ran down her face. This seizure lasted about 4 minutes. Her neurologist got her in right away and said this had been a breakthrough seizure and the headaches were more than likely seizures trying to break through as well.

Mrs. Kargle, who is Meli’s Special Education teacher, has been her advocate at school, really her guardian angel. She would email me as much detail as she could, she asked the other teachers to start logging everything they noticed with Melissa’s seizure activity. We brought all this to Dr. Coker and Melissa is now on Vimpat and Lamictal, so far so good, but of course we know that with Epilepsy there is no 100% “this will take care of it and cure it.”

Meli is THE BEST daughter, sister, cousin, niece, granddaughter, friend. Her neurologist recommended we start looking into a service dog for her. He says her seizures will more than likely become worse as she ages from the trends we have seen these past years. As she becomes an adult and starts living a life apart from mom and dad, going off to college and working, she will need a medical device with her 24/7 to be able to live a somewhat normal independent life like others. Epilepsy has always tried to stop her in her tracks, but she pushes right through. With the help of you guys, we will be able to provide her with a medical service dog. Domesti-PUPS has reviewed her application, the documents Dr. Coker has submitted, she has had her 2-hour interview and has been approved! This medical device, this independence tool, this medical alert dog, is something that sadly insurance does not cover like they would other medical devices. We humbly ask for your help in raising these funds for Meli, she deserves to navigate life as best as she can. The total cost for her seizure alert/response dog is $28,000 and every donation, as little as it is, will help us reach that goal.

Please share Meli’s story, help her reach her goal and live an independent life! #TEAMMELI