My Nonprofit Reviews

Hi my name's Tracey. I applied to Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs for my daughter, Emily. She is a 3 time cancer survivor who developed a seizure condition while in 11th grade.
After all she'd survived, after all the medical trauma she endured, she was finally making plans for her future and dreamed of being a fashion designer. She was learning to drive, researching collages, making wonderful friends and had grown into a beautiful young woman. At the age of 14 she began having mysterious "episodes". These episodes escalated into full-blown seizures. Unable to diagnose the cause, the doctors told us they were "pseudo-seizures" - that Emily's early childhood trauma was causing her to subconsciously manifest stress in the form of absence-type seizures. Given this diagnosis, Emily's self-esteem and confidence plummeted. The seizures became so frequent that she was unable to go to school. She quit learning to drive - claiming she'd never get behind the wheel again. She not only stopped seeing her friends, but she entirely quit any type of social activity outside the house. The anti-seizure medication altered her personality and made her excessively tired, withdrawn and caused child-like, regressive behavior. Emily abandoned any thought of collage, or her future in fashion design. As her seizures escalated to 5 to 15 per day, she would never let me out of her sight. She was even afraid to be alone in her own bedroom. I would wake in the morning to find her asleep on the floor next to my bed. I could no longer run small errands such as the bank, the grocery store, the occasional hair dresser. Emily was terrified of having a seizure in public, so she would not accompany me anywhere, nor could she be left alone.

As a wife, busy mom of two other daughters and administrator of our own charitable organization, my life was hectic and full. Everything else stopped as caring for Emily became a 24/7 job for me. We finally found a neurologist who was able to diagnose Emily's condition: Epilepsy caused by the radiation from her former cancer treatment. We now had a diagnosis and treatment plan. The new doctor slowly began introducing Emily to different medications and her seizures responded. By the time her new therapy treatments were fully implemented, Emily was down to an average of 4 seizures per week. Markedly better; enough that she could slowly start resuming some normal activities. But her self-esteem still suffered greatly and she was too frightened to go out in public without me or my husband with her.

This journey with Emily took its toll on my health. I knew I needed help, yet we were not in a financial position for me to hire anyone. I began researching medical service dogs. I found several agencies which ultimately were either disreputable, or the waiting lists were years long. My beautiful, vibrant, young daughter - my brave girl who had survived cancer and was so looking forward to her future, could not wait years for help. Thats when I found Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs. They were new and very small at the time and had not yet worked with a child. In my many discussions with them, I knew their evaluation of Emily's condition and the benefit she would receive from a service dog were spot on. They began training a dog for Emily.

During the time while her dog was being trained, Emily graduated high school and started a fashion design program at a local collage. Due to her continued seizure activity, she had frequent absences, carried a smaller schedule load and did not progress as fast as the other students. In spite of that, Emily was loving the new direction of her life. When we got the call from Guardian Angels that her dog was ready, Emily was super excited. On the day of her 18th birthday, Banshee, a beautiful petit German Shepherd, arrived in California. It was love at first sight. From that moment on, Emily and Banshee were inseparable. The trainers stayed for 8 days to train Banshee specifically to Emily's seizures. The amazing thing was, from the moment Banshee arrived, Emily's seizures stopped. She had NO seizures during the time the trainers were here. Emily experienced her first seizure with Banshee on the day the trainers returned to Florida. It was also the last time Emily had a seizure.

Emily has now been seizure free for more than 4 years. She is currently a junior in Woodbury University working towards her BA degree in Fashion Design. Banshee accompanies Emily on her 2 hour bus ride to and from school every day. They have traveled cross country by airplane 11 times together. Emily now has her drivers license. This summer she got her first job...She was a counselor at a summer camp for children - Banshee was given the job of "Honorary Counselor". Miracles do happen...often not in the way we expect. Our miracle loves belly rubs, liver treats and swims with Emily every chance she gets.

Our entire family is forever grateful to Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs.