Autism Service Dog Costs $18,000 – Please Help Family Raise Funds

Katie is a happy, loving 7 year old. She was born with Tetrasomy 18p which among other things, results in a developmental delay and autistic tendencies, such as a pervasive, potentially dangerous trust of strangers, a lack of social boundaries, and extreme sociability.

Autism Service Dogs are specially trained to provide companionship, safety and independence for people like Katie. They can guide her, stop her from running into traffic and ensure she doesn’t leave the house without an adult. Most importantly a dog like this can also notify Katie’s parents when Katie wakes during the night. Currently, Katie awakens sometimes two to three times a night, five nights a week on average.

Katie’s mom says, "It has been seven years since I slept well. I sleep with one ear open. It has been trying."

Katie gets sick often and when she does she sometimes ends up in hospital, which consumes much of her mom’s time. In spite of that, Katie’s mom Lorrine, still manages to volunteer at her son’s school as well as with a disabled woman in their community. Katie’s dad, Gord, is an avionics technician with DeHavilland. Katie’s little brother Alex, is a fun-loving grade one student at Valleyfield, an inner city school in Toronto's west end.

Lorrine also founded and runs the website http://www.tetrasomy18p.ca which is a free resource (including interactive message boards) for individuals and families affected by any disability including but not limited to Chromosome 18 abnormalities to meet and share information.