A Smart Pup for Charlie

PLEASE HELP ME!

This beautiful little 5 year old girl is my friend Charlie, we are trying to raise some money to basically….help keep Charlie alive.

Charlie is diagnosed with a form of Epilepsy from which she suffers seizures, these seizures are prolonged and can go for hours on end, there's no recovery time between the seizure and her little body can't cope. Her breathing is effected to the point where she has stopped breathing and to make things worse the medication that needs to be administered while she is having the seizure actually shuts her breathing down even further BUT the scariest part of Charlie's condition is that these seizures come almost exclusively at night while her family are sleeping and is an absolute miracle she is still here today.

The first time this happened was just over a year ago when Charlie’s dad woke up in the middle of the night and heard what he thought was Charlie having an asthma attack which turned very quickly into Charlie's mum preforming CPR by instruction on a 000 call. It has been a long hard road for Charlie’s parents since that night with many scans and tests and unfortunately 3 trips to intensive car in the back of an ambulance after CPR in the middle of the night which brings me to the reason why we are here…

WE NEED $20,000 TO PAY FOR A SEIZURE DOG FOR CHARLIE

Through the organisation “Smart Pups” we need to raise $20,000 which will pay for the training of a special alert dog that will live with Charlie day and night and alert her family in the event of a seizure. This dog will also double as an Autism Assistant dog and help Charlie in countless ways in her day to day life.

Once we raise the money Smart Pups will begin training 3 pups from which 1 will be selected to be further trained specifically for Charlie’s needs. This process takes around 18 months and can only begin once we have raised the fundsOnce we raise the money Smart Pups will begin training 3 pups from which 1 will be selected to be further trained specifically for Charlie’s needs. This process takes around 18 months and can only begin once we have raised the funds.

HERE IS A VERY PERSONAL STORY OF WHAT A PROLONGED SEIZURE IS LIKE FOR CHARLIE WRITTEN BY HER MOTHER...

I'll never forget the first seizure Charlie had. It lasted just under two hours. In that time I had to give her CPR. Nothing prepares you for that.

Nothing prepares you for the feeling of a four-year-old's delicate chest under your hands. The feeling of her ribs bending beneath you.

There are no books I've read that prepare you for how you're meant to feel as you watch your child's breathing slow as she turns blue.

You can hear the urgency in the 000 ambulance responses voice, they ask you to keep telling them when she takes a breath.

You're waiting for another breath, another breath that never comes. She asks you again to tell her when she takes a breath, you wait for her chest to rise but it doesn't. You listen at her mouth but you hear nothing. You tell her you're waiting, that you can hear nothing. She responds that your daughter isn't getting enough oxygen. She explains that you'll need to start CPR.

You blow into her mouth and watch her chest rise. You follow each command given with no hesitation on autopilot for a job you've never done before. Sounds change and it's like you're floating, watching, waiting and pleading all at once.

Why don't they tell you your mind will race but your heart will stop. And her ribs, my god her ribs, every last bit of oxygen sucked from her little body. You want to run. You want to escape this impossible situation but you can't and so you stay, you watch her tummy rise as you blow air into her mouth. There's a rhythm to it and once you stop thinking you just follow it.

You hear the banging at the door just as your daughter coughs. It's like a movie playing out in front of your eyes but there's no stop button. You don't get to press pause and walking away is not an option.

There is no erasing memories like these. They burn hard into your brain.
Sleepless nights follow as you check her over and over again, the panic so thick you struggle to breathe.

You try to run from the memories, you try to distract yourself but your brain won't compromise, not today. So, instead of running, you're stuck on repeat, playing it out in your head over and over again.
Time passes. You regain control. You quieten the voices.
And just when you're stuck back together, it happens again.

Just like other kids her age, Charlie loves dresses and watching "Frozen." But sometimes what other children find easy is hard for Charlie. Charlie has Autism and Epilepsy. She is non-verbal in social situations and attends a special needs school. I could go on to list the many other ways an assistance dog could help Charlie with day to day struggles but instead I'd rather keep that private. This dog will be life changing for Charlie and our family in so many ways.
Thank you for sharing our story.