Jaxon’s support

Our brave little warrior, my grandson Jaxon, was diagnosed with a rare syndrome at three months of age, West syndrome, a severe form of epilepsy. The seizures come from the left side of his brain and spread to the right side. This has a detrimental effect on his neurons and impact his development.

Jaxon is almost three years old and throughout his short life he has experienced too many medical emergencies, ambulance calls, MRI’s, EEG’s, hospital admissions and numerous trials of epileptic medications. But Jaxon still manages to find the strength to keep fighting, his determination is our inspiration to pick ourselves up when we fall.

Jaxon’s seizures have been resistant to medication so there was hope he could have a brain operation to disconnect the seizing side of his brain and help him develop. We received disappointing news two weeks ago that he cannot have the operation because he has a widespread brain malformation and disconnecting hemispheres would not guarantee him to be seizure free or increase his chance of developing.

It is heartbreaking to see Jaxon work so hard to learn new developmental milestones and have them wiped from his brain after he seizures.
Its traumatic to see him struggle to breathe during tonic-clonic seizures and even more terrifying when he has them during sleep.

Jaxon needs round the clock support as he cannot walk or talk yet and continues to have seizures. His many anti epileptic medications have side effects that are just as debilitating as his epilepsy.

I see the mental pain and physical exhaustion my daughter, Lauren and her partner, Matt are going through. They are desperate to find a cure for their precious little boy and they live in hope that one day he will be able to walk and talk.

Many family and friends have asked me how they can help Jaxon and his parents through this ongoing chronic disease. This got me thinking about how we could improve Jaxon’s quality of life and reduce anxiety for his parents. I would like to raise money to buy a companion dog to be trained to sleep with Jaxon and alert Lauren and Matt when he has a seizure in his sleep. A companion dog would also provide Jaxon with companionship, emotional support and relief from his physical and mental challenges.

Lauren and Matt are hesitant to accept help, but I know they are under financial strain and cannot afford a recommended dog breed that is best suited for Jaxon’s needs.
After much research I have sourced a reputable breeder of cavoodles. Cavoodles are renown for their intelligence, naturally intuitive impulse, attentiveness, gentle and calm nature. I’m hoping to raise 5,000 to purchase the puppy, if more is raised it will be used to fund professional in-home companion dog training.