Andrew's Story


This is the story of Andrew and his search for some normalcy and self-independence. Andrew was born in 1987 and was six weeks early. There were many complications and setbacks and he spent extra time in the hospital.

Andrew might have had seizures from the beginning; however, since babies don't come with manuals and most people think of seizures as grand mals, we don't know for certain. When he was quite young he was diagnosed with petit mal seizures. We never did get a grip on the seizures with all the medicines we tried. One medicine gave him tremors, so you give him something to offset tremors and then the tremors keep him from sleeping at night, so you give him something so he can sleep at night, but that makes him wet the bed so you give him something to keep him from wetting the bed. Yes you get the point. At one time he was taking 31 prescription pills daily and still no seizure control.

We moved to Oklahoma, from Missouri, and found a new doctor. This doctor was a joy!!!! First prescription he gave him Andrew went blind. Then he thought there was something under his skin and he tried to stab it with a fork. Several fork wounds later I called the doctor and said well he is blind now, has lost 20 pounds, has added both grand mal and drop seizures, and has fork wounds. I want him off the medicine. He told me he needed a psychiatrist. Psychiatrist agreed with me, get him off the meds. Then I was labeled an uncooperative mother. Well this is a mother that has seen her child go through near death seizures, blindness, anorexia, attempted suicide (yes I didn't tell you about that one) and other things while on the meds.

We found a new doctor and this doctor let us know he had been misdiagnosed all along. He was not suffering from petit mals but complex partials and due to the fact that he had gone improperly diagnosed all this time he now suffers from grand mals as well. Andrew is home schooled due to his disability. He is unable to attend classes at the junior high school as they are unable to follow directions for a medical doctor. While Andrew is able to take one medicine at this point it is not enough to control his seizures. We just had to go off one of the other medicines as it has caused liver damage to this young boy.

Andrew wants a very active social life but has a very low self-esteem. He is unable to attend functions that other normal teenagers attend. He is 16 and cannot drive. He cannot find a job that will hire him due to his disability and yet according to Social Security he isn't disabled. He can't swim without lots of adult supervision. He cannot ride a bike any longer, he can not walk to a friend's house by himself. He cannot take a bath or shower without someone constantly knocking on the door to make sure he is ok. His self-esteem is very low as he fears he will never find a girlfriend, drive, move out on his own or have any kind of life where he isn't watched constantly.

Andrew never causes any troubles, he does his chores, but must be watched while doing them. He has no privacy. He wants to live like every other teenage boy. He wants to play Nintendo in his room with his door closed. He wants to be able to walk to his friend's house. He wants to be able to go swimming with his buddies at the lake. He wants to be able to reach and turn on the stereo without going into a grand mal seizure and knocking down an entertainment center and hitting his head repeatedly on the stereo till he is moved. He wants to be able to talk to the neighbor without going into a grand mal seizure in the neighbor's yard.

We can help him do this by providing him with a seizure alert service dog. These dogs are very high price and we have found much of the money already. What we are working on now is the travel expenses back and forth for training and the remainder of the money to give this teenage boy someone to love and cherish. Someone that is his best friend. Someone that will help give him some privacy and self-esteem back.

What is a seizure alert service dog you ask? There is a certain chemical that someone releases before having a seizure. A properly trained and pre-disposed dog can determine this and help get his owner to a safe location. A seizure alert dog will stay with Andrew while he has the seizure and bark for help. He will lay on top of him to keep him from thrashing around and getting hurt. A seizure alert dog will go in the bathroom while Andrew is showering and will alert him to the need to get out of the tub if a seizure would be coming upon him. A seizure alert dog will go with Andrew at all times. There is hardly any down time for this precious animal. A seizure alert dog will give Andrew back much of his life and let him live more like a normal healthy american teenager. This dog will play Frisbee with Andrew and fetch and turn out lights and remind him to take his medicine. Yes they can be trained to remind them to take their medicines. They are even trained to relieve themselves on command.


Andrew is 16 years old and wants his life back. He wants a chance to be normal and feel secure in his life. Thank you for your time and interest. May you be blessed.

Lisa, Dan, Kaylin, Andrew & Pepper