Life is a struggle for 10-year-old Zayden Williams of Topping, who has a rare type of epilepsy.
When a seizure happens, Zayden loses all control and he will fall, no matter where he’s standing.
“He used to feel the seizures coming, but now he doesn’t get any warning,” said his grandmother Joanne Leigh of Topping. “They just happen and he falls.”
Leigh is hoping that a service dog will give her grandson a warning.
A few specially trained “seizure response dogs” seem to be able to detect when a seizure is about to happen and alert the patient, according to the Epilepsy Foundation. Other dogs are trained to bark to alert family members when a seizure occurs. Dogs can be trained to position their body in a way that will cushion the fall of a person having a seizure, or lie next to the patient to comfort them.
DONATE
Service dogs cost about $20,000 and Zayden’s family is asking for financial help. A Go Fund Me account has been set up for Zayden at https://gofund.me/6b384a23
Donations can also be made locally through a special account set up at Primis Bank and titled “Zayden’s service dog c/o Joanne Leigh (grandmother).”
Onset
Zayden’s seizures started with a high fever when he was 8 years old, said Leigh. He started hallucinating and having seizures and was taken to the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughter (CHKD) where he spent over two months.
He was diagnosed with “Febrile Infection-Related Epilepsy syndrome,” also known by the acronym “FIRES.”
“There is no cure,” said Leigh. “They try to control it with medication and injections which Zayden does every day.”
Zayden has been
airlifted and hos-pitalized numerous times since the initial diagnosis.
“The worse part is he used to feel seizures coming and could lay down and have the seizure but now he has stopped feeling them and he falls and he’s hit his head and face on furniture.”
Limited
Zayden lives in Topping with his mother Renee Aldridge and his brother. His father James Williams lives nearby in Locust Hill.
Zayden is only able to go to school three days a week for one hour a day while his mom waits at the school. His mother is with him all the time.
A service dog would be a huge comfort to Zayden, who also has PTSD “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,” said Leigh. “We feel a service dog will benefit him greatly and hope anyone reading this can find it in their heart to donate through Go Fund Me that was set up for the purchase of a service dog and the training that he and the dog will need.”
Joanne Leigh can be reached at: 1451jojo@gmail.com.
