"We made the decision to open our hearts and home to five beautiful children including Jacob and his biological sister, Alexa, who is medically fragile. This journey may not be what we imagined, but we also know that this was our "plan" whether we knew it or not. When Jacob was just six months old, he came into our lives. We new that he was "different", but never imagined just how different that would be. Jacob has significant cognitive impairments and has been diagnosed with Autism. Due to the combination of these issues, parenting this adorable nine year old is like parenting a VERY LARGE toddler.
Sadly, Jacob has no sense of danger and frequently puts himself and others in unsafe situations due to his running and overwhelmed senses. Jacob has reached the point where he is too strong to hold onto, and he is FAST! This means that there is seldom a time where we can do anything as an entire family. Jacob's running and escalating behaviors limit us to being unable to do pretty much anything together as a family. A couple of years ago we began researching the benefits of a service dog for a child with Autism.
LIFE-ALTERING PHONE CALL: Thursday afternoon, May 21st, we got the call we'd hoped for. Jacob has officially been matched with a service dog! I don't even know that I have words to adequately describe these feelings. On Saturday, June 6th, Jacob and I leave for a very intense training with his dog. The severity of Jacob's behaviors have kept us from doing things as a family for the last few years. A simple trip to get cat litter leads to him running out the doors into the parking lot and (if you aren't fast enough) towards a very busy road. A trip to the park (which he loves and begs to go to) leads to a child running behind the fences and next to the canal (a child who has no sense of danger and no idea how to swim). Jacob's "flights" lead to the other children being put in danger as we have other children with significant needs as well. Yes, we CHOSE this journey when we adopted, but if not us, then who will? We love our children. We would give anything to keep Jacob safe and allow him to have some normalcy.
THE MIRACLE: Watch Jacob's mom's joy as to his transformation with his service dog from New Horizons Service Dogs a non-profit organization
Help provide a service dog to other children with autism by making a tax deductible donation Click and Pledge
The severity of Jacob's behaviors have kept us from doing things as a family for the last few years. A simple trip to get cat litter leads to him running out the doors into the parking lot and (if you aren't fast enough) towards a very busy road. A trip to the park (which he loves and begs to go to) leads to a child running behind the fences and next to the canal (a child who has no sense of danger and no idea how to swim). Jacob's "flights" lead to the other children being put in danger as we have other children with significant needs as well. Yes, we CHOSE this journey when we adopted, but if not us, then who will? We love our children. We would give anything to keep Jacob safe and allow him to have some normalcy.
