Life saving Seizure Assistance Dog for Lucia

Meet Lucia Stratton.   She is  a vivacious 8 year old who loves playing outside and being crafty.

She loves art, animals and creating her own dessert creations. She dreams of one day meeting Adriano Zumbo to trade baking magic secrets! Lucia is in need of a seizure assistance dog. to help her with two rare, genetic, invisible diseases. Lucia has Osteogenesis Imperfecta and Sunflower Syndrome.

A service dog will assist with Behavior Disruption such as : lapping, touching, kisses, deep pressure and nuzzles). A service dog would also be able to help her with Balance and seizure/scent alert.

Learn more about the service dog provider: 

4 Paws for Ability

Osteogenesis Imperfecta

Lucia was born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta Type 1 also known as Brittle Bone Disease.  Lucia has already had 10 broken bones but this disease hasn’t slowed her down except when a bone needs time to heal. We have spent a lot of time in the ER.

Sunflower Syndrome Epilepsy

The second invisible/not so invisible disease developed when she was 6 years old. It took a while to realize what was happening at first. Lucia started out of the blue waving her hand over her eye. At first we thought it was her hair getting in her eyes. She was after all trying to grow princess hair and it all needed to be one length. She kept increasing her hand waving to the point our family said we should just cut her hair, princess hair wasn’t worth the constant distraction. So she got bangs, but that didn’t stop her obsessive motion of hand waving. Her school suggested we see a neurologist thinking she may have a tic. We took her to a neurologist and due to her odd movement they thought she could have Tourette’s..  They performed a one hour EEG and during the strobe light portion of the test, they had to stop the test, her reaction was extreme with seizure activity they had to stop the test. 

The neurologists at the hospital had never seen this type of reaction to light with the hand waving  motion. Lucia was diagnosed with a rare form of Epilepsy called Sunflower Syndrome. Only 1,300 people in the world suffer with this photo sensitive  form of epilepsy. She is sensitive to both interior light and the sun. There is no rhyme or reason as to which frequency or angle of light triggers the seizures.

The doctors have told us that the prognosis of being controlled by medicine was not good, this type of epilepsy is very drug resistant.  After trying multiple medicines to reduce or control the seizures, nothing has worked so far but we keep trying. 

 With my own research I found Dr. Thiele in Boston at Massachuse tts General Hospital. She agreed to meet Lucis and take her on as a patient. During a 24 hour EEG she found Lucia had 54 seizures in just 1 hour from the daylight coming through the windows of her hospital room.  Her case is extreme.  We continue to  work with Dr. Thiele and a Children’s hospital closer to home that consults with Dr. Thiele. 

I feel hopeless as a parent. My carefree little girl who loved to play outside, ride bikes, go hiking and swim now has been severely hindered in everything she does. It’s now impossible for her to go outside on her own to play. She even struggles in the mornings brushing her teeth due to our bathroom lights. Everyday activities are compromised.

The affects:

Lucia’s seizures are mostly Absence seizures but she has had 3 Atypical Absence seizures.  

The scary part is she does not realize she is having the seizures at times. Often she has walked into or fallen over objects. She is unable to walk outside without assistance, and must be with someone at all times for fear she will hurt herself. Often when she has a cluster of absence seizures  she just stops and when she pops out of the seizure she walks the opposite direction and is confused. She will stop in the middle of the street frozen in the seizure,  it is  too dangerous to let her go alone without holding her hand to keep her moving. 

How a Life Saving Seizure Assistance Dog will Help 

As a single mom raising two kids our family is in need of assistance to help give some freedom back to Lucia and to help protect her. As she gets older and becomes more independent  a seizure assistance dog will be a vital part for her success and her safety.  We need all the help we can get to protect her. 

Please help with your donation  so my little girl can live  a more independent life. Her two invisible diseases are a dangerous combination. The absence seizures increase her chance for broken bones .  Since May of 2019, she has broken bones.  The sun and interior lights both cause seizures and we never know when they will strike.

Please help Lucia with your  kind & generous donation.

Different Ways You Can Donate 

Donating by Check?

If you choose to donate by check to send to 4 Paws for Ability make sure to write in the memo line: “Donation for Lucia Stratton” 

This ensures it goes directly for her dog  and into her account and not into a general fund. 

Thanks so much❣️

💜Our family appreciates you!