PORTAGE, Mich. — A Portage family is raising money for a service dog, hoping it helps their daughter’s rare Epilepsy diagnosis.
“For us, you have to find the positive,” said Amelia Lambright. “Even though there’s so much bad in it, there’s always some good.”
Last December doctors diagnosed Lambright’s 5-year-old daughter, Ryleigh, with Lennox Gastaut Syndrome (LGS).
It’s a severe type of epilepsy that causes different types of seizures and worsens cognitive and behavioral development over time. Traditional seizure medicines are not effective in treating it either.
LGS accounts for only 2-5% of childhood epilepsies.
“It has a very specific brain wave pattern,” said Lambright. “Resistant to all forms of medication, very hard to control, [and the] seizures will continue to get worse. Basically she will continue to decline as time goes through which is a really hard diagnosis as a parent.”
Lambright says on a bad day Ryleigh can have upwards of 100 seizures. She usually experiences atonic episodes, which causes her head to drop for a few seconds.
“She can’t be unattended,” said Lambright. “She has seizures at night which is kind of a tricky thing because then we worry. I feel like I don’t sleep at night. I’m always checking on her.”
“It’s everybody’s worst fear — You can’t fix what’s wrong with your child," she said.
With few treatment options available, Ryleigh’s medical team and family think care from a service dog could provide her with a better quality of life.
“She broke her leg in January — had a seizure and fell,” said Lambright. “She’s fallen and had a concussion. She has a helmet that she wears if we can’t watch her. We’re trying to build this safe little world, but we still want her to be normal because she’s five. She’s active, she’s happy. She wants to play baseball, she wants to wrestle with her brothers.”
Seizure alert dogs can be trained to perform a variety of tasks, including:
- Lying next to someone having a seizure to prevent an injury
- Placing their body between the handler and the floor to break a fall at the beginning of the of a seizure
- Staying with the handler during a seizure to provide support and comfort
- Activating a device to alert a designated person about a seizure
In April, a service dog organization in Ohio accepted Ryleigh into their program, but it costs $20,000 to train her dog over the next two years.
The Lambrights have started a fundraiser to help cover the costs. To donate, click here.
Chick-Fil-A on Westenedge Avenue and West Main will also be holding a spirit night fundraiser on May 23. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the family.
