Please help 17 yr old Natasha to get & train an assistance dog for her rare conditions

Natasha is 17 years old and lives at home with her Mum and Dad. She loves to roller skate and has taken this passion to competition level and done amazingly well. Recently her life has ground to a halt with some hereditary medical conditions that have surfaced as a result of the illness and death of people she loves.

Natasha now has Ehlers Danlos Sydrome (EDS) which has caused two further conditions; Posteral Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) and Inapporpriate Sinus Tachycardia (IST)

These two latter conditions are disrupting Natasha’s young life. She can faint up to 24 times a day. She also suffers from bouts of paralysis where she is awake, can hear things but can’t talk or move for up to 45 minutes. The medication she has been given costs around $390 per month and has reduced her fainting but she can still faint up to 18 times a day.

Because she can’t tell when or where she will faint or have a bout of paralysis these conditions are stopping her from indulging in her passion for roller skating and doing normal things like hanging with her friends. Natasha’s mum Patrice has had to stop work to support Natasha.

All of these conditions are permanent and Natasha has found a way to live her life with some normality but in order to do this she needs your help. People with her condition in the USA are using assistance dogs with great success.

Unfortunately NZ doesn’t train their assistance dogs to pick up fainting, but Natasha has found a one-off opportunity to train her own dog through a reputable NZ company.

The dog is bred in Australia and transported to NZ ($9000 for dog & transport) where Natasha will train her/him with a specialised team (minimum of $800 a month for 2 years)

The aim is for the dog to gain public access at the end of training. But Natasha and her family are willing to do this to get some normality back into her life.