Hello!

My name is Jenny. I’m a 29-year-old doctoral student fundraising for Little Angels Service Dogs, an ADI-accredited, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that pairs highly trained service dogs with people living with a wide variety of disabilities and chronic illnesses.

For most of my life, independence has never been something I could take for granted due to chronic illness, mobility issues, and significant trauma. A service dog would help me manage my disabilities, giving me the support and accommodations I need to safely navigate daily life and continue building the future I’ve worked so hard to create.

What You are Giving to

Reputable, professionally trained service dogs can be incredibly expensive. Your donation supports an organization dedicated to helping individuals living with disabilities around the world, like me, gain greater independence and quality of life.

As for where the money goes, all donations go directly toward Little Angels’ expenses for their current dogs-in-training, including whelping, veterinary care, food, boarding, training supplies and grooming just to name a few.

My Story

I spent much of my childhood living in Overtown, an impoverished neighborhood in Miami, moving from apartment to apartment as my family struggled to stay housed. Alongside that instability, I grew up in a highly abusive environment while dealing with severe, untreated mental and physical health issues.

Because of the medical neglect throughout my childhood and adolescence, many of my symptoms went ignored for years, delaying proper treatment until adulthood, when I was finally able to fund and manage my own medical care. It wasn’t until then that I realized the issues I had been struggling with since elementary school had names, causes, and possible treatments—even if I would never be fully better.

For years, through my childhood and up till now, I have experienced medical issues that significantly impact my ability to navigate daily life. These issues include:

Frequent shoulder and knee dislocations
Early-onset osteoarthritis in my hips
Painful muscle contractions
Involuntary movements
Low bone density that increases my fracture risk
Balance problems and falls
Migraines
Panic attacks
Trauma-related nightmares

After many appointments, scans, specialist visits, and cups of waiting room coffee, I finally began getting answers about how these conditions had been affecting my body for years. Eventually, I was diagnosed with several conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), TNXB-deficient Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), and KMT2B-related dystonia.

My Ehlers-Danlos syndrome affects my connective tissue, particularly a protein called Tenascin-X, which is vital for the heart, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and digestive tract to function properly. Due to this, it contributes to issues like my joint instability, dislocations, chronic pain, scoliosis, and mobility problems. Meanwhile, the KMT2B-related dystonia causes neurological symptoms like painful muscle contractions, involuntary movements, nerve pain, muscle weakness, and sudden balance loss leading to falls.

Learning that I had incurable genetic conditions was a lot to process emotionally. But, at the very least, I finally had answers. Instead of constantly wondering why my body struggled the way it did, I could finally begin focusing on finding the support and accommodations I needed to improve my quality of life, rather than simply surviving day-to-day.

Where I Am Now

It’s been a while since I began my medical journey, and I’ve learned more about myself in these past few years than I did in the first twenty years of my life.

Today, my found family, my doctors, and I have worked hard to make my life more accessible and accommodating. Some changes have been simple, like getting better back-support cushions for driving. Others have been much larger, including adjusting to part-time wheelchair use.

Things are much better than they once were, but daily life is still difficult at times. I still experience panic attacks and trauma-related nightmares; I still struggle with chronic pain, balance issues, and falls (I even took a tumble while walking downtown a few months ago); l still have trouble walking or standing for longer than twenty minutes.

That’s where Little Angels can help.

How a Service Dog Could Help Me

My “Little Angel” would be trained as both a mobility and psychiatric service dog, helping me continue my slow and steady climb toward greater independence. A service dog could assist me with deep pressure therapy during panic attacks or interrupt my nightmares before they have me jumping up in the middle of the night. A service dog could also retrieve my medication when I’m bedridden or having a medical episode, or help me open doors when I’m using my wheelchair.

Even seemingly small tasks, like helping turn light switches on and off, can make an enormous difference when living with chronic illness and disability.

More than anything, I want to feel comfortable living independently and pursuing the future I’ve worked hard toward. I aspire to become a psychologist and help others who have experienced significant trauma in their own lives. A service dog would not only help me navigate daily life more safely and confidently, but also help me continue pursuing my education, career goals, and hobbies.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story. Whether you donate, share this page, or simply help spread the word, your support means more to me than I can fully express! Please share this page with anyone you might know who would want to join this cause! Word-of-mouth can go a long way in helping people like me.

Thank you for any amount you’re able to contribute—any little bit helps and no amount is too big or too small!

If you want more information about Little Angels and the charitable work that they do, please visit them at https://littleangelsservicedogs.org/.

How to Give

Important Note: If you are donating through a check, corporate matching program, or Little Angels’ website, please provide the following solicitation code in the digital form or your check’s memo line:

AM-DA-JE

If you are mailing a check, please make it payable to Little Angels Service Dogs and mail it to:

Little Angels Service Dogs

PO Box 550

Lakeside, CA 92040

Friendly reminder that donations are tax-deductible as Little Angels Service Dogs is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and all donations made through this page or their website benefit them directly!

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Little Angels Service Dogs is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with an Assistance Dogs International (ADI) accreditation. We provide highly trained assistance dogs to help children and adults living with disabilities to live more independent lives. Our mission is to maximize the innate ability of dogs to give the gift of independence to individuals regardless of disability or age.

Our primary purpose is to change the lives of people living with disabilities by helping them live a more independent life. Approximately 13% of Americans are living with disabilities, and less than 1% of that community use service dogs due to a mix of availability, costs, and barriers for service animals that still exist today. Our goal is to overcome those barriers for people living with disabilities to appropriately match service dogs with their recipients.

We train our service dogs to perform specific tasks and behaviors that mitigate the effects of a person's disability, enabling them to lead more autonomous and fulfilling lives. Results of various studies on the impact service dogs have on their owners living with disabilities have indicated that service dog ownership may include benefits like greater social and emotional health, independence, and overall quality of life.

Our service dogs include psychiatric (civilian and military), seizure alert, diabetic alert, hearing assistance, mobility assistance, and autism assistance. We firmly believe that all disabilities should be regarded with equal importance, irrespective of their visibility. Our team acknowledges our responsibility not only to our service dogs but also to the individuals we serve.

Jenny's Journey for Independence

Fundraising for Little Angels Service Dogs