Gracelyn will turn 3 in June and started having seizures when she was just two months of age. After many months of neurology visits, EEGs, CT Scans, MRIs, bloodwork, and genetic testing, Gracelyn received her diagnosis and is now dependent on doctors, therapy, and medications for the treatment of Epilepsy. We discovered Gracelyn suffered a traumatic brain injury of undetermined origin early in her life, likely in utero, which uncovered a nerve defect in her brain and scarring called Gliosis which leads to Epilepsy. As Gracelyn matures, she will inevitably spend more time under the watchful eye of her young, single mother who served in the US Navy as a second-class petty officer in Norfolk, VA. To aid in the improvement of Gracelyn's life, her grandparents purchased an 8-week old Labrador Retriever puppy. He is training to qualify as a service animal to carry her emergency seizure medications, alert to seizure activity, summon help, and provide comfort while Gracelyn is seizing. Service animal training is ongoing for the puppy's first two years.
