Paws for Elee

Our daughter Eleanor was diagnosed with refractory epilepsy at 9 months old after we found her unresponsive in her car seat. She spent the next 39 days inpatient at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) and Medical University of SC (MUSC). Despite Elee being on 6 medications twice a day and a strict ketogenic diet for Epilepsy, she continues to have clustered seizures in her sleep. She has spent

close to half of her life battling seizures now yet remains so happy and resilient. The medical community does not expect Elee to grow out of her seizures so we are raising money for a seizure alert service dog. This dog will alert us when she is having a seizure so we can wake up and react quickly, giving Elee the best chance of full recovery. We will hopefully never find her in her crib or carseat not knowing how long she has been having seizures. If her seizures evolve to wake times, the dog will protect her by laying her down safely to protect from injury and provide comfort during and after episodes while alerting an adult. Seizure alert dogs cost $20,000 to the family. There is also a 2-2.5 year waiting list once we pay in full for the dog so this is just the beginning of our journey. We have chosen to work with a reputable company, 4 Paws for Ability, they were featured in the Netflix series Dogs in episode one. While we know this won’t cure Elee’s seizures, we hope it will give her the best chance and offer her comfort post seizures. We know this is ALOT of money for a dog but after speaking with a family who lost their daughter to SUDEP they encouraged us to not think twice. We have also spoken with two families that have seizure alert dogs and swear by their dog's ability to detect and alert for seizures. Paws for Elee 5K will be tentatively on November 4th at Saluda Shoals Park. There will be a 5k race and a 1 mile fun walk. Bring the whole family and your furry pup to run or cheer on the racers as we raise money and awareness for her service dog. More information to come as dates are
finalized. If you are interested in making a donation or sponsoring the 5k please reach out to me directly, Hilary Bassett, 803-260-7581. If you would like to donate to us through PayPal, https://www.paypal.com/pools/c/8V29VwM9DR or you can donate directly online go to https://4pawsforability.org/donate-to-4-paws but you must state the donation is for Eleanor Bassett. I can also mail checks to them. We will have a site that encompasses all of this soon. We thank God everyday for seizure free days and full recovery on other days. We have been so blessed with an amazing community and can never thank each of you enough for caring and loving our sweet Elee. God Bless You and Thank You,
Hilary and Erick Bassett