For the better part of seven years, one southeast Iowa family has cared for their son and his difficult health condition. Now, Jess and Jeremy Blauvelt have reached the home-stretch of a fundraising campaign to help their family and their son Ezekiel get a service dog. Blauvelt recently spoke with KCII News about her son’s diagnosis and daily care, “Ezekiel was two-and-a-half when he had his very first seizure. Two weeks later he had another seizure and from there we were sent to University of Iowa Hospitals Pediatric Neurology and got a diagnosis of epilepsy. Ezekiel is med-resistant. We’ve gained a little bit better control, however, he still has seizures almost every single night. Ezekiel is now nine-years-old, developmentally, probably around the age of a three to five-year-old. The seizures have really affected every aspect of our life as a family. His behavior, his appetite, his siblings, he doesn’t always understand social cues, he’s not able to sleep by himself or be left unattended. Ezekiel is a very fun-loving little boy, he has a great smile, contagious laugh, he just has a lot of extra challenges.”

One option to help their family with caregiving was to pursue a therapy dog. The Blauvelts then connected with 4 Paws for Ability, a non-profit in Xenia, Ohio, that breeds, raises and trains service dogs to assist their partner with tasks and skills to mitigate the impacts of their disability. The dog is task trained and qualifies as a service dog. Blauvelt shared how the dog is trained, how it will help Ezekiel’s care, and what the community support means to their family, “It starts with breeding the dog. Then they are placed in foster families to start with basic skills, learn to sit, stay. Then they are brought back to the 4 Paws facility and they start advanced training. For our son, it will be seizure alerts, every time he has a seizure we’ll wipe him down with a plain white t-shirt and it to 4 Paws for Ability and they will use it to scent train the dog. The dog will be trained in second leash tethering. The dog will be tethered to Ezekiel while a parent holds the handle. That will help prevent eloping. There are a couple other mobility skills the dog will be trained with, balance on those bad seizure days. These are not pets, these are very well trained animals. Thanks to the Washington community we were able to fundraise the $20,000 in about five months. It was amazing! More than I could have ever dreamed!”

The Pennies 4 Paws Fundraiser is a soup supper this Saturday from 4-7 p.m. at the United Presbyterian Church in Washington. Enjoy three different kinds of soup, salad, bread and dessert for a free-will donation. Proceeds will be used to fund the family’s 10-day trip to Ohio for handler training. Along with attending the Pennies 4 Paws Fundraiser on Saturday, you can also donate by sending a check to the United Presbyterian Church in Washington, made out to Pennies 4 Paws, which will be deposited into a fundraiser account. The initial fundraising campaign began in 2023 with the goal of raising $20,000 for the service dog. With community support the goal was reached in roughly five months. 4 Paws for Ability estimates the cost per dog at $40,000-$60,000. To find out more about the Blauvelt family’s journey, listen to the two part Washington Page about the event free at KCIIradio.com.