Dorset family fundraising £13,000 for teenager's assistance dog
Ella's tourettes tics can put her in dangerous situations.
A family from Dorset are raising £13,000 to buy an assistance dog for their daughter, Ella.
15-year-old Ella has autism, ADHD and Tourettes and anxiety.
Her most extreme Tourettes tics can cause her to run out into the road, as well as others which impact her mobility.
The knock-on effect has been a loss of independence for Ella as her family try to prevent any dangerous situations.
But assistance dogs can be trained to intervene it those situations.
A fundraising event is being held today at Owermoigne Village Hall with an afternoon of tea and cake.
The family has also launched a GoFundMe page. On it, Ella's dad Steve Houlton wrote:
"Since developing tics Ella's mental health which was already suffering has got a lot worse. Ella now has another anxiety about going into public as her tics are often loud and explicit which is embarrassing for her. She also is very isolated from her peers at school, having to be in a classroom on her own with her 1:1 TA. She has shutdown from the world, not wanting to see people and somedays not wanting to get up. She is currently housebound.
"After a lot of research into assistance dogs and my daughters love for animals we feel like this could possibly change or massively improve her quality of life. Having an assistance dog would help Ella to leave the house and cope in day to day situations. The assistance dog would learn many tasks to help her autism, ADHD. anxiety and Tourette’s and be able to go with her everywhere in public."
So far, her family has raised over £4,000.
The fundraiser at Owermoigne Village hall starts today at 1pm and ends at 4pm.