Watch above: Dalmeny family waits for Autism service dog
DALMENY, Sask. – It’s a home unlike any other.
“Everything is locking deadbolts so unfortunately for the people who are coming in if we can’t find a key, its like ‘just wait we’ll find a key’,” explained Pearl Gagnon as she takes a key and locks the exterior front door from the inside.
“Cole has his own key in case there’s ever a fire because you can’t get out.”
Pearl then shows us into the hallway with 11-year old Cole by her side, another door, another lock. Inside the hallway closet are cleaning supplies on the top shelf which she promptly locks up as she closes the door.
“At bedtime, after he does his bedtime thing he gets locked in his room.”
Behind the door is a little boy’s bedroom with just a bed. No posters, no toys or books.
All this out of love and to keep their precious son Gabe safe at all hours.
“Gabe is nine and he’s on the Autism spectrum, he’s considered, some people don’t like the term but low-functioning is a good way to describe him, so he’s severely affected,” explained Pearl.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex neurobiological condition that impacts normal brain development and affects a person’s social relationships, communication, interests and behaviour.
Approximately one in every 68 children lives with Autism, more than half-a-million Canadians.
In the Gagnon household, both boys are autistic but on either side of the spectrum. Cole is less affected whereas Gabe is nonverbal.
“He can’t say mom, he can’t say no, he can’t say anything, he has no language but yet he sings melodies and songs and he loves music,” added Pearl.
Gabe also high energy so exercise is key.
“If Gabe is inside all day it’s hard for him to go to sleep, he wakes up really early or throughout the night.”
For a child like Gabe, a service dog may be the answer in providing safety, companionship and unconditional love to him but will come at a cost to the family.
“Some groups go as high as $30,000 but we’re going to try to keep it around $20,000 for training.”
The family has set up a gofundme.com account and raised five thousand dollars from private events, saying the money will help cover the cost of the dog, vet bills and two years of extensive training.
Leaving the family at the mercy of time before Gabe can receive his service dog and gain some independence.
“It’s very frustrating to know that it could be two years until Gabe can actually benefit from having a service animal and then it’s like in two years where is his needs going to be at, have we lost any more ground that we don’t have but we can’t do anything about that unfortunately because we can’t take a half trained animal into, it won’t benefit unless it’s fully trained.”
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