Thursday, February 18, 2021
VOLUME 3 I ISSUE 34
MERIDIANSOURCE.CA
Pawsibilities are endless for Kashlyn TAYLOR WEAVER
EDITOR
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As a parent, the hope is your kids will grow up having a normal and happy childhood, but sometimes that’s much easier said than done. For Lloydminster mother, Taryn Bone, 25, her daughter Kashlyn and partner Brock Richardson, 28, the past four years have been anything short of easy. Kashlyn, who turns four in May, has been in and out of hospital since she was only five months old due to a string of medical issues. After years of medical care and multiple diagnoses, Kashlyn’s doctors recommended a service dog. “When she was five months old she was referred to the Stollery and was diagnosed with Bilateral Optic Nerve Hypoplasia, which was then later upgraded to Septo-Optic Dysplasia, so she’s technically legally blind right now,” said Taryn. “We say that she’s visually impaired because she can see, we just don’t know how much. She’s also miss-
ing part of her brain and her pituitary gland, so it screws with her hormones a bit. She was also just diagnosed with Autism as well, so all of her doctors recommended getting her a service dog to help with her behaviour problems.” Kashlyn’s stepfather, Brock, explained she has lots of energy, but it comes in waves. “You know when you see someone who’s really happy and then they crash? That’s how it hits her, but it’s 10 times worse, so her downs are really hard on her, to the point it’s really hard to get her happy again.” “When she gets down she gets really aggressive, to the point where she’ll do anything to hurt anybody, as well as herself, so, the doctors are hoping a service dog will help get in the middle of everything and stop her temper tantrum’s and just calm her down,” added Taryn. The cost of a service dog is $25,000 plus $5,000 to cover daily costs and hotels when they travel to Edmonton
to Kashlyn to train with the dog. “We’ve already raised $16,000,” said Taryn last Friday morning. “We’ve only been fundraising for three weeks through donations as well as a bottle drive that brought in $6,000. “Another guy, Heath Rice, owner of Metal & Mayhem Welding & Fabrication, is doing a silent auction right now on Facebook. We’re getting donations coming in and he’s been posting them, but we’re hoping that will bring us to our final amount.” There is no deadline as to when the funds have to be raised, but the sooner the family has the money, the sooner Kashlyn can get a dog. “I’ve already paid the initial $5,000 fee to sign the contract, and then it’s $10,000 the first year, $10,000 the second year, but the sooner it’s paid the sooner she could potentially get a service dog.” A GoFundMe page has been set up for Kashlyn and can be found by searching Endless Pawsibilities
Taylor Weaver Meridian Source
Taryn Bone (right) and Brock Richardson were all smiles last week after announcing over half of the necessary funds have been raised to get young Kashlyn a service dog.
for Kashlyn. There is also an e-transfer account set up and donations can be sent to kashlyn2017@ gmail.com. “They said the latest it would be would be a year and a half for her to get a dog, and the soonest would be six
months, but they said to plan for a year and a half from now,” said Taryn. The Lloydminster Kiwanis Club also contributed to Kashlyn’s cause last Friday with a cheque for $1,000. Kashlyn’s service dog, who she plans to name
“Purple Dog,” will be trained to be 20 per cent guide dog and 80 per cent Autism dog, but Taryn and Brock believe there is a 100 per cent chance this dog will help a beautiful young girl have somewhat of a “normal” childhood.