Recently in West Nyack, NY a wish came true for Matthew Von Dollen. This 18 year old, who has epilepsy, was given the gift of independence.
Because his seizures are resistant to treatment, Matthew’s family is afraid to leave him alone. Now thanks to Canine Assistants, he will be able to enjoy more freedom, and so will his family.
ShopRite and the company that makes Milk-Bone dog snacks are sponsoring the cost of Matthew’s service dog as well as the two-week training that the teen will have to go through.
Although he’ll have to wait a year for his dog, when it finally arrives, Matthew and his family won’t have to pay the $20,000 cost to train his new partner.
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Jessica Keenan Smith is a patient advocate and epilepsy community leader with more than 15 years of experience. As Founder and CEO of Living Well With Epilepsy and Executive Director of ASENT she bridges the gap between the scientific and patient communities, with a particular focus on the needs of the epilepsies. Jessica Keenan Smith is Founder and CEO of Living Well With Epilepsy, an award winning online resource for people affected by epilepsy to share stories and access in-depth information on the disease. Since 2009, Living Well With Epilepsy (https://livingwellwithepilepsy.com) has been featured in Forbes, Wired, NBC, NPR and the cover story of Epilepsy Advocate Magazine and has partnered with companies such as UCB, Lundbeck, Sunovion, Eisai, and more. Ms. Smith is also the Executive Director of the American Society for Experimental Neurotherapeutics (ASENT) (https://asent.org), an organization that brings together leaders from industry, academia, government and advocacy who are engaged in bringing drugs and devices to market across all neurologic disease states. In this role she is responsible for leading a successful scientific journal and annual scientific conference with speakers from all over the world.
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