This is our beautiful 5-year-old angel, Norah Bailey.  Norah was born on July 12, 2014 and suffered a massive stroke around the time of her birth. The stroke damaged the entire left side of Norah’s brain causing partial paralysis of her right side, gross & fine motor difficulties as well as developmental delay.  She began therapy at 5 months old and up until the age of three, saw multiple therapists 3 times a week.  

Shortly after Norah’s third birthday we began noticing some odd behavior that began as an unusual stare. The look soon evolved into a terrified stare accompanied by a strong burst of stiffness and labored breathing.  We were terrified. The neurologist soon confirmed that Norah was indeed experiencing seizures – something that was not uncommon given the traumatic brain injury she suffered at birth. 

Norah battled with seizure control over the next two years as her episodes began to worsen.  At one point she was having up to 12 per day and even experiencing seizures through the night. There were many triggers: unexpected sounds like buzzers, doorbells, knocks on the door, loud voices, clanging of dishes, sneezing, coughing, yelling, pretty much ANYTHING would send her into a seizure. The seizure would then leave her exhausted, confused and she would often scream out of fear and beg to go to bed. She was suffering.

After two years, 7 medications and 4 neurologists we made the gut-wrenching decision to go ahead with brain surgery. This rare type of brain surgery, known as a hemispherectomy, is only performed about 50 times per year in the U.S and only under extreme circumstances in order to reduce the occurrence and severity of seizures.  It was our last hope.

On Sept 5, 2019 Norah had brain surgery at Comer’s Children’s Hospital in Chicago and she spent 9 days in intense recovery.  She has not had a seizure since.

Surgery has changed Norah’s life.  She is a completely different child, who for the first time ever is getting to live life. Although she still has major deficits to overcome and her seizures may return, she has the determination to get through it all.  She is loving, caring, funny and her personality really shines! She will soon start therapy to learn to walk and next Fall she will be starting kindergarten. We are working hard to prepare her for BOTH big milestones in her life and are certain a service dog would be life changing.

Last fall our son heard about 4 Paws for Ability at school and he came home excited to share the information.  After looking into the organization and seeing how they place service dogs that are trained to alert of seizure activity, assist with mobility issues and redirect behavior meltdowns, it gave me hope.  We applied to the 4Paws program and were accepted. We are now on a journey to raise the funds for Norah’s life changing canine companion. Service dogs cost around $50,000 to breed and train. 4 Paws takes care of most of that fee but asks that each family raise $17,000 toward the cost of their dog. We are reaching out and asking for your help in achieving our donation goal. 

Any contributions made to help Norah would be greatly appreciated.  

If you can help Norah, please visit the 4 Paws Donation Page (http://www.4PawsForAbility.org/donate-now). Please include Norah’s full name on the donation as instruction in the “Description” field of the form on the second page of the Authorize.net donation.  Donations can also be made by mailing a check with Norah’s full name on the memo line to:
4 Paws For Ability
In Honor of Norah Bailey
253 Dayton Ave.
Xenia, OH 45385

Thank you for taking the time to read about our princess. She truly is a miracle! 😊

Hi! I’m Brady Wooten and I’m 11 years old and I’m in the 4th grade at Florence Elementary School in Florence, MS. A little bit about me: I love my Roomba vacuum cleaner, chips and cheese from El Cabrito, Paw Patrol anything (recently, Super Wings), my family (Nana and Poppy first, then the rest of them), my teachers (school and church), all police officers and firefighters, a handful of close friends, and just about any animal  I meet, except for bugs.

I have had seizures my whole life; my first one when I was just 3 days old. I was diagnosed with infantile spasms when I was 3 months old and received daily injections for months to get those under control. Some of my seizures are noticeable, but some are not. Some even happen when I sleep. I also have a visual impairment that makes it hard for me to judge depth perception, so I’m a little bit clumsy.  I’m also on the Autism spectrum, which is a fancy word for I’m just a little different than most people. Basically, I like my routine, about 6 food items, I don’t wear itchy clothes and I don’t like loud noises (unless it’s me making the loud noise).

Recently, my mom applied for a service dog for me and we were chosen to receive a service dog from 4 Paws for Ability! This dog will be my best friend. It will play with me when I want to be alone but not really; it will walk beside me and make sure I don’t fall down, and my mom is most excited about it telling her when I’m having a seizure.  I am going to brush its hair and feed it. We will go for walks and play in the backyard. My mom said that it will even get to go to school with me. I can’t wait for it to ride the bus with me!

My mom said we can get the new dog when we raise the money for it. I gave her all the money in my piggy bank, but she said it’s not enough. Do you think you could help me give my mom some of your money? Well, not my mom, but 4 Paws for Ability at 253 DAYTON AVENUE, XENIA, OHIO 45385. You can send them the money directly or on Facebook at  https://www.facebook.com/donate/1062721800728485/  (that’s a lot of numbers)

Thank you for your help! I can’t wait for you to meet my new dog!!!

4 Paws for Amelia

Hi!  We are the Kilby Family, and we would love to introduce the sweet little monkey we call our daughter, Amelia.  Amelia, or Amy for short, is the sweetest two-year-old that we know!  She is full of smiles when she’s in the right mood, loves the tickle monster, and adores anything made of yarn.  Amy has also been diagnosed with autism, global development delay, pervasive sensory disorder, and speech delay.

A lot of people can make you smile, and a few will make you cry, but it takes someone special to make you smile with tears in your eyes.  Gracie is that someone special!

We were new to the foster system when a social worker texted, “I have a two-year-old African American female.  No medical concerns.  Does know how to cuss! (lol). Visitation with birth parents in Lexington and is not up for adoption.  Would you consider?” Although she was younger than we anticipated and nothing fit the mold of what we envisioned, we quickly replied “yes.”  We already had three biological children ages 4-7 and thought “what’s one more.”

At only two years old Gracie had already been shuffled through seven homes, and we quickly found out why.  This tiny little powerhouse was dynamite!  She bit everyone, screamed, kicked, cried, and due to a sensory processing disorder, and was difficult to hold.  To say she was challenging is to downplay the situation.

We later discovered that Gracie had been born at 24 weeks, to a woman that was addicted to drugs and alcohol.  Her first months were spent in the NICU, followed by cardiac surgery and pneumonia. We call Gracie a little miracle baby; she was and still is a fighter!

Her first two years in our home as a foster child is a blur of doctors’ appointments, therapy sessions, visitations with her birth mother at the drug rehab house and new medical diagnoses.  As time goes on we are discovering new pieces to her complicated puzzle. She has been diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder, ADHD, High Functioning Autism, OCD, Severe Anxiety and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FASD/DE). Despite traumatic past and current disabilities, she is bright, funny, athletic and very kind.

Our family has cried over her, prayed for her, loved her and not given up on her.  When she was four years old, we were able to legally adopt her, and we are now her forever family.

Although Gracie has progressed there is much more to be done to help her live her best life, to be sociable and function at her highest potential.  That’s why we were thrilled when she got approved for a service dog from 4 Paws for Ability.

No longer will we panic because she has wandered off in a crowd.  She will be able to tether to her dog and in a worst-case scenario her dog will be able to track her.  We can finally sleep at night knowing her dog is in bed with her, soothing her throughout the night. Her special dog will nudge her when she begins repetitive behaviors and it will help ease her anxiety so she will no longer chew on her fingers until they bleed.  Her dog will be her best friend, helping her with much needed social skills.

We are so thankful for the opportunity to help Gracie move forward. God sent her to us for a reason and we will never give up on her! Through the tears and smiles, we thank you for supporting us in our mission.  Your donations and prayers are greatly appreciated.  To raise $17,000 seems daunting but with your help and God’s continued blessings, all things are possible.