As many of you know, I suffered a life-changing traumatic brain injury following a devastating car accident. I have spent the last two and a half years out of work and trying to develop new skills.
Prior to my accident, besides working at Mosaic, I ran a nonprofit therapeutic riding center. Due to my brain injury, I have had to step down and Sara, my wife, has had to take over the organization. I am remaining optimistic and hopeful that through a lot of hard work and energy I will be able to return to participating in the organizations activities and becoming an active member of the community again.
To assist me I have acquired a service dog, Sam(antha), a one and a half year old German Shepherd Dog. She will be able to me get out in public more; help and assist through learning various tasks and alerts; and through this help me be able to do things I used to enjoy. I am also working with my medical team on various therapy programs that will strengthen my body and mind to help me regain additional cognitive function. The cost of the training of Sam as well as some of my therapies is very expensive and not covered by insurance. Sam and I have been able to start the training and it is going very well. However, I will not be able to continue with the training and therapies without your help and support.
Updates (8)
September 4, 2015
Thank you so much to the donors who brought me up to $750 for August. I will be using all of the August donations to make a payment to Southland Dog Training to go towards Sam's training balance. Thank you all again!
September 2, 2015
I wanted to thank the last two donors who gave and brought Sam and I close to a one month goal of $750! I just never know if they wanted to remain anonymous or not so to be safe I am not going to recognize you publicly but know you have my thanks and graditude.
Sam's training is coming along great. She knows what the majority of her tasks are and now its just a matter of refining her recognition of when to do them. She also has great public access skills. We just have to work on two issues - squirrels (she is a dog so thats a tough one) and her excitement when she meets another dog (she should outgrow most of that, she really is still a young dog at 18-19 months).
At this point, Sam pretty much goes everywhere with me. I use an over-the-shoulder leash when we shop so we can go "hands-free" and she acts perfect. She's gone out of eat with us and lays in the spot we tell her, and she loves to mall walk! Overall, I couldn't of asked for a better dog for my first service dog.
Thank you again all who have helped here and on my original GoFundMe campaign. It's because of all of you we have able to become a great team.
Photo Galleries (4)
Guestbook
August 13, 2015
Praying for Roger and your whole family. God bless you and strengthen you.
JOseph Smith
July 31, 2015
Hey Roger, Sorry I've been out of touch for so long. I am so glad to hear about Sam. Count on me to send in a donation very soon. My best to you and your familyl
Jim Pate
July 28, 2015
Even if you cannot give, please sign my guest book and let us know you were here!
Roger and Sam
