I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Sinead over the past 4 years through the West Rouge Community. She has a love for photography, has a great eye and a zest for adventure - so it was an instant connection. And when you meet her, there is no denying her passion about educating the public about service dogs. I am truly amazed about the training that they go through. Nothing short of medical miracles. Find out more below about why they are so important and what role they play on a daily basis in her life:
Sinead Zalitach is a young woman who happens to live with an exceptionally rare, life-threatening and degenerative condition called Parkes Weber Syndrome (PKWS). Since 2015, she had been working with her service dog, Paddington, to greatly improve her health and independence. Unfortunately, due to his own health issues, including the development of seizures, Paddington had to retire. Sinead and family were devastated about this as he is only 4.
Parkes Weber Syndrome is a complex vascular condition that impacts the vascular, muscular, lymphatic and skeletal systems and greatly impacts the everyday lives of those who are affected. Serious infections, requiring IV treatment for a minimum of two weeks, are a common occurrence for Sinead. She also experiences both internal and external bleeds that are difficult to control. They can happen spontaneously or because of something as simple as a minor bump and may even occur in her sleep without her being aware. She is at constant risk of life-threatening blood clots in her deep veins and lungs and suffers from heart complications such as tachycardia which cause her to have regular episodes of dizziness, severe chest pain and syncope. Sinead is also at risk of developing of high output heart failure. As a result of the lymphedema on the entire right side of her body, the leg length discrepancy due to bone overgrowth, as well as muscle overgrowth that often leads to episodes of spasticity, Sinead lives with severe chronic pain and limited mobility on a daily basis; however she doesn’t let that keep me down.
Since Parkes Weber Syndrome (PKWS) is so rare(less than 700 diagnosed cases worldwide) there is very little focus and interest for the medical community to invest in research. This means that treatment is mostly focused on reacting to complications as they arise and only on a case by case basis. As you can imagine, PKWS has taken its toll on her physical and mental well-being.
In addition to Parker Weber Syndrome, Sinead lives with severe anxiety, depression, and PTSD. The physical and mental stress from dealing with health problems, hospitalizations, physical pain, limitations, and loneliness caused, and can and does continue to worsen these issues.
While the realities of Sinead’s daily struggles may appear overwhelming, the assistance of a service dog, is invaluable to her. She was seen by the world’s best specialists for vascular anomalies and they didn’t feel there was anything they could do for her. Paddington was able to do what doctors thought was impossible. With his help, sinead had a reduction in upwards of 80 inpatient hospital admissions from 2010-2016, due to infections and bleeds, to only three times in an entire year. He managed to close twelve-year old wounds on her foot by providing deep pressure/ compression on her leg, where traditional compression treatments were unsuccessful due to the severity of Arterial venous malformations in her foot, making traditional compression therapy unsafe.
Paddington allowed Sinead to be more independent in all aspects of her life; which removed a great deal of worry from her parents and allowed them to regain some of their independence as well. Paddington helped Sinead to be herself again and not be defined by her condition.
In 2018, MSAR Service Dogs in Winnipeg, Manitoba agreed to take on the task of training a one of a kind service dog for Sinead. After waiting a year, Sinead received her new service dog, Foreman! Foreman is the first dog in a partnership between MSAR Service Dogs and DogSchool Israel. He is a combination of: a mobility, PTSD, medical alert & response and performs tasks tailored to help make Sinead’s life easier.
Due to the severity of Sinead’s medical needs, MSAR Service Dogs was kind enough to place foreman with Sinead before he has been fully paid off. Since being placed with Sinead in November of 2019, Foreman has saved her life numerous times. He has detected multiple blood clots, severe infections as well as dangerous spikes and drops in her blood pressure and heart rate.
Currently there is no government funding for service dogs. Due to the unique and complex nature of Sinead’s needs, she did not qualify for a service dog through charitable service dog organizations as they could not accommodate her needs. There are also no charities that provide the funding for individuals to obtain a service dog.
As you can imagine, a dog who requires such specialized training and possesses the life saving capabilities (mentioned above) comes with an extremely high cost. Foreman’s cost is $35,000 and while Sinead and her family have been able to raise an amazing $20,539, they still have $14,461 to go. Unfortunately, like many things.. covid-19 has put any possibility of in person fundraising on hold.
If you wish to donate - you can find her Go Fund Me page here:
https://ca.gofundme.com/f/herlifein4paws
Story Courtesy of Sinead Zalitach
