Brisbane mum’s crowd funding bid to buy daughter a therapy dog

This three-year-old Brisbane girl is sometimes in so much pain, she needs sedation. But her mum has found a furry alternative to medicine - and now she’s asking for help.

Charli's mum Louise is trying to crowd fund a therapy dog to help ease her pain.

A SINGLE mum is trying to crowd fund the $5000 cost of a therapy dog for her three-year-old daughter who has spent most of her life in hospital with a rare condition.

Calamvale mum Louise Flannery said her daughter Charli suffers from a severe recessive neurological disorder known as Pontocerebellar Hypoplasia Type 1b.

It means Charli makes involuntary movements, have neurological seizures that last up to three hours, is non-verbal, and can’t sit, walk or crawl.

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“It’s like having a combination of motor neurone disease and spinal muscular atrophy,” Ms Flannery said.

“As it’s extremely rare, a prognosis is difficult, but generally speaking and from what is known, children with this disease tend to only live to early childhood at best.”

Ms Flannery said Charli has spent most of her life in hospital, and that there are days where her pain is so unbearable, she needs to be sedated.

She’s desperate to change that, and hopes she can after discovering something “utterly magical” - how Charli’s body relaxes in the presence of a therapy dog.

“It’s something so wonderful and so powerful that some days it’s even better than the medication,” she said.

Charli's mum Louise is trying to crowd fund a therapy dog to help with her condition.

“I can place her hand on the dog and she will open and close her hand on their fur. It’s absolutely beautiful to see.”

Ms Flannery said Charli’s body immediately relaxes as soon as a therapy dog is placed with her, although the cost of getting a fully-trained one could be around $20,000.

“It’s not just that the money is completely out of my reach, but there is usually a long wait list and frankly, time is not on our side.”

Ms Flannery said she discovered a less expensive kind of comfort therapy dog that allows them to detect when their owner is distressed, in pain or about to have a seizure.

She said that dog would cost $5000 to train, so she set up a Gofundme in an attempt to crowd fund a pup.

Unlike a normal dog, she said this dog could be taught to recognise Charli’s cues that signal trouble, and to raise the alarm if necessary.

It can also be taught to lay with her when she’s distressed, or to grab her favourite toy.

Charli has spent most of her life in hospital due to her condition.

“Even though Charli is non-verbal, she communicates perfectly well with her eyes and her sounds. She has a specific cry for pain and her limbs will become stiff. Her jaw also locks and she starts grinding her teeth,” Ms Flannery said.

If she can get to $5000, Charli could have a pup within a month.

Charli is currently back at home and has been out of hospital for a week, with her mum and three siblings hoping it’s the first week of many.

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“Charli is one of the happiest, smiliest little girls you will ever come across, even with everything she goes through on a daily basis,” she said.

“The only time you will find her crying is if she’s in pain or if she can’t feel or see anyone next to her,” she said.

“What happens now is we continue to take each day as it comes, enjoy the good days and hours, and keep Charli healthy and happy and give her the best quality of life as we possibly can. It’s all about making memories and doing what we can to keep our little family together.”

Find the link to Ms Flannery’s Gofundme campaign here