Race against time to get assistance dog for Shropshire's Elin
Elin Jones is facing a race against time to be able to have an assistance dog to help her enjoy her life.
The 29-year-old from Oswestry has Elin has had cerebral palsy since birth and in 2013 life dealt her a second blow when a routine orthopaedic operation left her unable to walk.
Now Elin has to use a motorised wheelchair and has complex care needs, dependent on personal assistants.
Despite her day-to-day difficulties, Elin is studying at university and plans to go into motivational speaking and becoming a children's social worker. She says her life would be made much easier with an assistance dog.
A puppy has been reserved for her, but she needs to raise £2,500 by the end of March if the dog, Oakley, can be hers.
The Cambrian Rotary Club in Oswestry has taken up her appeal and a crowdfunding appeal has been set up.
Elin said: "Oakley would be of great support but not able to replace the need for human care as my health needs are so complex. However the aim is that he could support me to become more independent in the local community and to help with my anxiety and mental health needs.
"I would like to follow my dreams and eventually become a children’s social worker with the dog by my side to give the confidence of a co-worker.
"A dog would help me become socially active in the community as I know he would be able to alert members of the public if I needed support - from dropping my phone, to alerting a PA if I needed assistance.
Tough
"It has been a tough journey to adjust to my current circumstances, however a dog would give me a glimpse of the past."
Elin already has a pet dog, Narla, but she is too small and too old to be trained as an assistance dog.
The assistance dog would live with Elin and Narla until he was about 18 months old and then they would spend time at Sheffield with Support Dogs UK. Oakley would also have puppy training working towards the Kennel Club gold award.
Mike Lade from the Rotary Club, said Elin was a vibrant young lady whose disability didn't stop her from achieving her goals.
"Elin suffers from severe anxiety and feels an assistance dog would greatly help give her more confidence to go out in the community and socialise," he said.
"She has a puppy reserved to pick up at the beginning of April but has to raise the money first."
Elin said she would also like to get involved in pets as therapy.
"I would love Oakley to have a positive impact upon others such as visiting the elderly and children in care as well as local schools so he wouldn’t only make a difference to my life but the life of others," she added.
"He would also be able to normalise attitudes. I often wish that people had the confidence to look beyond each other’s differences and my key message to the public is be kind to all."
"People can help via gofundme.com/f/assistance-dog-for-elin
