i read it wrong i appologize i read it wrong
Junior nc
________________________________
From: Jewl Wall <wallja99@fightfor.org>
To: epilepsy@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, June 18, 2012 2:00 PM
Subject: RE: [epilepsy] fake service dogs
Junior,
If am reading this right they are training for PTSD and paniic attacks and more? I am not sure how they are concisered fake?
Myabe I read the article wrong?
Jewl
HIGH POINT — Kevin A. Lucas and Sandra Lucas wear matching dog tags with an image of their son Adam, smiling, in his military fatigues.
<http://www.news-record.com/content/2012/06/15/article/service_dogs_unite_veterans_fall_soldiers#nrcAnc_Middle2_Jump>
<http://www.nrinteractive.com/>
The photo was taken two days before the 20-year-old Marine died in Iraq on May 26, 2006, Sandra Lucas said.
But their son's legacy now lives on through his namesake — an affable golden retriever.
Lucas is a service dog for veteran Chris O'Connor, a Purple Heart recipient wounded in Iraq.
O'Connor and his so-called four-legged "battle buddy" connected with the Lucas family Friday in High Point through Patriot Rovers.
In the past 20 months, Patriot Rovers has matched 37 veterans with service dogs named after fallen soldiers.
The High Point-based nonprofit then connects the veterans with the families of those fallen sol- diers.
"It's incredible to meet the family of one of my fallen brothers," O'Connor said. "The feeling is surreal, and it's just amazing the way that we could make the connection."
When O'Connor entered the private room at Steak Street, Kevin and Sandra Lucas greeted the Marine with hugs and smiles and Lucas with gentle pats.
O'Connor said the dog is a conversation-starter and a charmer.
"And he's good-looking," O'Connor said, laughing.
"Well, he would have to be that because Adam always said that the good looks in the family skipped a generation," Sandra Lucas said. "He got all the good looks."
Within minutes, Kevin Lucas, wearing a navy blue baseball cap embroidered with "My Son Gave All," was kneeling on the floor and rubbing the dog's chin. The golden retriever panted, sticking his bubble-gum pink tongue out, drawing a chuckle from Kevin Lucas.
Marine Staff Sgt. Natasha Young-Alicea, her husband, Robert, and others watched.
Young-Alicea served with O'Connor in Iraq and also received a service dog through Patriot Rovers.
Her dog, Joshua T. Harris, bears the name of a Navy Seal from Lexington who died in Afghanistan on Aug. 30, 2008.
Young-Alicea and Josh the dog will meet the Harris family today at the Joshua T. Harris Festival and Memorial Ride at the Davidson County Fairgrounds.
The service dogs work in concert with medication and regular doctor visits, said Patriot Rovers founder David R. Cantara.
They are trained to wake up their owners when stricken with nightmares, turn on the lights and secure the area.
The dogs also soothe their owners when they become fidgety or anxious.
"He does behavioral interruptions for me," Young-Alicea said. "So when I get a little bit too wound up, he posts himself between me and the person who might not benefit from me being too wound up."
The Lawrence, Mass., native came back from her second tour in Iraq in October 2007. Before getting Josh a few months ago, she had isolated herself.
"One of the true blessings to having Josh is he's caused me to re-engage my family," she said.
Young-Alicea said she battles post traumatic stress disorder and depression. "My son doesn't understand why Mommy's sad," she said.
But when people pet Josh, they start conversations with the veteran and she opens up.
O'Connor left combat in 2006, shortly before Adam Lucas joined his unit.
Before receiving his golden retriever, O'Connor also isolated himself. He felt guilty for not being able to fight with his unit and kept hearing about his fellow soldiers dying in service or from suicide after returning home.
"Yeah, we left the front lines,' O'Connor said, "but we still fight this war every day."
Now he is getting his master's degree in social work at his alma mater, University of Central Florida. With Lucas by his side, O'Connor wants to continue to help other soldiers through Veteran Affairs.
"I've built another sense of self-esteem because of (Lucas), because I know I'm honoring my brothers."
Contact to Dioni L. Wise at 517-7680 or dioni.wise @news-record.com
Jewl, TX
Information on Seizure Response/Alert Dogs
http://tagert.homestead.com/msjewl.html
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