Hoping to reach it quickly...

Last night (when I thought he was sleeping) Thor scratched at his face until there was a cut under his eye. This is the type of behavior that his service dog will be trained to try to interrupt, redirecting his attention to petting his dog rather than hurting himself.

I don't know if he does this in his sleep or just quietly so I don't hear him on the baby monitor, but he frequently self-injures in the middle of the night. My hope is that his service dog will sleep with him and be able to redirect him to petting/snuggling instead of hurting himself. 

If I had a magic wand that would take away all his pain, anxiety, and frustration...I would use it. But that doesn't exist...so I'm doing the next best thing - getting him his dog through 4 Paws is going to be life-changing for us. And the sooner I can meet my fundraising goal, the sooner they will begin training Thor's service dog (which takes about 9 months of intensive training to meet Thor's specific needs).

...I'm just waiting to hear back from 4 Paws about a few fundraising questions I had and then I will (hopefully) be able to post more information on how to donate on behalf of Thor.

I've heard of families who have raised the money in 36 hours. Some in 6 weeks. And some in a year or more. All I can do is pray that we are blessed enough to raise the money quickly...Thor is in desperate need of his service dog and the longer it takes to meet our fundraising commitment, the longer it takes for him to get his new best friend (and in my opinion - life changing therapy 'tool').

Thank you to everyone who has shown us so much support - it means the world to me that there are people (friends, family, and even complete strangers) that care so much!