Kansas Elementary School Raises Money For Student’s Service Dog

A heartwarming story has come from Derby, Kansas, about an elementary school hosting a fundraiser to help a family afford the training of their daughter’s service dog. Remi, the dog in question, is a companion for Corbynn, an early-childhood student at Park Hill Elementary School, who has epilepsy.

Park Hill Elementary School raises money for student’s service dog

Located in Derby, Kansas, Park Hill Elementary School is hosting a fundraiser to train a seizure response dog for a student named Corbynn. She is an early-childhood student at the school and has epilepsy. Meanwhile, the service dog in question is named Remington, or Remi for short.

Park Hill’s student council group has arranged a hat day fundraiser, to be held on Friday, February 24.  Basically, each student must bring at least $1 to school, while having permission to wear a hat throughout the day. Meanwhile, all proceeds from the fundraiser will go to Corbynn and her family to pay for Remi’s essential training.

Speaking to KWCH, Corbynn’s mother, Connor Phillips said how heartwarming it is to see other students and school staff stepping up to help her baby girl.

GoFundMe for Corbynn and Remi

However, this was not all, as her mother, Connor Phillips, is also making strides by helping Corbynn and Remi with a GoFundMe page. Meanwhile, the campaign will allow other people around the world to contribute to a worthy cause of training the service dog.

On the campaign’s page, viewers are introduced to Corbynn, a “5 year old superhero.” It turns out she was “so excited” to come into this world, she was born 16 weeks early at only 24 weeks gestation. Corbynn reportedly spent 127 days in the NICU “on a rollercoaster,” but showed everyone her “sass and warrior mentality.”

However, while she was making good progress from having come earlier than expected, she has been diagnosed with microcephaly and spastic cerebral palsy. The cute young girl is completely wheelchair dependent. On top of this, Corbynn was diagnosed with COVID-19 in December 2020, which changed her life forever. At that time, she began to have seizures and unfortunately, there is no known trigger for the events.

So far, Corbynn has suffered 14 seizures, which tend to happen while she is asleep, and are prolonged and dangerous. Meanwhile, her parents wish to get her a service dog to help with mobility. However, more importantly, the dog needs to be trained in seizure response, to alert her parents when she needs help.

However, a service dog can be very expensive – around $10,000. This is why the family is asking for help, as even a “superhero” needs help sometimes. The family already has Remington the service dog and they are already bonding and are best friends. However, further training for Remi could be life-saving for the little girl.

Anyone wishing to donate to help Corbynn and Remi, please visit the GoFundMe page here.