Submitted by PADS for Parkinson’s.
Between Aug. 18 and Aug. 22, the San Juan Island Community Foundation has pledged to match up to $1,000 given to PADs, the first program in North America to train dogs to detect an odor associated with Parkinson’s Disease. This great news was followed by a good-hearted anonymous donor who pledged to match the match. This means every dollar contributed to PADs between Aug. 18 and Aug. 22 will instantly rabbit itself into three dollars up to the first $1,000 contributed. As the dogs would say (if only they could) that’s a lot of turkey.
You can take advantage of this match on match for PADs by going to the SJI Community Foundation website at www.sjicf.org on Aug. 18. Once on the site, just select PADs from the online fund-raising catalog that will be prominently featured between the dates of the 18th and 22nd. You can also mail a check to the San Juan Island Community Foundation, PO Box 1352, Friday Harbor, WA 98250. Just be sure to write “PADs” in the memo field and mail your check between the dates of Aug. 18 and 22. Woof. Wag. A huge thank you. And for good measure, another wag.
We extend our continued gratitude to the training session volunteers, board members and handlers who continue to support our 16 fabulous sniffer dogs; and to the many individuals and support groups who supply donor samples for the Program. We extend our very deep gratitude to our sample donors who are battling Parkinson’s Disease. You provide the inspiration for the work we do.
On behalf of the entire PADs team, we stand with two legs and four paws as grateful and honored members of a community that continues to work for a better world.
About PADs
Approximately 60,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease each year. There is no cure for Parkinson’s Disease, and neurodegenerative damage to the brain begins years prior to tremors. Today, the disease can only be clinically diagnosed once tremors become evident. Detection of the disease prior to the tremor stage could help with dramatically slowing the progression of the disease. Isolating an odor in the disease may provide an avenue for early detection.
PADs is the first program of its kind anywhere to train dogs for the detection of Parkinson’s Disease. The Program was spurred by the 2015 news of Joy Milne, the woman in Scotland who was proven to have the ability to smell Parkinson’s Disease. Formed in early 2016 as a research project, PADs soon grew to become a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a three-fold mission as follows: 1) Train dogs to detect Parkinson’s Disease; 2) supply reproducible training protocol for other trainers; and 3) assist research efforts that bring us closer to a cure for Parkinson’s Disease.
