Tricia Weber spends most of her day listening for warning signs in her head that signal she is about to have a seizure.

        If she gets the warning in time before she blacks out, she can rush to her purse, take a gadget known as a strong magnet and quickly attach it to a nerve stimulator in her chest. The stimulator sends vibrations to her brain to break up the seizure.

Tricia Weber pets her dog Roxie, a German Shepherd being trained to call 911 in case she has a seizure and blacks out. | ZOOM |

        Ms. Weber, 27, of Covedale, has had seizures since age 6. She has had the stimulator in her chest since 1999.

        “The number of seizures each month are down to somewhere between two and six now,” she said.

        At one time they were as high as 14 a month.

        “The warning sounds like a spaceship in my head,” she said. “The strong magnet has to be kept away from televisions or computers because it will interrupt them. I have to keep it in my purse.”

        Each day, she has to call her mother every hour to let her know that she has not blacked out.
       

Fund drive effort

        Tricia's future safety is going to depend less on her mother and more on a 2-year old German shepherd, Roxie, in training now to become a seizure response dog.

        Her mother, Debra Weber, along with friends and family, have started a fund drive to raise $10,000 to train the dog.

        “We don't have that kind of money. I work a full-time job, but we need the dog to be with Tricia during the day while I am at work,” she said.

        Debra Weber is a benefit analyst for Humana-ChoiceCare in Walnut Hills. She said she is planning a yard sale for June 15, but is still looking for a place to have it and needs more donated items to sell.

        “We plan to have a booth at the Cleves Firemen's Craft Show in August, featuring some crafts Tricia and I made,” she said.

        The dog is being trained by 4 Paws for Ability, a nonprofit agency in Batavia. The training school is in Xenia.
       

Training in progress

        Karen Shirk, founder and executive director of 4 Paws for Ability, said Roxie is in the sixth month in the nine-month training course.

        She said the dog made friends with Tricia immediately. “They sat together and Roxie was licking her hand,” Ms. Shirk said. “I think this will work out just fine because Tricia really needs the dog.”

        When Roxie finishes the training, Ms. Shirk said the dog will recognize jerking motions caused by seizures and will know to bark, or will knock the receiver off a special phone and hit a panic button, automatically dialing 911.

        “In some cases the seizure response dogs can detect that a seizure is about to happen. We don't know how this is done. It may be because of the dog's sensitive smell and that it actually smells body changes,” Ms. Shirk said.

        To help in the Webers' efforts, call 451-4811.

        Allen Howard's “Some Good News” column runs daily except Saturday. If you have suggestions about outstanding achievements, or people who are uplifting to the Tristate, let him know at 768-8362, at ahoward@enquirer.com or by fax at 768-8340.
       

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