Jada Holloway meets Lucy after Ron and Don’s help

I first met Jada Holloway and her mom Stephanie at Seattle Children’s Hospital one year ago. Young Jada was hooked up to an EKG monitoring her heart at the time. It was just the latest in a regular series of exams and surgeries for the 8-year-old that have been going on since she was born.

“When she was three-days-old she had surgery,” Stephanie said. “She weighed  probably about three-and-a-half pounds, her heart defects were still pretty bad.”

She’s also had spinal problems, multiple surgeries, and her lungs never fully developed. So the soft spoken but gregarious little girl is always attached to an oxygen tank.

“We’re kind of in a spot right now where she’s at an age where a lot of the other kids are more afraid of her, which is really sad because they see the oxygen and they’re not sure what to think,” Stephanie told me at the time.

But Stephanie realized a service dog could help change that by carrying the tank, and breaking down barriers with other kids.

“It would help me, like going for a walk in the park … I would be able to not have to carry my tank.,” Jada said. “My dog would walk after me and carry it for me.”

Unfortunately, it would cost over $12,000 to get such a dog and pay for the specialized training — and the Holloway’s simply couldn’t afford it. They tried a Jada Holloway GoFundMe page, but it sat virtually dormant for weeks, falling far short of their goal. So they reached out to the Ron and Don Show for help. And we reached out to you.

After sharing Jada’s story, you dug deep. Within days, listeners not only helped Jada reach the $12,000 goal, they blew right past it — to the tune of more than $20,000.

Jada Holloway meets Lucy

Last week, I again caught up with Jada Holloway and mom Stephanie — this time at Brigadoon Service Dogs in Bellingham.

The exceptional non-profit trains and provides specialized service dogs for veterans, other adults, and children with physical, developmental, and behavioral health disabilities. Jada sat on the floor beaming, a beautiful blonde smooth-coat collie at her feet named Lucy.

“She was a dog veteran but the veteran’s dog didn’t like her so she gave her back,” Jada said.

Their loss was Jada’s gain.

“It was great,” Jada said. “She loved me and at first she was a little shy … and then once I got to meet her a little bit she started coming up to me and snuggling and stuff.”

Over the last two weeks, Jada and Lucy have been working hard every day — both at the facility and at local restaurants and stores like the local K-mart, where Brigadoon founder  Denise Constanten puts them through their paces.

“We’ve learned over 25 different cues to get her to do what Jada needs her to do,” Stephanie said.

And they recently began working with sign language along with voice commands.

“I have a really soft voice,” Jada said. “We’re just going to do that so she understands what I’m saying and it’s not hard. So I don’t have to be like ‘Lucy, Lucy, Lucy.'”

And after passing their final test, Lucy and Jada went home on Aug. 2.

With school starting this week, Stephanie is hopeful Lucy will help break down some of those barriers that kept the other kids away, and help Jada make new friends and gain independence.

“We are so grateful, we are so blessed,” Stephanie said.

As they settled in at home, Jada had a message for all of you who helped make the little girl’s dreams come true.

“I really loved it that they helped and donated money for Lucy,” Jada said as she snuggled with a clearly contended, tail-wagging Lucy. “If it wasn’t for them I would not be standing here on the radio with that dog laying right there.”

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