Our son Jack is fifteen years old and is autistic and has a significant learning disability. Jack suffers with high levels of anxiety and is finding it increasingly difficult to go to new or busy places. Jack attends a local special school but because of his anxiety he has only attended for one full day since January and has not attended at all since early June.

He dislikes holidays and these are becoming more and more challenging as Jack struggles with the change to his routine and is so fearful following the recent terrorist attacks. His world has closed down so much and he spends a lot of time in the house where he feels safer. His self-confidence is low and he is lonely. Jack struggles to sleep if his sister is out and needs one of us to sleep near him or he has a bed on the floor in our room. His sister is planning to go to university in September which Jack is very sad and anxious about as his brother has also left home.

We are in the process of fund raising for an autism assistance dog for Jack which will be provided by Autism Life Dogs (www.autismlifedogs.com). They are an award winning, not for profit organisation providing therapy support dogs. Autism life dogs are trained in a unique therapy programme of games and activities to aid the development of physical, cognitive, life and social skills, to support speech and language and social interaction, to regulate sensory issues and reduce anxieties and challenging behaviour and to be a loyal friend to the child they support.

Jack has been assessed and matched with a black Labrador called Pepper. She is 10 months old and is now in her second stage of training which is personalized to Jack. We have to fund raise £9,500 towards our dog which is paid in 4 instalments. We have paid the deposit of £1500 and a further instalment of £3000 at the end of July. A further payment of £3,000 is due at the end of August with a final payment of £2,000 due at the end of September when we have been trained as Pepper's handlers and can collect Pepper.

We believe that Pepper will be a friend for Jack and will greatly help with his anxieties and enable him to undertake every day activities that most of us take for granted such as going to school, shopping and going into busy places. Jack loves dogs and he is much more sociable around dogs, our hope is that Pepper will open up Jacks world, get him out of the house and help him to meet new people and make new friends.

Providing and training an autism assistance dog is expensive and as a family we need to raise £9500 to cover the cost of Pepper and her training. We are delighted to have raised £6000 from close friends, family and a generous donation from a local business.But just need help with a final push to achieve the remaining balance. The cost of the skydive will be funded from donations.

In order to raise funds for Jacks dog, myself (Jacks dad, John) and three friends (Nathalie Bye, David Course and Alex O’Neil) are taking part in a sponsored skydive on the 24th September. We would all be really grateful if you would sponsor our moment of madness and help to make an amazing difference to Jack’s life. If we raise more than our target all additional sponsorship would be donated to Autism Life Dogs.

Thanks

John, Nathalie, David and Alex