The first time YDR readers heard of Blair Hagelgans was in 2018 when she shared a guest column about her experience attending York College, where she said some students bullied her for having her service dog Creed with her on campus.
Since she was a child, Hagelgans was diagnosed with multiple medical conditions that affect her brain and mobility, including chiari malformation, syringomyelia and epilepsy. She is a part-time wheelchair user, only able to walk and stand for small amounts of time.
Hagelgans used her experience as someone with invisible illnesses, a person who looks healthy physically, as a gateway to educate individuals about the role of a service dog.
Creed was given to Haglegans for seizure alert and mobility. He has been by her side since 2014.
But recently, his vet found two tumors and diagnosed Creed with cancer.
The surgery will cost $10,000, and Hagelgans is worried about how she will pay for it.
Blair Hagelgans’ Column:Bullied on campus for my invisible illness & service dog
After she graduated from York College in 2018 with a degree in public relations, Hagelgans did fundraising for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
“I was one of those people that would walk around in the city and you’d try really hard to avoid,” said Hagelgans. “It was really fun, though, because I did really well, and Creed loved it because he always got to see people.”
But when the COVID-19 pandemic took over the world, she had to stop working.
“I was worried about working and coming into contact with people,” said Hagelgans, now living in Oreland, Pa., “so Creed and I took some time off and stayed home.”
When her fiance and his family caught COVID-19, no one was able to work at the family’s wholesale heating and cooling company. So she and Creed stepped in to help. She keeps up with files and Creed steps in to help her.
“He opens and closes doors, turns on lights, and closes drawers,” said Hagelgans. “Sometimes he closes them even when I’m still using them. He’s like ‘I know you didn’t ask me to close it, but I did it. I get a treat now, right?”
Customers love being greeted by the happy golden retriever and the family’s other dogs.
Service Dogs on Campus:It’s not about bringing your pet to school
Creed’s vet found tumors in his intestines and liver.
The tumor in his intestines is making him throw up two times a day. It is a blockage and is making it hard for him to digest his food.
“In the beginning, they thought it was acid reflux, we kept changing his food and medication,” said Hagelgans. “He’d be better for a couple of weeks and then he’d throw up again. Then we’d change the food again, and he’d throw up.”
The hardest part about the surgery is that they don’t know which tumor is cancerous or not.
“They believed that they may not be cancer but benign tumors that grew as he got older,” said Hagelgans, “They don’t know which one is until they do the surgery and biopsy.”
“The worst scenario is that it’s cancer and it spreads,” said Hagelgans. “There is chemo that you can do, but my organization does not recommend it because the dogs feel like crap anyway.”
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But she is not giving up on her 10-year-old pup.
“Everyone has asked if I really want to do that surgery on a 10-year-old dog and spend that much money,” said Hagelgans, “If I knew if it was definitely cancer and he was having other issues, then I would consider other things. But if I can do something to help him, then I feel like I have to. He’s 10, he’s not that old.”
The goal is to have Creed as part of her wedding in April 2024, on his 12th birthday.
“If he doesn’t make it to the wedding, I’m going to have a conniption,” said Hagelgans. “I plan to make him a vest out of the leftover fabric from my dress, and he’ll be the flower boy and flower girl and the ring barrier. I want him to have his own little cake.”
Fundraising
Creed is from a Canine Assistance organization in Alpharetta, Georgia. They are 501C3 and run completely on donations.
The organization will help with aftercare after giving the service dogs to their new handlers, but due to the pandemic, donations have been scarce.
“I’m trying to use my degree to help the organization so we don’t have to ask for as much,” said Hagelgans. “It was actually over $10,000 for the surgery. I’m trying to raise more money so that the more I raise the less I have to take money from them. I’d rather their money go toward a future service dog than have them pay for mine.”
She started a GoFundMe fundraiser with the goal set at $10,000 to help pay for Creed’s surgery. So far, the fundraiser has raised $3,495.
“Right now, we’ve been waiting for the housing market to go down, we have a wedding coming, we need a new car, and I have a lot of medical bills as well,” said Hagelgans. “I’ve had 18 brain and spine surgeries. I was recently diagnosed with Gastroparesis. We are really struggling financially, but I couldn’t not go through with the surgery.”
Katia Parks covers public safety issues for the York Daily Record. Please feel free to reach her atKParks@ydr.com. Follow her on Facebook (@Katia Parks), Twitter (@parksphoto), and Instagram (@katia.l.parks).
