November Epilepsy Awareness Month: Meet Epi-Star JACKIE, Ambassador for Guiding Eyes & IBM Mascot for Neurodiversity

 

 Epi-Star "Jackie" 

 

 

 

and  Hu-Mom, Lorraine 

 

by Dorothy Wills-Raftery 

  

Lorraine Trapani and her Epi-dog “Jackie” are a pretty amazing pair. To begin this story, we are going back to when Lorraine was 16 years old, and she was diagnosed with Idiopathic Epilepsy and “had generalized tonic-clonic seizures for years.” Fortunately, she adds, “I’ve been seizure free for about 20 years (knock on wood.)”

 

Lorraine, who works for IBM, had a very personal family situation start her on the path to Guiding Eyes for the Blind. In an IBM article she wrote titled, “Miracle on Four Feet,” Lorraine explains how after her husband, Michael, who was also an IBM employee “suffered a stroke during surgery which diagnosed pancreatic cancer. As a result of the stroke, Michael lost half of his vision in each eye, and I became his guide as we fought the cancer which would eventually take his life… the experience of witnessing his resilience, his compassion for our family, and his refusal to bow down to either cancer or blindness changed my perspective on life. The intimacy of facing death together strengthens love. That love persists after death, and the yearning to be with the one we’ve lost helps heighten our awareness of the challenges faced by others. I am fortunate to work for a company that not only supported me and my family during my husband’s illness and after his passing, but which understands, encourages, and enables employees to give of themselves in service.”

“Love persists after death, and the yearning to be with the one we’ve lost helps heighten our awareness of the challenges faced by others.” ~Lorraine Trapani

Executive Program Manager with IBM Government and Regulatory Affairs & volunteer “raiser” of Guiding Eyes puppies since 2011

Lorraine began volunteering in 2011 with Guiding Eyes for the Blind as a puppy raiser. In 2015 Lorraine began working with their Senior Director of Breeding and Genetics and North Carolina State University (NCSU) College of Engineering and Department of Computer Science “on a data-driven project to improve the success rate of pups in the program, which became successful guide dogs.”

 

A volunteer puppy raiser for Guiding Eyes for the Blind for 10 years, Jackie was the seventh puppy Lorraine raised for them. “Jackie was born to be a guide dog to a visually impaired person and was sponsored by IBM as the ambassador for a project between Guiding Eyes for the Blind, North Carolina State University, and IBM to help pair more guide dogs with those who need them.” 

 

Guide dogs, from the dogs themselves and their car to to the very specific training required, are quite expensive. In her "Miracle on Four Feet," Lorraine explains, "Training takes two years, and costs nearly $50,000 per dog. So when a puppy ends up not being suitable for Guide Dog service, it’s both prohibitively expensive and emotionally devastating for all of us involved in raising, training, and loving a dog. IBM is helping Guiding Eyes for the Blind find a better way."

 

Jackie explains that “Working with computer scientists from North Carolina State University, IBM and Guiding Eyes have developed a ‘Smart Collar,' a wearable device that collects and transmits biometric and environmental information that enables IBM®Watson AI to analyze a puppy’s emotional responses to the real-life situations they’re likely to face as Guide Dogs.”

 

And just what is AI or artificial intelligence you may ask? According to IBM.com, "Artificial intelligence leverages computers and machines to mimic the problem-solving and decision-making capabilities of the human mind."

 

Jackie wearing the Smart Collar device on her NCSU dog collar.

What exactly do Smart Collars do?  “(They) collect variations in activity, GPS data on the frequency, length and variety of socialization outings, barking (which can signal excitement or stress), and environmental information. The Bluetooth-enabled collar then transmits the data to an app on the puppy handler’s mobile phone, which then submits the data to the IBM Cloud for analysis. By comparing data from hundreds of Smart Collars, IBM’s machine learning can make complex data associations to predict the likelihood of each puppy’s ultimate success as a guide dog. With IBM Cloud, Guiding Eyes can more easily and efficiently manage and analyze its increasing volume of data to pull out meaningful insights.”

"I am proud to be part of a company that focuses its most advanced technologies on improving peoples’ lives," says Lorraine of IBM.

 

These are such important, and let’s be honest, amazing strides and partnerships between humans and canines and AI technology in order to help the Guide Dogs do incredible work helping the visually impaired. Not just a human-canine bond, but a human-canine-technology bond that working together helps others in ways that could only once been imagined, but are now a wonderful reality, through teamwork.

A First Lady Name's for 

Guiding Dog's First K9 Ambassador

 

There’s a wonderful story on how Jackie received her name, too. Lorraine relays the story, “Sponsored by IBM’s Government and Regulatory Affairs, Members of Congress had been invited to vote on our sponsored puppy’s name—choosing between the names of four former first ladies: Abigail, Eleanor, Jackie, and Martha. Jackie won hands down. Jackie was introduced to the world as ‘the new furry face of AI’” when she was only a few months old at a cocktail reception in Washington, D.C.”

 

And, as if being named after a First Lady wasn’t an enough of an honor, plus having members of Congress be the ones to choose it, Lorraine says the next year Jackie “walked the halls of Congress” by her side, an IBM employee working in Government and Regulatory Affairs, advocating for the positive potential of AI to benefit society. 

 

Then Jackie had a seizure, something Lorraine knew it was immediately because she herself has epilepsy. Explains Lorraine, “Jackie was extremely well socialized and, at almost two years of age, ready to go in for formal guide dog training, when she experienced a tonic clonic seizure at home.” Jackie saw a veterinary neurologist for tests. “Epilepsy is very rare in the colony of dogs purpose bred for guide work, but Jackie’s diagnosis was idiopathic epilepsy—epilepsy with no known cause.  Jackie began taking medication, the same medication diagnosed for people with Epilepsy.”

 

“I thought of the words of Michael Supa, the blind psychologist hired by IBM in 1942, at the age of 24, to institutionalize IBM’s concern toward people of diverse abilities. Mr. Supa said, ‘Think not of what you can’t do, think of what you can do.’ Epilepsy is a neurological condition, and I was familiar with Neurodiversity at IBM through some of the events in which…Jackie had participated. Could Jackie become a mascot?” 

~Lorraine Trapani 

 

Being diagnosed with Idiopathic Epilepsy meant Jackie could no longer be in the Guiding Eyes for the Blind program, so Lorraine adopted her. With her being a 10-year puppy raising volunteer combined with her own medical history of having Idiopathic Epilepsy, who better to care for a former Guide Dog trainee with Idiopathic Epilepsy. “Perhaps it was kismet that of all the puppies that could have been placed with me—it was Jackie.” Adopting Jackie, however, meant that Lorraine also stepped down from doing her work as a volunteer puppy raiser as her time that would be devoted to raising puppies would be needed to help Jackie.

 

Ironically, Jackie poses here in a North Carolina State University (NCSU) cheerleader dress (as part of training to get used to wearing different items as a Guide Dog) just three months prior to her getting her first seizure and becoming a patient of Dr. Karen Muñana's, Veterinary Neurologist and Professor of Neurology at NCSU College of Veterinary Medicine's Neurology Department (also home of their Companion Animal Epilepsy Reseach Lab).

Lorraine goes on to explain in what she refers to as a “new career” for Jackie, “I thought of the words of Michael Supa (the blind psychologist hired by IBM in 1942, at the age of 24, to institutionalize IBM’s concern toward people of diverse abilities). Mr. Supa said, ‘Think not of what you can’t do, think of what you can do.’ Epilepsy is a neurological condition, and I was familiar with Neurodiversity at IBM through some of the events in which she and Jackie had participated.  Could Jackie become a mascot?”    

 

Yes, and she has! After Lorraine met with the powers that be, “Jackie remained the ‘IBM Puppy,’ becoming the Mascot for Neurodiversity at IBM.” 

And yes, Jackie has her very own IBM badge!

Jackie's IBM badge. 

 

"I am proud to be part of a company that focuses its most advanced technologies on improving peoples’ lives," says Lorraine of IBM.

 

Lorraine and Jackie’s relationship also continued NCSU-College of Veterinary Medicine, as Jackie became a patient of the Neurology Clinic (under Dr.Karen Muñana and Julie Nettifee, RVT).

“Jackie is now also an ambassador for Guiding Eyes for the Blind,” adds Lorraine. “And we all love her.”

 

 

For info on Guiding Eyes for the Blind, visit HERE.

 

For info on Volunteering with Guiding Eyes for the Blind, visit HERE.

 

To read CBS Evening News article on Trapani and "Artificial Intelligence Helps Which Puppies Can Serve the Blind," HERE.

 

For info on IBM's Neurodiversity, visit HERE.

 

For info on the Companion Animal Epilepsy Research Lab, Neurology Department at NCSU-CVM, visit HERE.

 

Lorraine is one of the guests on the panel of this special Zoom event that was recorded. A “Must-See” for any Epi-dog caregiver. 

 

Click on graphic below and enter Passcode: cjZCQs8? in box in order to listen to the 2-hour session (you can pause it).

 

💜

 

Note: These are the personal stories of Epi-dogs as told by their families. As always, discuss any medications, alternative treatments, new foods, etc., with your veterinarian first before giving to your dog.

 

 

 

Other Stories in Epi-Star Series:

 

✭Epi-Star Gibson of FiveSibes, go HERE

 

✭Epi-Star Emma, go HERE. 

 

✭Epi-Stars Quinn & Sue go HERE. 

 

✭Epi-Star Ruby, the Therapy Dog, go HERE. 

 

✭Epi-Star Gibbs, the Therapy Dog, go HERE.

✭Epi-Star Jackie, Guiding Eyes for the Blind Ambassador/IBM Neurodiversity Mascot, go HERE.

 

 

 

Click on graphic above to visit

our online resource library.

 

 Back to our Home Page and Our Other Pages, including Our About the Breed Page and Our #LiveGibStrong On-Line K-9 Epilepsy Resource Page, ArcticHouse Books & Gifts Shoppe & so much more!  Just click on "More" Pages at top of blog.