
We are Joel & Danea Key from Pineville, Missouri, and the founders of Saber Life Foundation.
We want to walk you through our journey of our daughter Gracie. When Gracie was born, she experienced severe jaundice requiring an additional 9 days in the hospital. Once home, we noticed some differences between Gracie and other infants. We soon learned that Gracie was showing signs of having hyper-sensory issues.
An occupational therapist at her daycare noted that Gracie was not developmentally on target for her age. By 10 months, Gracie was falling behind in so many milestones. As Gracie got older, we noticed she struggled with her fine motor skills.
As a parent, it was hard watching her emotionally disconnect from the world around us. She wanted so much to be independent and do things for herself, however she was unable.
Gracie was eventually diagnosed with Essential Tremors. We were relieved to finally have a diagnosis.
In addition to Essential Tremors, Gracie has now been diagnosed with Autism, PTSD, Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder with tendencies.
One day at school Gracie’s science teacher decided to bring her son’s service dog for a visit. She noticed immediately the connection between Gracie and the service dog. Her teacher wanted to gift a puppy to become Gracie’s service dog.
In January 2018, after exhausting all medication, Doctors suggested an implant of a (DBS) Deep Brain Stimulator.
After surgery, Gracie began to heal. We noticed significant changes in her speech and demeanor. We couldn’t remember the last time we had heard our little girl laugh. She had cut out the world for so long.
After 2 years of waiting, Gracie was finally going to get her German Shepherd puppy, Saber.
Service dogs and their training is extremely expensive. We fundraised with Gracie and Saber for 8 months at local events and farmers markets.
We raised enough funds to not only pay the remaining balance owed for Saber’s training, but also to start a nonprofit organization.
In March 2020, we started The Saber Life Foundation as our way to pay it forward. We didn’t understand the need for service dogs in our community until we started our own journey.
Our goal is to help individuals with disabilities across the nation.

Gracie helped to train Saber for over a year, and they had a very close bond. Over time, our family realized that Saber couldn’t be what Gracie needed. He was rehomed to become a police K9 partner.
That is when Amos came into our lives. He is a chocolate Labrador Retriever who was already trained as a service dog and needed a special person.
With the support of Amos, Gracie has gained newfound confidence that grows every day.
With everything we have learned, one fact is clear—the bond is all that matters.
Saber Life Foundation was created to help our daughter, through this process we have helped numerous of families have a better quality of like through a service dog.
Thank you for taking the time to learn about our family and non-profit organization!
Joel & Danea Key
Gracie Key
Founders of Saber Life Foundation