The intertwining story of two Casper families includes elements of undaunted tenacity in the face of seemingly impossible odds, tragedy, inspiration and healing.
And dogs. Because, after all, dogs make any story better.
At the center of it all is 9-year-old Mikey Jonnassen. After he was diagnosed with a brain tumor at age 6, he suffered devastating medical complications. Doctors told his mom, Shantae Smith, that he would spend the rest of his life bedridden.
But Mikey wasn’t having any of that.
Now he’s walking, talking and looking forward to going back to school in the fall.
He’s ecstatic at the prospect of getting a service dog, to help him reach new levels of independence.
His vocal capacity is still limited, but with his mom’s help, he told Cowboy State Daily during a telephone interview that he’s stoked about having a dog go to school with him.
“And just the fact of having a dog,” Smith conveyed for him. “He’s never had a dog.”
K-9 Trainers Seeking A Puppy
That’s where Colleen and Joshua Pike come in. They’re former law enforcement officers who run the Casper-based Ragnar Defense dog training business.
They started looking for just the right puppy to train up as Mikey’s service dog.
The Pikes know the healing power of dogs firsthand. Their own dogs helped them navigate the tragic loss of their 16-year-old son, Asa, three years ago.
“We found that, especially with the loss of our child, that dogs create a really good coping mechanism,” Colleen Pike told Cowboy State Daily.
Long, Costly Process
Training a service dog starts when a puppy is about 8 weeks old and lasts 18 months. So, Mikey will have to be patient once the right puppy is found.
It’s also costly. Shantae and her husband, Roy Smith, launched a GoFundMe campaign, for a $7,000 down payment on the service dog. As of Thursday, they’d raised roughly $2,700.
And the expenses won’t end there. It can cost more than $40,000 to completely train and care for a service dog.
Joshua Pike said he and his wife have a nationwide network of dog breeders they work with. A dog’s breed, temperament and other attributes must match the client’s needs.
For Mikey, it will “need to be a large breed,” Colleen Pike said.
The dog will need size and strength to assist Mikey with sitting and standing and moving about, she said.
It will also be trained to perform such tasks as flipping light switches on and off, retrieving food from the refrigerator and activating the disabled access door buttons on public buildings, she said.
Terrible Diagnosis, Steep Challenges
Shantae Smith said she’d long suspected that Mikey had serious medical problems.
From the start, he didn’t seem to be growing nearly fast enough.
“When he went into kindergarten, he was the size of a two-year-old,” she said.
Even his younger sisters, Kinsley, now age 7, and Ella, 5, were bigger than him, she said.
And then Mikey started having trouble keeping food down.
“I was seeing every doctor I could think of. I was telling them, there’s something wrong, he’s not growing,” she said.
A doctor finally decided to do an MRI scan on Mikey, just after he turned 6.
The scan was at 8 a.m., and Smith said she got a call from the doctor’s office at 5 p.m.
“They wanted me to come in after hours, to discuss the results of the scan. That’s when I knew it wasn’t going to be good.”
It turned out that Mikey had a brain tumor and would need surgery as soon as possible.
“I was upset (at the diagnosis). I was really sad,” she said. “Nobody wants their kid to go through that. But I needed to keep it together and explain things to the family, and to keep the children calm.”
The family hoped that surgery change things for the better, but things took a turn for the worse.
There were complications and Mikey suffered a series of strokes that left him essentially comatose.
Doctors said he would likely stay that way, but he kept fighting.
He suffered cardiac arrest in March 2024, which set him almost all the way back, but he kept pushing forward.
‘He’s Gone Through Way More Than Any Of Us’
There’s just no quit in Mikey, his mom said.
“Everybody who knows him describes him as a superhero, because he’s so strong. He has all the will in the world to live,” she said.
She’s had to be at her son’s side around the clock to meet his needs. So, she’s looking forward to a dog pitching in and freeing up some of her time.
She doesn’t resent providing constant care. Rather, she sees it as a source of inspiration.
“I feel like I haven’t had the chance to give up. He’s gone through way more than any of us. If he can do it, we all can do it,” she said.
Service On Another Level
Joshua Pike was born and raised in Casper, and Colleen Pike is a native of Greeley, Colorado.
They both worked as law enforcement officers in Colorado, and said the public service element of that career was meaningful for them.
But they always wished that they could do more.
“We had a lot of intense calls involving kids and families, where we were able to give relief only briefly,” Joshua said.
They retired from law enforcement in 2023 and moved back to Casper.
They already had strong bonds with dogs, so launching a service dog and law enforcement K9 training business seemed to be a great next step for them.
“When we suffered a loss in our family, when one of our children passed, that jumped this forward for us,” Joshua Pike said.
They met Mikey briefly during an interview with his family and said that he’s one of the most inspiring people they’ve ever encountered.
“He was funny. He was excited. He was engaged in the conversation,” Colleen Pike.
“He wanted to know if he could name the dog,” she added.
The answer?
Absolutely.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
