Leigha, a friend of ours, needs some help. Her 5 year old son, David, has a diagnosis of the rare birth defects: Moebius and Pierre-Robin Syndromes. He has paralysed facial nerves, paralysed vocal chords, low muscle tone, tight and underdeveloped ligaments amongst other issues. David lives with a tracheotomy to breathe and is non-verbal, due to low muscle tone and ligament/tendon issues (he also has Arthrogryposis) he has no balance and must walk with a walker or holding the hand of an adult and is very unsteady on his feet in both those situations. David needs regular suctioning, day and night, of his Tracheotomy tube to keep his airway clear or he will suffocate as he cannot clear his own throat. He has had 26 trips to the operating theatre and counting. He needs constant 1-on-1 attention 24/7.

Despite his issues David is a real charmer, he is bright, cute and loves his mum who is raising him on her own. His mum is hoping that an Assistance Dog, from Assistance Dogs New Zealand (“ADNZ”), will help David to gain some mobility and freedom from being constantly watched and followed as he moves around his home and plays in their yard. An ADNZ dog can be trained to recognise the sounds of his tracheotomy tube needing suctioning and can raise an alert. This will provide David with some level of “normalacy” in his home environment like other kids his own age.

At the moment, Leigha and David are helping with the training of an ADNZ dog called Marley and he is already showing an interest when David coughs and needs the suction machine, so the potential appears huge.

Assistance Dogs, when properly trained, can:

• Help improve a child’s socialisation and behaviour skills.
• Create freedom for the child and family members to go out of the house safely and confidently.
• Expand a child’s capabilities to experience more of life and to grow.
• Calm the child thereby giving them an increased attention span and greater aptitude for learning.
• Increase safety levels and alleviate the dangers by acting as an anchor when tethered to the child.

To train and raise these special dogs takes a lot of time and money and Leigha must contribute towards this cost if they are to be able to keep Marley or get another ADNZ dog for David. She has set up a fundraising page for this purpose – check it out. Please help spread the word – “like” or “share” it on Facebook, click through to the page and use the tweet button there, email, blog it – and prayerfully consider a donation if you are able. This assistance dog could make so much of a difference for both of their lives and ADNZ are doing great work for the families with special kids in them like David.

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