A MIRACLE!

Henna was 2 years old when she was admitted to the hospital with a traumatic brain injury. She had been thrown against a concrete wall by her biological father for crying too long. She had two depressed skull fractures, old blood on the brain from previous abuse, a lacerated liver, collapsed lung, suspected sexual abuse, and shaken baby syndrome. Henna coded while on the way to the hospital via helicopter and was brought back to life only to go into surgery to relieve pressure on her brain. She was not expected to live through the night. Henna was in a coma for one month hanging on to life. Then the miracle happened! Henna woke up and was able to move all her limbs and speak, shocking all of the medical professionals. We took Henna into our home and shortly after her arrival she started having seizures.

Henna's journey continues as we try to control her seizures. She received the Vagus Nerve Stimulator (VNS) on Feb. 4, 2011 at Children's Hospital in Washington, DC. The VNS will send an electrical impulse to Henna's brain every 3 minutes for 30 seconds to interrupt her seizures. Over two months we have increased the electrical current and we have seen no change in her seizure activity. It looks as though Henna is in the third of children who receive a VNS that sees no relief from the VNS. We are very disappointed! We have started her on a new medication in addition to her current medications. Maybe it will help.

On August 6th, 2012, Henna had a full corpus callosotomy. This surgery is for people who have generalized seizures with no focal point. The corpus callosum is a band of nerve fibers located deep in the brain that connects the two halves (hemispheres) of the brain. It helps the hemispheres share information, but it also contributes to the spread of seizure impulses from one side of the brain to the other. A corpus callosotomy is an operation that severs (cuts) the corpus callosum, interrupting the spread of seizures from hemisphere to hemisphere. Seizures generally do not completely stop after this procedure (they continue on the side of the brain in which they originate). However, the seizures usually become less severe, as they cannot spread to the opposite side of the brain.

Henna received a white Labradoodle, Leo, from 4 Paws for Ability in Oct. 2010. We sent 4 Paws 2 shirts a week to help train her dog. One shirt was when Henna had a seizure and they used it for her dog to smell the chemical change during her seizure. The other shirt was when Henna had NOT had a seizure. This helped her dog differentiate between the two scents. It's a fascinating process. We trained for 10 day in Ohio with Leo and a trainer before bringing Leo home.

Leo had been going to school with Henna but started to bark and growl at different people when they came into her classroom. We worked with Leo's barking and growling when people would knock on the door and for a while he seemed better. He is very protective at home also. He then barked and growled at some boys who came into Henna's classroom and had to be removed from school. The trainer at 4 Paws said that some dogs bond so closely with their child that they become protective. Leo took on Henna's classroom as another home and felt he had to protect her. Sadly, because of his aggressive behavior, Leo can no longer be a service dog. The trainer said Leo would behave lthat way with any child he bonded to. Just his nature. We will keep Leo as a pet. Leo LOVES being just a pet. He still alerts to Henna's seizures and lives to get his hot dog reward!

Henna now has Snoball, a beautiful Golden Retriever. Snoball was born June 3, 2011. She is so sweet and a bundle of energy! Sno is doing an excellent job alerting to Henna's seizures BEFORE she has them! She is alerting up to one hour before Henna has a seizure. Sno goes to school with Henna and proudly wears her school ID badge. Snoball will be a great seizure alert dog and will serve Henna well.

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Friday, April 12, 2013

Service dog Duke!

Photo: This story and photo will absolutely touch your heart. <3 Meet service dog “Duke.” Duke is a seizure alert and autism service dog for Sasha Worley, and his mother, Crys Worley says “he's the best thing we ever took a chance on!” You see...Duke’s life didn’t start out so great. He was an abused rescue that the Worley family adopted in spite of numerous issues from his past. The story starts with Sasha, who has many OCD behaviors that come along with his Autism. One of them includes his love for "Dogs with tall ears" (all breeds). He found Duke on Petfinder's website and read his profile...and it was love at first sight. His mother Crys finally broke down and said "yes" to possibly getting another dog - Duke was the family’s 3rd. Duke was at a shelter and had been abused before someone picked him up from wandering on the streets. There were numerous scars on his legs and he was very timid and skittish...this was a dog who had seen much unhappiness in his life and very little...if any...love. The Worley’s ended up taking him home and working with him. They quickly learned how amazingly smart he was and knew he had serious potential! Crys Worley flew him from Alabama to California for service dog training with DogWish (www.dogwish.org). The family had several weeks of family training sessions with Duke and his trainers when Duke’s 5 months of training was complete. Duke has been trained to sense Sasha’s "silent" seizures throughout the day. If Sasha were to have a grand mal seizure, Duke stays glued to his side. Duke is "trained" to sense the pending seizure and to constantly be on alert to break Sasha’s fall. Duke is also able to track Sasha if he were to wander off and become ill or get lost, and bring searchers to his aid. Through it all, the Worley family says that at the end of the day he's still a big puppy and plays and has fun like all other dogs, and even occasionally gets into mischief. :) Duke is doing more than being Sasha’s protector and constant companion...as he has the opportunity to travel the United States with Sasha. They are changing hearts and minds about the German Shepherd Dog breed as well as erasing the stigma of adopting a dog from an animal shelter to use as a service animal. Sasha is a bit of a public figure in the autism community as well. There has been a feature length documentary that was made about him and the benefits of skateboarding to help those who suffer from autism that is playing in film festivals called “Heart Child.” Duke and Sasha travel together to different autism events as the mission of the Worley family is to help thousands of kids with autism. The Worley family’s fondest wish is that their journey with Duke encourages more families to take an alternative route to investing in a service dog. They hope that people see the potential of shelter dogs to become service dogs….and that more will realize that the dog you saved just might turn around...and save you. <3 ~Cheryl To read more about Crys and Sasha Worley, please check out these links here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eva-glettner/skateboarding_b_2251604.html http://espn.go.com/action/skateboarding/news/story?id=5301983 To learn more about the documentary featuring the Worley family’s struggles, check out this link: http://offthewall.tv/search?x=0&y=o&q=heart+child Please share the Worley's story to encourage families to adopt their next service dog! Thank you!

Meet service dog “Duke.” Duke is a seizure alert and autism service dog for Sasha Worley, and his mother, Crys Worley says “he's the best thing we ever took a chance on!” You see...Duke’s life didn’t start out so great. He was an abused rescue that the Worley family adopted in spite of numerous issues from his past.

The story starts with Sasha, who has many OCD behaviors that come along with his Autism. One of them includes his love for "Dogs with tall ears" (all breeds). He found Duke on Petfinder's website and read his profile...and it was love at first sight. His mother Crys finally broke down and said "yes" to possibly getting another dog - Duke was the family’s 3rd.

Duke was at a shelter and had been abused before someone picked him up from wandering on the streets. There were numerous scars on his legs and he was very timid and skittish...this was a dog who had seen much unhappiness in his life and very little...if any...love. The Worley’s ended up taking him home and working with him. They quickly learned how amazingly smart he was and knew he had serious potential! Crys Worley flew him from Alabama to California for service dog training with DogWish (www.dogwish.org).

The family had several weeks of family training sessions with Duke and his trainers when Duke’s 5 months of training was complete. Duke has been trained to sense Sasha’s "silent" seizures throughout the day. If Sasha were to have a grand mal seizure, Duke stays glued to his side. Duke is "trained" to sense the pending seizure and to constantly be on alert to break Sasha’s fall. Duke is also able to track Sasha if he were to wander off and become ill or get lost, and bring searchers to his aid. Through it all, the Worley family says that at the end of the day he's still a big puppy and plays and has fun like all other dogs, and even occasionally gets into mischief. :)

Duke is doing more than being Sasha’s protector and constant companion...as he has the opportunity to travel the United States with Sasha. They are changing hearts and minds about the German Shepherd Dog breed as well as erasing the stigma of adopting a dog from an animal shelter to use as a service animal. Sasha is a bit of a public figure in the autism community as well. There has been a feature length documentary that was made about him and the benefits of skateboarding to help those who suffer from autism that is playing in film festivals called “Heart Child.” Duke and Sasha travel together to different autism events as the mission of the Worley family is to help thousands of kids with autism.

The Worley family’s fondest wish is that their journey with Duke encourages more families to take an alternative route to investing in a service dog. They hope that people see the potential of shelter dogs to become service dogs….and that more will realize that the dog you saved just might turn around...and save you. ♥ ~Cheryl

To read more about Crys and Sasha Worley, please check out these links here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eva-glettner/skateboarding_b_2251604.html

http://espn.go.com/action/skateboarding/news/story?id=5301983

To learn more about the documentary featuring the Worley family’s struggles, check out this link:
http://offthewall.tv/search?x=0&y=o&q=heart+child

Please share the Worley's story to encourage families to adopt their next service dog! Thank you!
Posted by Jan at 5:30 PM

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