“My pup is more than my best friend, he’s a miracle worker!”
When 11-year- old Will Gibney needed to undergo difficult medical treatments to jump-start his immune system, his mom thought a service dog might help ease his anxiety. She never imagined his new best friend would also help cure him for good!
Mom, I don’t want to be here anymore—i want to go home!” 11-year-old Will Gibney shrieked uncontrollably as he sat hooked up to an IV in a hospital infusion room.
“I wish we could,” Laura Assaf told her son. Since infancy, the Guilderland, New York, then sixth grader had suffered from a host of physical and behavioral issues. He was hard to soothe as a baby, unresponsive to pain and grew to be hyperactive and prone to sudden outbursts of rage. By age 6, doctors had diagnosed him with sensory integration disorder and autism, and put him on a variety of medications. But Laura, a practical clinical psychologist, felt something else was going on and, after extensive research, she found a specialist who determined Will had autoimmune encephalopathy—his body didn’t produce antibodies necessary to fight off germs, leaving him vulnerable to infections.
“The infections cause inflammation in the brain areas that control activity levels and pain receptors,” the specialist explained, and recommended Will undergo monthly intravenous immunoglobulin therapy (IVIG) to receive donor antibodies.
Will hated the treatments; he’d have panic attacks and couldn’t be consoled. And, sadly, they produced few if any lasting antibodies.
Laura was running out of hope that her little boy would ever live a normal life.
Then, one day, she was writing a recommendation for one of her clients to receive a service dog when an idea struck. Maybe a service dog could help Will at least cope with his anxiety and panic, she thought.
Laura applied to Canine Companions and was thrilled when Will was approved.
“Really? I can’t wait!” Will exclaimed, and he counted down the days until they traveled to the organization’s Medford, New York, training center.
Will spent the first few days meeting and playing with all the available dogs to find the perfect match. He loved each one, but a Lab– golden retriever mix named Toshi won his heart. And the feeling was mutual. Wherever Will went, Toshi followed.
Toshi and Will spent the next week learning commands in the training yard and going on field trips into town. Spending so much time outdoors, Will got several bug bites, which, with his compromised immune system, became infected.
His doctor scheduled an IVIG treatment. But first, Will had to undergo a blood test. The results were amazing.
“There are antibodies in his blood already fighting the infection— and they’re not from the IVIG,” the doctor reported.
Only one thing had changed in Will’s life: Toshi. But the idea that the dog could have triggered such a response seemed farfetched.
In the coming weeks, Will fed and walked Toshi, played ball and brushed him. Nights, Toshi slept stretched on top of his best buddy in place of the weighted blanket Will used to need to sleep. And Toshi was by his side when Will went for his next blood workup. “There are even more antibodies now,” the doctor said. So many that he canceled Will’s IVIG treatment. “I have no explanation,” he said.
But Will did. “It’s Toshi. He’s healing me.”
A whole new life
The more time Will spent with Toshi, the better his health became. As his antibody level grew, Will’s panic attacks disappeared, so did his meltdowns. His grades went from C’s to A’s. And he was happier than Laura had ever seen him.
Toshi was supposed to comfort Will and help him endure grueling medical treatments. But doctors ultimately determined that Will’s immune system reacted positively to the dander in Toshi’s fur when Will brushed him, the licks of love and the pup’s calming companionship.
Will still needs occasional medications, but after six years with Toshi, he graduated from high school with honors, and this fall, he, with Toshi by his side, is attending college.
“Without Toshi, I don’t know where I’d be today,” says Will, who has written a book, My Boy, Will, to help raise money for Canine Companions. “Dogs protect their people from danger. For Will the danger was inside, but somehow Toshi found a way,” says Laura. “If that’s not a miracle I don’t know what is.”
“To the doctors’ amazement, Toshi triggered a physical change in Will”