Two years ago Aaron and
Debbie Knobloch learned that their baby daughter Alida was suffering
from a rare lung disease and that she would need a portable oxygen tank
to help her breathe. The good news was that the oxygen tank would make
their little girl healthy. The bad news was that she’d have to be
tethered to the 6-pound tank most of the time.
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| Alida Knobloch, 3, cuddles with her service dog Mr. Gibbs, a golden doodle who carries her oxygen tank everywhere. |
The Knoblochs
struggled to find a way to give Alida a normal life. Aaron built a
walker with a pocket for the oxygen tank so she wouldn’t always have to
be tied to one of her parents. But as the little girl grew older – and
more mobile – the walker wasn’t enough.
When Aaron saw a TV
program about service dogs, he knew he had the answer: with a dog
carrying her oxygen tank, little Alida would be free to roam and play
with other kids. Enter Mr. Gibbs, a golden doodle trained to be Alida’s
constant companion, ever at her side whether it’s scampering down the
slide at the playground or trotting alongside as she rides her bike.
"He's been a great addition to the family and just awesome help for
her," Aaron told TODAY's Matt Lauer. Next to him, 3-year-old Alida
giggled as she alternated between wrestling and cuddling Mr. Gibbs, who
patiently rested his head on her lap.
It hasn’t been an easy journey for the Knoblochs.
Though
she was a little premature, Alida initially seemed healthy. But by the
time she was 6 months old, the little girl started having breathing
problems. Sometimes her heart would start racing for no apparent reason.
Other times she seemed to be breathing too fast. Then one day she
turned blue and the Knoblochs rushed her to the hospital. Though she was
quickly stabilized, doctors couldn't explain what was happening to
Alida.
Aaron and Debbie went from doctor to doctor searching for answers.
The relief was palpable when a specialist finally figured out what was
wrong: 8-month-old Alida was suffering from a rare lung condition
called neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia of infancy, or NEHI, that made it
hard for her body to get enough oxygen from the air she breathed.
The condition was discovered just seven years ago, and there have only been 500 confirmed cases, according to the
Children’s Interstitial and Diffuse Lung Disease Foundation (chILD).
So
far, nobody has figured out exactly what causes the children’s labored
breathing, says NEHI specialist Dr. Megan Dishop, a pediatric
pathologist at the Children’s Hospital Colorado and an associate
professor of pathology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
Researchers just know that there is an overabundance of neuroendocrine
cells in children with NEHI. It’s possible that when there are too many
of these cells, there’s a breakdown in communication in the airways,
resulting in too little oxygen getting into the bloodstream, Dishop
says.
While the Knoblochs were happy they finally had a diagnosis, they quickly recognized that it would change their lives.
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| Mr. Gibbs is learning to keep up with Alida everywhere she goes, including up and down the slide on the playground. |
“After
we were told how rare it was and that there wasn't a lot of information
available there were about a million more questions,” Aaron told
TODAY.com. “How does she get her oxygen? How do we make sure she is
getting enough? Where to do we get it from? Will she be able to play
with other kids? How is a baby going to grow up having to be tied to an
oxygen bottle? Will she ever be able to play sports, or just go play
outside? And that was just the first second.”
Getting oxygen was
the easy part, it turned out. With the help of a small portable oxygen
tank, Alida was able to return to good health. The tough part for the
Knoblochs was figuring out how they could give their little girl a
normal life – until they found Mr. Gibbs.
The dog was living with
Ashleigh Kinsleigh, who trains service dogs near the Knobloch's home in
Loganville, Ga. The puppy had finished up his initial obedience training
when the Knoblochs came for their first visit.
Alida hit it off with the shaggy puppy right away.
“They weren’t sure they wanted to go with a golden doodle,” Kinsleigh told TODAY.com. “But she went crazy for him.”
So Kinsleigh began the specialized training a dog would need to take care of an especially young charge.
“He
had to learn to get under the table at restaurants,” she says. “He had
to learn that if there were other animals he couldn’t just go and play
with them. He had to stay right next to his girl and ignore all the fun
things around him. He also had to build up to be able to carry around
the full weight of the 6 pound tank.”
Kinsleigh calls Mr. Gibbs “a
work in progress” because he’s still learning to be a little girl’s
constant companion. “His job is to go wherever she goes and do whatever
she does,” Kinsleigh explains. “If she wants to get on the bike and go
down the driveway he has to learn to run alongside. If she’s going to
ride on a slide, he has to learn to climb up and slide down behind her.”
Most service dogs don't work with children younger than 5. Teaching
Mr. Gibbs to pay attention to a 3-year-old has been a challenge.
Aaron
Knobloch told Lauer. “This hasn’t been done with a child this young. He
does really well with Debbie and I, but it’s tough for him to listen to
a 3-year-old.”
Little Alida gets her share of training, too.
“She
actually gets frustrated when he doesn’t listen,” Aaron said. “That’s
what we’re working on right now – helping him understand that that is
the command. And she doesn’t always speak real clearly, so it’s been
tough for him.”
The Knoblochs hope that by the time Alida’s ready to start school, everything will be running smoothly.
“That’s
why we’re doing this so early,” Aaron told Lauer. “We’re hoping by the
time she gets to kindergarten it will all be figured out and there won’t
be any training left to be done and they’ll just go to school.”
Mr. Gibbs may not always have to carry around Alida’s oxygen tank.
Experts
say that children seem to “grow out of” NEHI – or at least the need to
breath with the help of an oxygen tank. “The general thinking is that
these children will only have mild residual disease long term,” Dishop
says.
Maybe one day Gibbs' only job description will be: girl’s best friend.
Article written by Linda Carroll for
Today. All rights including photos belong to Today.
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