A little boy named Oscar Haskell was in ­intensive care at Southampton Children’s Hospital with a rare brain condition when his heart rate raised.

His condition started worsening and he stopped responding.

But a miracle happened when doctors brought in therapy dog, Leo. “We weren’t expecting him to pull through at all,” Oscar’s mom Zoe says. “He wasn’t responding at all and his heart rate was through the roof.

“He had 26 tubes into him, six brain probes drilled into his skull and he had machines keeping him alive.”

“The doctors asked would we be interested in meeting a therapy dog,” Zoe adds. “I was shocked to think of a dog in intensive care. Doctors told me to keep talking to Oscar so he could hear my voice.

“We didn’t know if he could hear us or not. But I always promised the boys we’d have a puppy. I ­promised him if he got through it, I’d get him a dog. That’s all I kept saying to him over and over.”

Then therapy dog Leo’s handler, Lyndsey Uglow put a mat over Oscar to protect his tubes and put Leo’s paw on Oscar’s hand. “And then his heart rate came down,” Zoe recalls. “It was amazing. The intensive care doctors were crying, it was a pure miracle. He hadn’t moved his face, nothing was moving at all. And then he smiled.”

Oscar had been diagnosed with acute disseminated ­encephalomyelitis. “It means he had an auto-immune bug which tricked his brain into attacking itself, ­effectively,” Zoe explains.

“He’s tried lots of different ­treatments but nothing compares to how much Leo has helped him.”

Oscar and Leo have bonded so well and Zoe believes her son would have given up without the dog’s help. She says: “I really think if it weren’t for Leo, Oscar would have given up. Leo never left his side after that.

“Lyndsey would have to carry him out because he wouldn’t leave the bedside, he’d sleep beside the bed. They formed this amazing bond. He’s helped us all in so many ways. These therapy dogs should be used all over the country.”

 

 

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